Multinational Mission Rehearsal Exercise prepares U.S. Army Europe units for deployment
March 12, 2012
By U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs
HEIDELBERG, Germany -- Soldiers with U.S. Army Europe’s 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and elements of USAREUR’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade are conducting a Mission Rehearsal Exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, March 4-24.
The exercise is a multinational training event designed to help the brigade’s “Sky Soldiers” prepare for their upcoming deployment by simulating the environment and events they are likely to encounter while deployed and to develop combat skills, counterinsurgency tactics and multinational partnerships.
The 173rd, with elements stationed in Germany and Italy, arrived March 4 and began their training a few days later with a series of small arms, indirect fire and improvised explosive device attacks on 173rd Soldiers and their multinational partners from Albania, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The largest non-U.S. participant is Bulgaria, which is providing more than 400 troops to train alongside the 173rd and give the "Sky Soldiers" exposure to training with a partner force.
Other significant events include the 173rd’s participation in training with some of the Army’s newest equipment that is designed to provide secure operational power to deployed forces, including the new Advanced Medium Mobile Electric Power Source generator and the Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System, a wearable solar power kit that provides power and charges batteries. Brigade Soldiers will deploy with these systems and help the Army to evaluate their battlefield performance.
The 173rd will also work with soldiers from the Czech Republic who are training as a Provincial Reconstruction Team. PRTs work to build Afghan provincial governments' ability to deliver essential services and development projects and help to extend the reach of the Afghan government to all corners of the country.
The 173rd will also take part in multinational air assault training involving helicopters from the 12th CAB and the Bulgarian and German militaries.
The training will also test the Sky Soldiers on other scenarios they are likely to encounter while deployed, such as engaging with a local civilian population for events such as meetings with village elders; medical evacuations of U.S. and multinational personnel; tactical resupply missions involving air-dropped supplies and training missions and joint patrols with simulated Afghan partners.
The exercise will compel the 173rd Soldiers to pass through some of the same phases they will experience during their deployment, a progression from learning to work with their higher headquarters in Afghanistan, to working with and training Afghan forces, to undertaking combined missions, to the eventual transfer of responsibility for their mission to Afghan forces.