Coordination of concerted actions with civilian environment is an integral part of Exercise Saber Strike 2014 just like it is of majority of modern military exercises and operations. This exercise gave an excellent opportunity of civilian-military cooperation, or CIMIC, specialists of Denmark's and Lithuania's armies hone their skills.
Meetings with representatives of civilian authorities and agencies, visits to the junior high school and refugees centre of Rukla, factory of ACHEMA, Gaižiūnai railway station, and joint Lithuanian-Danish mounted patrols in the streets of Rukla took place. Smiles, praises, amazement and hospitality illuminated each meeting of allied troops and local civilians.
Members of the Danish and Lithuanian CIMIC companies also had a chance of working together. It was an excellent week in terms of profession. The military were sharing knowledge, discussing and "looking after" civilians. The CIMIC team was supervised by Captain Henrik Lehmann Madsen, CIMIC Officer of the Danish Division, and Captain Marius Geležiūnas, Commander of the 801 CIMIC Company, 8th Territorial Unit, National Defence Volunteer Force.
According to the exercise scenario, the participants were visiting various institutions and facing such challenges as deterioration of security situation, possible chemical disasters and neutralisation efforts, possible operation of civilian transportation lines for military purposes, and assistance to refugees and other vulnerable groups of people. The meetings required appropriate training of joint Danish-Lithuanian groups, negotiation skills and quick reaction abilities. Detailed feedback after each meeting helped identifying aspects that needed improvement.
Although the exercise has not concluded yet, it may be stated that the CIMIC purposes have been achieved comprehensively: relations have been established with civilian institutions, allied forces have been presented, agreements made on further active cooperation, and friends made what is most important.
"I was absolutely convinced about the success of our tasks in terms of professionalism: we have similar doctrinal documents regulating the activities of our and other allies' CIMIC teams. I could not wait to arrive in Rukla, I was even browsing through a Danish-Lithuanian dictionary and took interest in the history of Denmark," 1LT Vidmantas Kuprevičius said.
"Our base Olivia is permanently under attack at the exercise, therefore we need to take cover all the time. This is my first exercise of such type. I must admit, I was excited. Different armed forces, different uniforms, and the unknown. However, my anxiety seized when the first task of patrolling in the town of Rukla and civilian situation estimation was completed. We all speak the language that we all understand, we are using similar tactics and procedures, and we are a part of the big NATO family," commander of the CIMIC team 1LT Dinas Kundrotas said.
According to PV2 Olegas Konovolopas, participation in such an exercise is not only fun but also beneficial. He is convinced that the exercise will help building further successful military cooperation.
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This year Exercise Saber Strike 2014 running June 9-20 comprises concurrent brigade-level command post exercise in the three Baltic States and tactical field training in Lithuania and Latvia. The U.S. Army in Europe-led exercise aims at training interoperability in combined NATO units, coordination of actions, and the capacity to execute defensive and offensive operations.
The exercise involves the record number of participants, over 4.5 thousand troops from 10 NATO member and partner nations: Denmark, Estonia, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Norway and Finland. Several hundreds of them are training in Estonia, approx. 2 thousand in Latvia and approx. 2.3 thousand in Lithuania.
Prepared by CPT Marius Geležiūnas and 1LT Vidmantas Kuprevičius
Photo credits: CPT Marius Geležiūnas and PV2 Vilius Džiavečka
