US Army Europe U.S. Army Europe Spotlight: Bulgarians at 173rd MRE

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HEIDELBERG, Germany -- Soldiers with U.S. Army Europe's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and elements of USAREUR's 12th Combat Aviation Brigade will wrap up a Mission Rehearsal Exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, March 24.

The three-week exercise is a multinational training event designed to help the brigades prepare for their upcoming combat tours in Afghanistan by simulating the environment and events they are likely to encounter while deployed. The training keys on developing combat skills and counterinsurgency tactics.

It also gave U.S. forces a chance to build multinational partnerships, through participation by units from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Bulgaria provided the largest number of non-U.S. participants, a group of more than 400 troops who gave their USAREUR colleagues an opportunity to gain greater experience in training and fighting alongside a partner force. Other multinational training events during the MRE included interaction with soldiers from the Czech Republic training to deploy as a Provincial Reconstruction Team that will work with Afghan provincial governments to deliver essential services and development projects, and air assault training involving helicopters from the 12th CAB and the Bulgarian and German militaries.

One significant event of the MRE was the 173rd's opportunity to be one of the first Army units to complete predeployment training with some of the Army's newest equipment designed to provide secure operational power to deployed forces. As part of the Army's Net Zero Operational Energy program, the 173rd's "Sky Soldiers" learned to operate and maintain multiple hybrid-power management systems such as the new Advanced Medium Mobile Electric Power Source generator and the Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System, a wearable solar power kit that provides power and charges batteries.

The Department of Defense officially announced the brigades' deployments March 15, as part of the upcoming spring rotation of U.S. forces.

U.S. Army Europe Spotlight: Bulgarians at 173rd MRE
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