The grey skies outside Sulecin filled with parachutes Sept. 20 as 136 paratroopers from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Airborne) and Polish 6th Airborne Brigade leaped into Immediate Response ’04.
The exercise, which runs through Sept. 30, will continue with platoon and company level situational exercises.
The purpose of the exercise is to enhance joint and combined interoperability and conduct bilateral training with a partner nation.
“We are both NATO members so we are working interoperability to ensure that in the event of a NATO contingency mission, we are prepared to train and fight together,” explained Lt. Col. Tim McGuire, commander 1/508.
The paratroopers flew to Poland aboard two C-17 Globemasters. Jumping out of the planes three hours later into the breezy sky, the troops navigated their parachutes to avoid the obstacles on the gnarly terrain below.
“The jump went really good considering there were a lot of obstacles on the drop zone,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Samia, drop zone safety officer. “The wind also really picked up. We were a little bit worried about people getting hurt, but it turned out really good.”
After the jump, the troops ruck marched to a Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training area nearby where they conducted a search of the site lasting late into the night.
“Throughout the exercise, we are working the interoperability of the U.S. and Polish Soldiers,” explained McGuire. “We have incorporated a Polish squad into a U.S. platoon and during the company level missions, the Polish platoon will operate as a full platoon of a U.S. company. It’s a great chance for our Soldiers to learn techniques from the Polish and the same for the Poles.”
Language continues to be the biggest obstacle of the exercise. Many of the Polish Soldiers speak English but only a couple of the Americans speak Polish.
“It’s amazing though, Soldiers speak a common language and when you get noncommissioned officers together, they can figure out what needs to be done,” said McGuire. “I think both sides are eager in how the others train and in the other’s equipment, and so they have been doing a great job working through the friction.”
The Soldiers of Bravo Company, including many who jumped into northern Iraq a year and a half ago, bring a lot of experience to the exercise. Poland is the third largest contributing military in Iraq behind America and Great Britain. Poland also has about 100 troops assigned in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
“We try to build upon the lessons we learned in Iraq and I believe that is one of the great things our unit has right now, having spent a year in combat and getting ready to deploy for another year in combat,” said McGuire. “Our Soldiers bring a great focus and attention to training. Our training doctrine is train as you fight and I think the Soldiers have a greater awareness of the need for that.”
“It will be very important for American Soldiers when we go to Afghanistan and they are working with Polish Soldiers there,” said Sgt. Pawel Gniazdo, 6th Polish Airborne Brigade. “[The Americans] have very good sergeants who are very skilled and are teaching a lot.”
“Training like this is important because you really never know what situations you could be put in,” said Spc. David Van Hook, Bravo Co., 1/508. “So, the more situations you are trained on and the harder the training is, the better equipped you are.”
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