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Soldiers of the 7th Civil Support Command conducted a combined partnership event with soldiers from the Romanian and German armies, who came to share their skills and knowledge with the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade and experience firsthand how to qualify on U.S. weapon systems Sept. 14 on Daenner Kaserne.
Civil-military cooperation, building partner capacity events and exercises are high priorities for the 7th CSC, which works with allied nations such as the Romanian and German armies in order to strengthen the relationships between Soldiers.
“As part of the building partner capacity mission from U.S. Army Europe, we have Romania here as the final event for this fiscal year, and this one is important to me because it is the first one where I am the commander,” said Col. Robert W. LeValley, commander of the 361st CA Bde.
The Romanian soldiers began their visit by testing their capabilities on the Engagement Skills Trainer located at the Panzer Kaserne Training Support Center.
The simulation allowed all members to work with various weapon systems ranging from the M9 pistol to rocket launchers in a safe environment and while simultaneously competing with U.S. Soldiers for marksmanship supremacy.
“The ultimate goal is to build a bond with the Romanians as part of the NATO exercises and at the end of the day have points of contact from different countries for a joint civil military operation cell that would put together a refined product or plan for an exercise or a real world mission,” LeValley said.
Meanwhile, nine Soldiers from the 1st Company, 263rd Parachutist Battalion, Zweibrücken, Germany, qualified with the M16 rifle after receiving basic rifle marksmanship training from Staff Sgt. Gary Frobart, a logistics specialist with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7th CSC, and the noncommissioned officer in charge of the qualification range.
“Even though I am fluent in German, the military terminology made it a little difficult to communicate,” Frobart said. “The German soldiers have never used an M16 rifle before, and a lot of them just came into the military and were unfamiliar with basic marksmanship.”
Despite the communication challenges, the German soldiers qualified with amazing
results ― one expert, five sharp-shooter and three marksmen. They also offered 7th CSC Soldiers an opportunity to earn German airborne wings.
Romanian and 361st CA Bde. soldiers are planning future opportunities to build upon their knowledge of civil military operations and their partnership.
“We learned a lot about the similarities between our civil-military operations and your U.S. civil affairs, and we are fighting for the same side,” said Lt. George Toroi, a civil-military cooperation officer for the Romanian army.
The 7th Civil Support Command, headquartered in Kaiserslautern, is equipped and organized to conduct foreign consequence management, civil support, civil affairs and CBRN missions as directed by 21st Theater Support Command
or higher in support of combatant commanders.
The 7th CSC is the only Army Reserve unit that is based outside the U.S., the only operational Army Reserve unit that is a direct reporting unit to an active component command, and the only Army Reserve or USAREUR unit with foreign consequence management capabilities.
