{"id":856,"date":"2023-12-02T02:44:32","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T02:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=856"},"modified":"2023-12-02T02:44:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T02:44:33","slug":"task-force-marne-troops-train-alongside-nato-allies-during-strong-griffin-exercise-in-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=856","title":{"rendered":"Task Force Marne Troops Train Alongside NATO Allies During Strong Griffin Exercise in Lithuania"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By SGT Cesar Salazar, Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

PABRADE, Lithuania \u2014 Task Force Marne Soldiers and their Lithuanian Allies honed their combat skills during a force-on-force training exercise at Pabrade Training Area, Nov. 16-17.<\/p>\n

Known as Strong Griffin 2023, the exercise saw U.S. Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, serve as an opposing fighting force for the Griffin Brigade of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, which provided the NATO Allies an opportunity to share each other\u2019s defensive and offensive tactics, strategies, and standard operating procedures.<\/p>\n

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\u201cStrong Griffin is an opportunity for us to train together and build towards interoperability procedurally, technically, and the human domain,\u201d U.S. Army Lt. Col. David W. Griffith, commander of 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, said. \u201cIt allows us to train tactics, techniques, and procedures so we can operate better with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Task Force Marne Soldiers conducted infantry and armored offensive operations against Lithuanian Armed Forces partners in a series of training exercises across rural and urban environments to test their combat readiness. Lithuanians, in turn, prepared a defense to counter the American attacks. In the training scenario, the American forces worked their way through a forest environment in an effort to seize a town, while the Lithuanians defended the territory.<\/p>\n

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Both armies were able to adapt and adjust to their situations which allowed them to learn how each other operated as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses in real time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe end goal, of course from the tactical perspective\u2026 we check the abilities and the gaps we have within the training cycle,\u201d Lithuanian Army Col. Aurelijus Alasauskas, commander of the Griffin Brigade, said. \u201cSo if we see that everything goes so well, I don\u2019t think we\u2019re really organizing our exercise the proper way. We happened to see some gaps already, which might be training points for the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lithuanian Soldiers trained on their light and anti-tank infantry tactics against an armored force with the help of Task Force Marne tanks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have tanks. We have larger vehicles than they do [in the exercise],\u201d U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jaden Brown, a tank commander with Alpha \u201cAres\u201d Company, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, said. \u201cBringing in all that heavy machinery against a much lighter force allows them to develop how they would act against a much better equipped, much larger force,\u201d<\/p>\n

In turn, Task Force Marne tank crews adapted their tactics to the forested terrain, which meant tankers stayed vigilant by looking out for smaller, light infantry in the tree lines versus much more visible larger vehicles, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

Having the opportunity to face each other in a force-on-force exercise during Strong Griffin ultimately made the two NATO allies stronger together. The exercise also allowed the two allies to familiarize themselves with the tactics and techniques they\u2019d employ together as well as similar terrain and environments they might encounter one day on the battlefield together.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not about fighting [against] each other, it\u2019s about fighting together with a purpose,\u201d Alasauskas said. \u201cSo with the U.S. providing offensive capabilities, and Lithuania providing defense capabilities \u2014 when you combine those two into one \u2014 you have a very mobile, aggressive defense, which is not letting the forces penetrate you or to maneuver in front of you. So you\u2019re leading even in the defense position. This is the main purpose: To lead the battle the way you want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredibly rewarding experience working with the Lithuanians,\u201d Griffith said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been a great partner here in Pabrade. We\u2019ve worked together to define each other\u2019s training objectives. We built an exercise that allowed us both to reach them.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 3rd Infantry Division\u2019s mission in Europe is to engage in multinational training and exercises across the continent, working alongside NATO allies and regional security partners to provide combat-credible forces to V Corps, America\u2019s forward deployed corps in Europe.<\/p>\n

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By SGT Cesar Salazar, Jr. PABRADE, Lithuania \u2014 Task Force Marne Soldiers and their Lithuanian Allies honed their combat skills during a force-on-force training exercise at Pabrade Training Area, Nov. 16-17. Known as Strong Griffin 2023, the exercise saw U.S. Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":858,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions\/858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}