Task Force Marne elements support Saber Junction 23

HOHENFELS, Germany — Elements of Task Force Marne supported Saber Junction 23 Aug. 22 - Sept. 22, an annual U.S. Army Europe and Africa-directed exercise conducted by 2nd Cavalry Regiment and NATO allies and partners designed to increase lethality, capabilities and readiness to deter aggression in support of NATO collective defense and deterrence initiatives.

The 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, part of the 3rd Infantry Division-led Task Force Marne, provided support to 2nd Cavalry Regiment with a fleet of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and UH-60L Black Hawks, all assigned to 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade. They were joined by HH-60M medical evacuation Black Hawks assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd General Support Aviation Regiment; and CH-47 Chinooks, comprising the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade’s Task Force Knighthawk.

For the aviation elements, Saber Junction is a culminating training event designed to test long-range communication, logistics planning, sustainment, and maintenance in an austere environment. The different aviation crews provided fires, maneuver and logistics, conducted reconnaissance, security operations, personnel and cargo movements, and medical evacuation coverage support to 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

The Task Force Knighthawk commander felt lucky to get a rotation that included Saber Junction.

“All of our training has been focused on preparing for this mission,” U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kevin Ryan, the task force commander, 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, said. “The training value we’re getting here by working with our multinational allies and partners, with the [2nd Cavalry Regiment], and with our parent headquarters supporting us in the exercise has allowed us to increase the rigor of the training, to provide realism with a world-class opposing force that we get to compete against, but also to train live for two-to-three weeks with all these partners, allies, and our U.S. teammates from [2nd Cavalry Regiment].”

The 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment routinely operates alongside co-located units, so Saber Junction provided a unique training opportunity for the regiment to work with other units. For 2nd Cavalry, it provided a good opportunity to integrate aviation operations into their mission.

“It's great training for us,” Maj. Kayla Smith, executive officer assigned to 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, said, “The ground force doesn't always have a lot of opportunity to work with air assets. There's a lot of nuances and things that aviation can not only provide a division but also, there's a lot of challenges.”

Smith said the training opportunity lies in learning the nuances of what aviation can provide and learning to adapt to aviation's limits with maintenance schedules, pilot availability, and aircraft availability.

Capt. William Watson, Delta Company commander with 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, said his crew completing maintenance inspections during Saber Junction will affirm their ability to conduct maintenance in austere places.

According to Chief Warrant Officer 3 Thomas Gorgeny, production control officer-in-charge for Delta Company, 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, the unpredictability of the exercise is the best training aid.

“Doing these rotations is the best way you can simulate [real-world operations] because there's no way to predict what could go wrong,” Gorgeny said. “There's no way to predict what the enemy is going to do until it happens. We're going to do our best guess to try to project maintenance the best we can, but our guys are going to do their best to generate that combat power for the next mission and react to anything that we lose in the process.”

The training conditions, scenarios and physical space Saber Junction provided allowed Soldiers to execute a mission as realistically as possible. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Casey Allen, a pilot assigned to Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd General Support Aviation Regiment, emphasized the crucial training the distance between elements afforded.

“Communication between two different parties is a pretty big part of realism,” Allen said. “When we're not in the aircraft and we only have the one radio that's in our [command post] and that's our only line of communication to anybody else, that's it. You don't have your phone. You can't shoot an email quick that you're getting overrun.”

Allen continued, stating that limiting communications from what they normally do in garrison and having secure communication lines up allows the other battalion sections to practice supporting them in a way that aligns with a real-world mission and strengthens the relationships between the company, headquarters and other elements.

These other elements included 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division Soldiers who supported 2nd Cavalry Regiment by providing approximately 100 observer controller/trainers to assist with training and assessing 2nd Cavalry during the exercise. The observer controller/trainers’ role is to ensure the safety of the exercise and provide feedback to improve the warfighting abilities of the U.S. Forces and other participating nations.

“The major benefit to everyone is the sharing of [tactics, techniques, and procedures] between organizations and partner nations,” Maj. Michael Heim, Intelligence Observer/Controller and Trainer with 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, said. “We may not always have the best way of doing things, so seeing how 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, the French, the British or any other of the nations participating is an opportunity for us to learn and improve from each other.”

Saber Junction 23 will conclude Sept. 22, but collaboration between nations will continue for Soldiers with Task Force Marne. The 3rd Infantry Division’s mission in Europe is to engage in multinational training and exercises across the continent, working alongside NATO allies and regional security partners to provide combat-credible forces to V Corps, America’s forward deployed corps in Europe.