On April 29 Lieutenant General Donald M. Campbell Jr., the Commanding General of the United States Army in Europe (USAREUR), conducted a work visit at the Mechanised Infantry Brigade (MIB) Iron Wolf of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in Rukla.
The high-ranking officer arrived to discuss readiness of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team which has been deployed recently in Lithuania to complete joint tasks with units of the Lithuanian Land Force and perspectives of further cooperation with the Lithuanian Armed Forces in the area of combat training.
During the visit in Rukla Commanding General of the United States Army in Europe met with Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas, Commander of the Lithuanian Land Force Major General Almantas Leika, Commander of the MIB Iron Wolf Colonel Raimundas Vaikšnoras, and military personnel of Lithuania and the United States.
"Deployment of a U.S. ground force unit as well as the attention from NATO is a message to everybody that allies are hand in hand with us. Above all, I see the bilateral U.S-Lithuanian land force training as an excellent opportunity to share professional experience, achieve better interoperability, learn rendering host nation support more efficiently and operating in multinational settings. I am convinced that the experience from this training will make us even better prepared for national defence," Commander of the Lithuanian Land Force MG A. Leika said.
LTG D. M. Campbell and MG A. Leika discussed the integration of the U.S. company into the combat training of the Lithuanian Land Force, common goals and tasks. The Generals also surveyed the upcoming joint training events in Lithuania an abroad where the U.S. company deployed in Lithuania is to take an active part, and addressed diverse points of combat training.
Commander of the MIB Iron Wolf presented to the U.S. delegation the Brigade, its structure and tasks, projects of multinational military cooperation, involvement in multinational operations and exercises, the ongoing combat training cycle and combat training tasks of the units subordinate to the Brigade.
During the visit the delegation consisting of U.S. and Lithuanian military also observed the first combined live-fire exercise of Lithuanian and U.S. troops at the Gaižiūnų Training Range and talked to the participants about their first impressions regarding the bilateral cooperation.
The U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team is accommodated at the Lithuanian Grad Duke Vaidotas Mechanised Infantry Battalion of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf in Rukla. At the moment joint U.S.-Lithuanian preprations for the upcoming tactical field exercise Amber Arrow 2014 is being carried out gradually and further cycle of bilateral training and exercises at the Lithuanian Land Force is being mapped out intensely.
POC - Assistant to the Commander of the MIB Iron Wolf Captain Ainaras Jonaitis. Mobile phone no. 00370 614 35 693; email: ainaras.jonaitis@mil.lt
