Training for a Disaster Iowa National Guard Partners with Kosovo Security Force
Soldiers and Airmen from the Iowa National Guard are in the nation of Kosovo this week as part of a two week exercise being conducted with the Kosovo Security Force.
The Iowa National Guard joined Eagle 6 as Kosovo’s partner through the National Guard State Partnership Program (SPP). Thirty-five Soldiers from Iowa Army National Guard’s 831st Engineer Company and 18 Airmen from Iowa Air National Guard’s 132nd and 185th Medical Groups took part in this year’s event.
The Iowa Guard members functioned as subject matter experts working as observers and mentors during the training.
The Eagle 6 training also included a scenario requiring the neutralization of armed terrorists. The simulated terrorist cells used the distraction of the flooding as an opportunity to infiltrate the area and attempt to damage the city’s levies, which would cause even more flooding and potentially inflict more harm on the local residents.
According to SGM Cain, the KSF soldiers have improved their proficiency in disaster response training over the course of the Eagle exercises.
Kosovo is a young country, having broken with Serbia in 2008, which itself was formerly part of the nation of Yugoslavia that broke up in the early 1990s, at the end of the Cold War. The Eagle exercises have a dual benefit for the KSF, as the events not only serve to enhance the readiness of all participating groups, but they also afford the KSF with NATO-affiliated expertise from around the world as the nation works to field a more capable military force.
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