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If someone took a look around the expansive warehouse on Rhine Ordnance Barracks they’d see a lot of equipment and activity, from computers with massive displays to simulated-live radar feeds. But to look at the host of shoulder-sleeve insignias, representing Soldiers’ military organizations, someone may think they were in a military clothing sales shop. The so-called unit patches darting between makeshift rooms and battle spaces (designed to give the facility a real-world deployed atmosphere) are countless.
Soldiers from units across U.S. Army Europe came together Feb. 28 at Rhine Ordnance Barracks in support of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command’s semiannual command post exercise.
The automated missile defense exercise trains Soldiers and supporting civilians on deployment operations for executing missile defense support and civil-military operations should global developments require them. From the tactical operation of identifying and destroying ballistic missile threats, to the strategic planning and execution of moving troops and establishing a joint and multinational headquarters, the AAMDC-CPX covers it all. The event is scheduled to last three weeks.
“We get the opportunity to exercise nearly every facet of how we’ll deploy members of the USAREUR team and the 10th AAMDC to conduct ballistic missile defense when the call comes,” said Maj. Liam Kingdon, chief of operations with the 10th AAMDC. “It really is a great chance to bring folks together from all over and rehearse what we’ll be asked to do when the time comes.”
The gathered participants come from a host of USAREUR units across Germany, including Headquarters-USAREUR, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 30th Medical Brigade, 66th Military Intelligence Brigade and 60th Geospatial Planning Cell, among others. In addition to their equipment, the Soldiers arrived with a wide array of expertise and military occupational specialties.
“Our job on the intelligence team is to provide predictive analysis in our area of operations based on trends in missile activity,” said Pfc. Andrew Hernandez, intelligence analyst with B Co., 24th Military Intelligence Battalion, 66th Military Intelligence Brigade, located in Wiesbaden. “I like this exercise because there are Soldiers here from all over with different skills to exchange.”
The assembled team could potentially come together again for future Juniper Cobra bilateral missile defense exercises in Israel, as well as in the event a deployment is required.
“I’m excited about the possibility of conducting an exercise like this in another location and working with Soldiers from another country,” said Spc. Justin Levesque, geospatial engineer with the 60th Engineer Geospatial Planning Cell. “If there’s a chance to deploy and do this mission, I’m ready.”
