FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Military attachés from 20 different countries, including Ecuador, Japan and Romania, spent Sept. 19 at Fort Leonard Wood learning about the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence.
While serving as an attaché, foreign service members represent their home countries to U.S. government and military.
“This visit is so important to us because we will not fight alone. We fight with our allies and partners,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck, MSCoE and Fort Leonard Wood commanding general, during a welcome brief. “What attachés do is critically important.”
During his welcoming comments, Beck explained Fort Leonard Wood’s importance.
“Thank you for coming, we are honored to have you all here,” Beck said. “We have two primary purposes here at Fort Leonard Wood. We train about 80,000 men and women each year, and we are very excited about that. We take this mission very seriously. The second thing you will learn about today is how we drive change for the Army. We are the proponent for our Army’s warfighting function of protection.”
Col. Benedictos Iorga, an attaché from Romania, said attachés provide a strategic connection between countries, and he is proud to represent Romania.
“The future war will not be won alone. We need our allies and partners. We will not only fight together, but we can bring peace together,” Iorga said. “This is the best assignment I have ever had. I love living in America, working in Washington, D.C. and visiting so many military installations.”
Attachés spent most of the day touring several training areas on post.
While at the Chemical Defense Training Facility, they saw how the Army conducts chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense training for Army, joint and allied service members.
At Range 33 and the U.S. Army Engineer School’s Combat Engineer Heavy Track Course, the attachés learned about combat engineer skills.
“These facilities are state-of-the-art. Everything I have seen here shows me that the U.S. Army is leading the way for other countries as far as top-level operations,” Iorga said. “Fort Leonard Wood is much more than I expected, especially, in the capabilities field. The training here is like being in a real environment.”
The attachés’ spouses were also invited to visit and received their own tour of the installation focusing on why Fort Leonard Wood is an installation of choice.
“I am super excited the spouses were able to come. People want to serve here. I hope they saw the passion our team brings to taking care of our families,” Beck said.
The spouses’ tour included the John B. Mahaffey Museum complex and a robot demonstration in Bldg. 3025.
More photos from the visit can be viewed at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBJ9VL.
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