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European soldiers this week began a major month-long exercise with 6,500 participants focused on preparing multinational brigades to protect NATO.
Exercise Allied Spirit is being conducted at Germany’s Hohenfels and Grafenwoehr training areas with Seventh Army Training Command and NATO allies and partners, according to a statement from U.S. European Command.
The exercise will begin on February 26th and end on March 27th.
According to an Army announcement, Task Force 82 of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division will operate a division-level headquarters unit with senior command for the German Army’s 41st Panzergrenadier Brigade.
The task force supports the reinforcement of Army V Corps on NATO’s eastern flank and supports NATO allies and security forces in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Exercise Allied Spirit has grown from a two-week interoperability exercise involving an estimated 2,500 participants and eight countries to its current four-week recursive exercise involving 6,500 troops and 15 countries.
Key participating countries include the United States, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Exercises like this are critical to the U.S.-NATO strategic relationship, said Brig. Gen. Stephen Carpenter, commander of the 7th Army Training Command.
“Now, more than ever, this shared commitment is absolutely critical. Allied Spirit is a powerful symbol of that continued relationship,” Carpenter said in the EUCOM release.
U.S. Army units participating in Allied Spirit 2024:
- 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Liberty, North Carolina
- 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia
- 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas
- 4th Security Force Support Brigade, Fort Carson, Colorado
- U.S. Army Reserve, Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Team
- West Virginia National Guard, 153rd Public Affairs Detachment
Source: U.S. European Command
Allied Spirit participated in a series of large-scale exercises under the umbrella of Defender Europe’s new name Steadfast Defender. It is a series of exercises across the continent from January to May designed to test NATO’s new defense plans.
The overall plan will involve 90,000 troops from 31 countries, more than 50 naval assets, 90 air platforms and 1,100 combat vehicles, according to the Pentagon’s website.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government, and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for his co-authored project on witness intimidation. Todd is a veteran of the Iraq War.
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