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French army cadet 2nd Lt. Guillaume Charlet zeros and qualifies on the M4 rifle during the 66th Transportation Company range week Jan. 28.
Allied officers built rapport, as well as interoperability, as the 21st Theater Sustainment Command hosted three cadets from the French Combined Arms Academy Jan. 18 to Feb. 12 as part of an ongoing annual program that pairs French Army cadets with major subordinate units within the organization.
Cadets Guillaume Charlet, Olivier Galeron and Guillaume Petit served concise but valuable tours with the 39th Transportation Battalion, the 421st Medical Battalion and the 15th Engineer Battalion, respectively.
The cadets shadowed leaders in each of the units, participating in a variety of training events and developmental efforts during their three-week stint with the TSC.
Charlet’s time with the 39th Trans. Bn. was spent primarily with personnel from the 66th Transportation Company, providing him an ideal opportunity to learn about vehicle and equipment dispatch procedures, preventative maintenance on combat vehicles, precombat inspections, and the U.S. Army standard five-paragraph operations order.
Charlet also spent time convoying with the unit and even visited the range, firing the M249 machine gun and the M4 carbine.
Galeron spent most of his time with the 8th Medical Company, of the 421st Medical Battalion, conducting daily physical training with its Soldiers. His time with the unit was focused on familiarization with U.S. Army medical logistics procedures and systems. Galeron also had the opportunity to participate in a company-level field-training exercise.
Petit’s visit with the 15th Eng. Bn. focused on the day-to-day duties of three platoon leaders across the battalion. He observed how the leaders interact with their Soldiers, develop plans and execute training. He also enjoyed rare opportunities to work directly with heavy engineer equipment and dump trucks as well as participate in a concrete form-work project.
The program is intended not only to help build a sense of partnership among U.S. Soldiers and allies but also develop very real and practical knowledge for these cadets, who may soon find themselves operating alongside U.S. forces on NATO missions.
French cadet Oliver Galeron of the French Combined Arms Academy inspects his target Feb. 4 after a day at the small arms range on Baumholder.
“Transportation and sustainment as a whole are rather new to me,” Charlet said. “The insight with 66th Transportation Company will be truly valuable, especially with the current mission surge in United States Army Europe.”
According to 2nd Lt. Zach Marusa, the platoon leader in 15th Eng. Bn. who served as Petit’s primary sponsor, the program benefited sponsoring units as well as cadets.
“We talk about interoperability all the time, and you read about it all over the place,” Marusa said. “Having worked with an actual French cadet puts a real face to that idea. Now when I think of the word interoperability, I don’t just think of something from a PowerPoint brief; I think of Guillaume Petit.”
