Joint action to conclude Joint Resolve
Capt. Constantin Spinu
First published in
SFOR Informer#154, December 19, 2002
Exercise Joint Resolve concluded with a joint military
capabilities exercise at Camp McGovern. The Carabinieri Special
Weapons And Techniques (SWAT) team conducted a fast rope exercise
from U.S. UH-60 Black Hawks stationed at Eagle Base. Once
on the ground, members of the 104th Cavalry had to subdue
a large and unruly crowd of role-playing civilians.
Brcko - The last day of Joint Resolve, Dec. 3 was the most
spectacular one, even though the weather was not kind to the
soldiers. The cold rain and mud just offered more realism
to the scenario. US Soldiers, Italian Carabinieri and Military
Policemen from Romania and Slovenia took part in a well-organised
joint training exercise.
The scenario
A violent crowd has formed, establishing a barricade and taking
a hostage. Negotiation attempts with civic leaders and local
police have failed. The Multinational Specialised Unit (MSU)
deployed to the scene. US forces established security around
deployment area, called 'green box'. In a Crowd Riot Control
(CRC) formation the MSU negotiated the removal of the barricade
and successfully dispersed the crowd. US personnel continued
to provide green box security and prepared for possible escalation
of hostilities by establishing a Quick Reaction Force (QRF)
and pre-positioning them within striking distance of the demonstration.
After receiving the signal from the MSU, the Carabinieri SWAT
team, supported by the U.S. UH-60 Black Hawks, conducted fast
rope entry in the vicinity of the objective building, forced
entry to it, secured the hostage and evacuated area via armoured
vehicle. But unidentified gunmen fired on and wounded an MSU
soldier. The QRF was ordered to move forward in support of
the MSU. A CRC platoon immediately deployed to the threatened
area. Ground MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation) team extracted the
wounded soldier as soldiers from Multinational Division North
(MND-N) deployed and conducted cordon and search.
A birthday present
At first glance the scenario looked very slick, but much preparation
had gone into the exercise beforehand. US Capt. Jack Wallace
was in charge of the co-ordination of the involved troops.
He could be considered as the director of this show: "Considering
it was the first time we organised such an exercise, everything
went well. MSU and MND-N are now prepared to intervene in
a similar situation." Almost 100 Carabinieri were involved
in this exercise. "For us it is nothing new, because
we have done this several times. It is our job. That is the
reason I can say that today's exercise was a very good one,"
said Capt. Claudio Rubertá, Coy commander, MSU. For
the US soldiers this was a first. "I couldn't imagine
before how interesting such an exercise is, we should do it
more often," said Spec. David Sokorai. Probably the happiest
participant in the exercise was Spec. Daniel Carden. Dec.
3 was his birthday. Therefore his colleagues have dedicated
the success of this exercise to him. "All I can say is
that I am very happy," confessed Carden. "This exercise
was very educational for me. We do not work with soldiers
from different countries every day. It was a great experience
and this was the best present for my 24th anniversary."
And 1Lt. Jim Perrin, troop commander, thought the same: "It
is always a great challenge to work with so many nations:
Italians, Romanians and Slovenians. Maybe next time will be
others." The 'rioters' in the exercise were played by
two Military Police platoons, MSU from Romania and Slovenia.
Their role was to ensure an atmosphere very similar to a real
situation. "It was not a very easy job," explained
1Lt. Razvan Tudose, platoon leader, Romanian Army. "We
had to act like an unruly crowd and despite the difficult
weather we did well. It was very interesting to work with
the Americans and of course with our friends, the Italians."
Related links:
Nations of SFOR: US,
Italy
Training and Exercises
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