BABADAG TRAINING AREA, Romania -- Marines and Sailors with scout platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Tank Battalion, left their home away from home at Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu Airfield, May 17, to begin peacekeeping operations training with Romanian forces at nearby Babadag Training Area.
“I want to learn the best things I can,” said Romanian Marine Sgt. Tony Adrian, a squad leader with Amphibious Co., 307th Bn., and a native of Tulcea, Romania. “This training will help the U.S. and Romanians work better together in combat, and we will see what the next weeks bring.”
Over the next two weeks, scout platoon and the Romanian forces will sharpen their skills across the spectrum of training for peacekeeping operations, including nonlethal weapons and fixed-site security.
“We’re catering the training to what they want to learn,” said Sgt. Shane Cell, a squad leader with scout platoon, H and S Co., 1st Tank Bn. “We have based the training schedule on the things they are most interested in learning more about, and we added a few classes they were really interested in, like [Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain].
Scout platoon, based out of Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., serves as the ground combat element of the Security Cooperation Marine Air-Ground Task Force deployed to Eastern Europe for Black Sea Rotational Force. The force is Marine Corps Forces Europe’s commitment to a rotating presence of Marines in Eastern Europe to meet U.S. European Command’s theater security objectives.
“With the Romanian land forces as well as the Romanian Marines, it’s an opportunity for us to bolster relationships with partner nations,” said 1st Lt. Marc Tucker, the scout platoon commander, H and S Co., 1st Tank Bn. “It’s an opportunity for us to exchange techniques, tactics and procedures that both of us have refined since the inception of the Global War on Terrorism.”
The Marines are working in the Black Sea, Balkan and Caucasus regions to promote regional stability, build enduring partnerships and build the capacity of partner nation’s military forces.
“It really is an opportunity for us, as brothers in the fight, to get to know each other’s capabilities and limitations,” said Tucker, a Silver Spring, Md., native. “This training is broken down into 14 different segments - a wide variety of different United Nations and NATO reference-based materials, and ranges from convoy operations and [Improvised Explosive Device] awareness, to fundamentals of peacekeeping operations.”
Marines said despite a difference in language, there’s no doubt Romanian troops of all ranks are highly motivated and ready to train.
“There’s no question that the Romanians are a viable force,” Tucker said. “It’s been very encouraging knowing the willingness and motivation that goes into not just the staff and officer side, but the enlisted Marines and soldiers that are out here.”
Even though the Marines and Sailors of scout platoon will serve as instructors, they said they also look forward to the opportunity to gain knowledge from a partner nation.
“This is a two-way street,” said Cell, a Parker, Colo., native. “We came here to teach, but we also came here to learn. There are always things you can take away from any armed service, and that’s what we intend to do.”