December 26, 2016 –
Soldiers from the 3d Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, and United Arab Emirates Land Forces joined together to conduct mounted training operations during a two-week exercise at Camp Buehring, Kuwait in September.
Soldiers on both sides got an opportunity to have realistic force-on-force training working with different nation’s equipment and vehicles.
“I like working with different countries and being able to see their capabilities and how their different equipment functions,” said Sgt. Bryan Miller, cavalry scout with the 2nd Squadron, 13th Cavalry Regiment.
According to Miller the exercise proved to be a great training event encompassing day and night operations that presented unique challenges and opportunities for both nations.
“This training is far from routine, and I’ve had the chance to do something different every day,” said Miller.
Miller explained that working with other nations in this type of exercise makes the event more realistic which benefits his skillset.
“Their vehicles are different than ours and I can actually identify the type and determine who is friendly or hostile making it more realistic than when we train with just our own vehicles and it’s difficult to tell who is who,” said Miller.
The 3rd ABCT and other units within U.S. Army Central continuously conduct joint exercises like this throughout ARCENT’s 20-country area of operations to improve readiness and increase interoperability with partnered nations.
"Right now is the opportunity to get to know each other through training together and build on what we learn from this event to make future exercises tougher and more realistic," said Maj. Gen. Saleh M. Al Ameri, UAE Land Forces Commander.
Ameri, previously a task force commander in Afghanistan, conveyed his desire for future engagements while watching his troops operate during a portion of the exercise.
“I feel this experience was successful. This year there have been a lot of meetings, and we agree that we are going to build interoperability between us before any future operations arise.”