“It’s been a great training exercise,” he said. “It was a chance for us to shine and show the rest of the Army what the Indiana National Guard can bring to the table. We train hard during our drill weekends and our annual training. A lot of us also do the same thing on the civilian side so we were able to bring a lot to [the exercise].”
CPT Coolbrith highlighted how the training in Europe created an unmatched, hands-on learning opportunity for Guard Soldiers.
“I think this is a great opportunity to show the full capabilities of the Army National Guard while training in Europe,” explained CPT Coolbrith. “Every paratrooper conducted a Platoon Live Fire and the 1-143rd conducted a Joint Forcible Entry via Airborne Assault with the 173rd [Airborne] and NATO allies. I think this is one of the most unique opportunities for a National Guard Soldier.”
1LT Rolon highlighted the importance of these exercises in developing National Guard Soldiers, even if they did not attend the exercise.
“I appreciate that the National Guard is included in these exercises because we love to learn,” she said. “We utilize everything we learn, and what we learn here we can teach to our Soldiers in the States who are expecting us to bring our experiences back home.”
The Saber Strike and Swift Response exercises presented Army National Guard Soldiers with an incredible opportunity to enhance their readiness and interoperability with our allies and regional partners, while developing the skills necessary to effectively operate during a deployment.
“We enjoy what we do – that’s why we are here,” SFC Aguilar said. “We are in the Guard, but we get a lot of time to train. We take a lot of pride in how we train and how prepared we are for the next war if need be. It’s an awesome opportunity for us to come here and get good training while simultaneously getting to see a little bit of Europe.”
