RoYaL~GuJJaR
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Messages
- 4,370
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
Last edited by a moderator:
Yudh Abhyas 2013 at Fort Bragg Begins
- Thread starter indian_foxhound
- Start date
COLDHEARTED AVIATOR
BANNED
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2010
- Messages
- 5,052
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
I think i am seeing 'camelbak' in most pics posted here.
Jayanta
BANNED
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,413
- Reaction score
- -4
- Country
- Location
Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles, perform the Khukri Dance performance by Indian Army # Yudh Abhyas 2013.
More at this link - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151498004778071.1073741873.87167763070&type=1
"If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha."-Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw
Dandpatta
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2012
- Messages
- 1,162
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
Yudh Abhyas enhances US, Indian Army partnership | Article | The United States Army
FORT BRAGG, N.C.-- The U.S. Army Pacific sponsored a bilateral training exercise between the U.S. and Indian Army May 3-17 focused on the two country's cultures, weapons training and tactics.
Yudh Abhyas, Hindi for "training for war," is an annual exercise brings together two battle-hardened armies beyond the typical footprints of war. After nine years of conducting this operation, lifetime bonds between U.S. and Indian Soldiers have developed.
The Indian Army's 99th Mountain Brigade and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division participated in this year's exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C.. Other units represented were the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Calvary Regiment from the U.S. forces; and from India, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurka Rifles; the 50th Independent Para Brigade, and the 54th Engineers Regiment.
"This partnership is one of the very good things that has happened between the United States and India," said Brig. Gen Jagdish Chaudari, Indian Army's 99th Mt. Bde commander.
"We have interacted with at least 500 Army personnel here, if not more, and I think those interpersonal relationships will carry on for a long time," Chaudari explained.
These Soldiers trained and planned side-by-side with one another during a series of field training and command post exercises.
"That was the highlight for me," said Maj. Greg Phillips, USARPAC's India desk officer. "It demonstrates that our Soldiers can work with anyone anywhere in the world."
For this training scenario, Indian and U.S Soldiers operated together under a United Nations mandate and had to overcome operational, logistical, humanitarian and legal challenges to achieve mission success.
"We [sought] to integrate our troops, our equipment and focus our training so we will be able to achieve such a task if the future ever presents it," said Col. Anindya Sengupta, a planning officer for the 99th Mountain Bde.
This planning process is what helped develop the bond between the Soldiers, Sengupta said. Despite a bit of a language barrier between some of them, they were all on the same accord when it came down to understanding the objective.
"As [Soldiers], we have a common thing about language. We understand each other," explained Sengupta. "The Americans have operated less in the U.N., where the Indians have operated more. However, the U.N. procedures are more common to the American procedures. So therefore, there is a lot of understanding that is inherent.
"Since the language is common and since many of the procedures are similar, our understanding of the operation and our understanding of the execution is there."
This exercise will shift to India next year and may involve different units from both sides. By incorporating different units and shifting back and forth between the two countries, it helps the Soldiers get a broader aspect of one another's culture and helps to maximize bilateral readiness & the understanding of capabilities between the two armies, Phillips said.
"They are teaching us their culture and values, so we can understand how to evaluate them," Phillips said." It was a delight to work with the Indian Army because they are professional, competent Soldiers who are able to teach us a lot and learn from us while doing so."
FORT BRAGG, N.C.-- The U.S. Army Pacific sponsored a bilateral training exercise between the U.S. and Indian Army May 3-17 focused on the two country's cultures, weapons training and tactics.
Yudh Abhyas, Hindi for "training for war," is an annual exercise brings together two battle-hardened armies beyond the typical footprints of war. After nine years of conducting this operation, lifetime bonds between U.S. and Indian Soldiers have developed.
The Indian Army's 99th Mountain Brigade and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division participated in this year's exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C.. Other units represented were the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Calvary Regiment from the U.S. forces; and from India, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurka Rifles; the 50th Independent Para Brigade, and the 54th Engineers Regiment.
"This partnership is one of the very good things that has happened between the United States and India," said Brig. Gen Jagdish Chaudari, Indian Army's 99th Mt. Bde commander.
"We have interacted with at least 500 Army personnel here, if not more, and I think those interpersonal relationships will carry on for a long time," Chaudari explained.
These Soldiers trained and planned side-by-side with one another during a series of field training and command post exercises.
"That was the highlight for me," said Maj. Greg Phillips, USARPAC's India desk officer. "It demonstrates that our Soldiers can work with anyone anywhere in the world."
For this training scenario, Indian and U.S Soldiers operated together under a United Nations mandate and had to overcome operational, logistical, humanitarian and legal challenges to achieve mission success.
"We [sought] to integrate our troops, our equipment and focus our training so we will be able to achieve such a task if the future ever presents it," said Col. Anindya Sengupta, a planning officer for the 99th Mountain Bde.
This planning process is what helped develop the bond between the Soldiers, Sengupta said. Despite a bit of a language barrier between some of them, they were all on the same accord when it came down to understanding the objective.
"As [Soldiers], we have a common thing about language. We understand each other," explained Sengupta. "The Americans have operated less in the U.N., where the Indians have operated more. However, the U.N. procedures are more common to the American procedures. So therefore, there is a lot of understanding that is inherent.
"Since the language is common and since many of the procedures are similar, our understanding of the operation and our understanding of the execution is there."
This exercise will shift to India next year and may involve different units from both sides. By incorporating different units and shifting back and forth between the two countries, it helps the Soldiers get a broader aspect of one another's culture and helps to maximize bilateral readiness & the understanding of capabilities between the two armies, Phillips said.
"They are teaching us their culture and values, so we can understand how to evaluate them," Phillips said." It was a delight to work with the Indian Army because they are professional, competent Soldiers who are able to teach us a lot and learn from us while doing so."
RPK
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6,862
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
Paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team and the Indian army's 50th Independent Para Brigade exit a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, May 15, above St. Mere Eglise Drop Zone on Fort Bragg, N.C. The jump was part of Yudh Abhyas...
Sgt. 1st Class Garrett Williams, a jumpmaster with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, signals paratroopers aboard a CH47 Chinook helicopter to stand up to prepare to jump May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The training is part of...
Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team check their equipment one last time before exiting a CH47 Chinook helicopter during an airborne...
Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team verify to the jumpmaster that their equipment is ready before exiting a CH47 Chinook helicopter during...
An Indian Army paratrooper smiles before jumping from a CH47 Chinook helicopter with paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team during an airborne training operation May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The training is part of...
Sgt. 1st Class Garrett Williams, a jumpmaster with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, looks for visual cues that his CH47 Chinook helicopter is approaching the drop zone so that he can ready the paratroopers aboard May 15, 2013, at...
First Lt. Andrew McCornack, a jumpmaster with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, moves down the ramp of a CH47 Chinook helicopter to exit the aircraft May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. Also aboard are Indian Army paratroopers with...
First Lt. Andrew McCornack, a jumpmaster with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, exits a CH47 Chinook helicopter May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. Also parachuting were Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para...
RPK
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6,862
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
An Indian Army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade prepares to exit a CH47 Chinook helicopter during a partnered airborne training exercise with U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 15...
An Indian Army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade exits a CH47 Chinook helicopter during a partnered airborne training exercise with U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 15, 2013, at Fort...
An Indian Army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade exits a CH47 Chinook helicopter during a partnered airborne training exercise with U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 15, 2013, at Fort...
U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division using the Army's new T11 parachutes land on St. Mere Eglise drop zone during an airborne training operation May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. Also jumping were paratroopers with the Indian Army's...
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Manning, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, lands on St. Mere Eglise drop zone during an airborne training operation May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. Also jumping were paratroopers with the Indian Army's...
Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team load a CH47 Chinook helicopter for a training jump May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The training is...
Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team load a CH47 Chinook helicopter for a training jump May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The training is...
An Indian army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade removes his reserve parachute, May 15, after landing on St. Mere Eglise Drop Zone on Fort Bragg, N.C., during a jump with paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade...
RPK
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6,862
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
Pfc. Habeeb H. Almashala, an infantryman with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, walks off St. Mere Eglise Drop Zone on Fort Bragg, N.C., May 15, with Spc. Roop Kishor, a paratrooper with the Indian army's 50th Independent Para...
Sgt. Bajrang Lal Shekhawat, a paratrooper with the Indian army's 50th Independent Para Brigade prepares to pack his parachute after landing on St. Mere Eglise Drop Zone on Fort Bragg, N.C., May 15. Indian paratroopers jumped from a CH-47 Chinook...
Indian and U.S. Army paratroopers "buddy rig" into parachute harnesses for a jump from CH47 Chinook helicopters May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The paratroopers are assigned to the Indian Army 50th Independent Para Brigade and the U.S. Army, 82nd...
An Indian Army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade is helped into a T11 parachute by a U.S. Army paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The paratroopers are preparing for...
Lt. Col. Phillip Sounia, commander of 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, inspects the parachute of an Indian Army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade prior to an airborne operation May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The cavalry...
Indian and U.S. Army paratroopers chat while waiting for CH47 Chinook helicopters to pick them up for an airborne operation May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The paratroopers are assigned to the Indian Army 50th Independent Para Brigade and the U.S...
Paratroopers with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and the Indian Army 50th Independent Para Brigade exit from a CH47 Chinook helicopter May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The airborne operation is part of annual bilateral training between the...
RPK
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6,862
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
First Lt. Andrew McCornack, a jumpmaster with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, rehearses actions aboard the aircraft with his "chalk" of paratroopers prior to making a jump from a CH47 Chinook helicopter May 15, 2013, at Fort...
A jumpmaster with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team waits for a CH47 Chinook helicopter to land so that he can load his "chalk" of paratroopers aboard for a training jump May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The chalk included Indian...
U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division load CH47 Chinook helicopters for a training jump May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. Paratroopers train to jump from a variety of aircraft. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod)
Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team load a CH47 Chinook helicopter for a training jump May 15, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The training is...
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Phillip Sounia, a cavalry squadron commander with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team presents American jump wings to Capt. Arya Nimit, a paratrooper with the Indian army's 50th Independent Para Brigade, May 15, on...
haha
RPK
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6,862
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
Yudh Abhyas enhances U.S., Indian Army partnership : Hawaii Army Weekly
Soldiers from the Indian army’s 99th Mt. Bde. watch and snap photos of a Chinook helicopter lowering a Howitzer onto a field as part of a heavy-equipment drop demonstration held as part of Yudh Abyhas 2013
Maj. James Bredeman (right), foreign affairs officer, USARPAC, practices jump drills with Indian and U.S. Soldiers before loading up on an aircraft and preparing to jump during Yudh Abyhas 2013.
Lt. Gen. Francis Wiercinski (left), commander, USARPAC, and Indian army Brig. Gen. Vinod Bhatia, commander, 99th Mountain Bde., provide positive feedback to a Soldier following his detailed presentation on weapons systems and tactical vehicles during Yudh Abyhas 2013.
FORT BRAGG — U.S. Army-Pacific sponsored a bilateral training exercise with the Indian army, May 3-17, that focused on the two countries’ cultures, weapons training and tactics.
Yudh Abhyas, Hindi for “training for war,” is an annual exercise that brings together two battle-hardened armies beyond the typical footprints of war.
After nine years of conducting this operation, lifetime bonds between U.S. and Indian Soldiers have developed.
The Indian army’s 99th Mountain Brigade and the 1st Bde. Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, participated in this year’s exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C. Other units represented were the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Calvary Regiment, from the U.S. forces, and from India, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurka Rifles; the 50th Independent Para Bde.; and the 54th Engineers Regt.
“This partnership is one of the very good things that has happened between the United States and India,” said Brig. Gen Jagdish Chaudari, commander, 99th Mt. Bde. “We have interacted with at least 500 Army personnel here, if not more, and I think those interpersonal relationships will carry on for a long time.”
The Soldiers trained and planned side-by-side during a series of field and command post exercises.
“That was the highlight for me,” said Maj. Greg Phillips, USARPAC’s India desk officer. “It demonstrates that our Soldiers can work with anyone anywhere in the world.”
For this training scenario, Indian and U.S Soldiers operated together under a United Nations mandate and had to overcome operational, logistical, humanitarian and legal challenges to achieve mission success.
“We (sought) to integrate our troops, our equipment and focus our training, so we will be able to achieve such a task if the future ever presents it,” said Col. Anindya Sengupta, planning officer, 99th Mt. Bde.
This planning process is what helped develop the bond between the Soldiers, Sengupta said. Despite a bit of a language barrier between some of them, they were all on the same accord when it came down to understanding the objective.
“As (Soldiers), we have a common thing about language. We understand each other,” explained Sengupta. “The Americans have operated less in the U.N., where the Indians have operated more. However, the U.N. procedures are more common to the American procedures. So therefore, there is a lot of understanding that is inherent.
“Since the language is common and since many of the procedures are similar, our understanding of the operation and our understanding of the execution is there,” Sengupta added.
This exercise will shift to India next year and may involve different units from both sides. Incorporating different units and shifting back and forth between the two countries helps Soldiers get a broader aspect of one another’s culture and helps to maximize bilateral readiness and the understanding of capabilities between the two armies, Phillips said.
“They are teaching us their culture and values, so we can understand how to evaluate them,” Phillips said.” It was a delight to work with the Indian Army because they are professional, competent Soldiers who are able to teach us a lot and learn from us while doing so.”
Soldiers from the Indian army’s 99th Mt. Bde. watch and snap photos of a Chinook helicopter lowering a Howitzer onto a field as part of a heavy-equipment drop demonstration held as part of Yudh Abyhas 2013
Maj. James Bredeman (right), foreign affairs officer, USARPAC, practices jump drills with Indian and U.S. Soldiers before loading up on an aircraft and preparing to jump during Yudh Abyhas 2013.
Lt. Gen. Francis Wiercinski (left), commander, USARPAC, and Indian army Brig. Gen. Vinod Bhatia, commander, 99th Mountain Bde., provide positive feedback to a Soldier following his detailed presentation on weapons systems and tactical vehicles during Yudh Abyhas 2013.
FORT BRAGG — U.S. Army-Pacific sponsored a bilateral training exercise with the Indian army, May 3-17, that focused on the two countries’ cultures, weapons training and tactics.
Yudh Abhyas, Hindi for “training for war,” is an annual exercise that brings together two battle-hardened armies beyond the typical footprints of war.
After nine years of conducting this operation, lifetime bonds between U.S. and Indian Soldiers have developed.
The Indian army’s 99th Mountain Brigade and the 1st Bde. Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, participated in this year’s exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C. Other units represented were the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Calvary Regiment, from the U.S. forces, and from India, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurka Rifles; the 50th Independent Para Bde.; and the 54th Engineers Regt.
“This partnership is one of the very good things that has happened between the United States and India,” said Brig. Gen Jagdish Chaudari, commander, 99th Mt. Bde. “We have interacted with at least 500 Army personnel here, if not more, and I think those interpersonal relationships will carry on for a long time.”
The Soldiers trained and planned side-by-side during a series of field and command post exercises.
“That was the highlight for me,” said Maj. Greg Phillips, USARPAC’s India desk officer. “It demonstrates that our Soldiers can work with anyone anywhere in the world.”
For this training scenario, Indian and U.S Soldiers operated together under a United Nations mandate and had to overcome operational, logistical, humanitarian and legal challenges to achieve mission success.
“We (sought) to integrate our troops, our equipment and focus our training, so we will be able to achieve such a task if the future ever presents it,” said Col. Anindya Sengupta, planning officer, 99th Mt. Bde.
This planning process is what helped develop the bond between the Soldiers, Sengupta said. Despite a bit of a language barrier between some of them, they were all on the same accord when it came down to understanding the objective.
“As (Soldiers), we have a common thing about language. We understand each other,” explained Sengupta. “The Americans have operated less in the U.N., where the Indians have operated more. However, the U.N. procedures are more common to the American procedures. So therefore, there is a lot of understanding that is inherent.
“Since the language is common and since many of the procedures are similar, our understanding of the operation and our understanding of the execution is there,” Sengupta added.
This exercise will shift to India next year and may involve different units from both sides. Incorporating different units and shifting back and forth between the two countries helps Soldiers get a broader aspect of one another’s culture and helps to maximize bilateral readiness and the understanding of capabilities between the two armies, Phillips said.
“They are teaching us their culture and values, so we can understand how to evaluate them,” Phillips said.” It was a delight to work with the Indian Army because they are professional, competent Soldiers who are able to teach us a lot and learn from us while doing so.”
RPK
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6,862
- Reaction score
- -6
- Country
- Location
http://www.army.mil/article/104086/Indian_Army_comes_to_the_Home_of_the_Airborne/
Indian soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles, and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team exit a CH47 Chinook helicopter during a field training exercise May 11, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The exercise...
Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade climb through the window of an mock insurgent compound during a company-level field exercise with U.S. Army paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 14...
Indian Army Col. Prashant Kandpal, commander of 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles, 99th Mountain Brigade, and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Phillip Sounia, commander of 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, lead an...
An Indian Army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade prepares to exit a CH47 Chinook helicopter during a partnered airborne training exercise with U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 15...
FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- What enduring benefit can be gained when two armies, each over a million strong, chip in 200 soldiers apiece for partnered training?
"You'd be surprised," said Blaire Harms, a former military intelligence officer of 21 years and current exercise planner for United States Army Pacific. Case in point: Yudh Abhyas, an annual training exercise between the armies of India and the U.S. that Harms has taken the lead on planning for the last five years, running its ninth iteration May 3-17.
"Especially in foreign militaries where the terms of service are longer, onesies and twosies stay in to carry the training forward," she said.
The initial term of service in the Indian Army is 15 years.
From a company-sized engagement in 2004, Yudh Abhyas 2013 was executed with battalion-level field exercises and brigade-level command-post exercises.
This year's exercise paired historically heralded units from both countries -- the Indian Army Gurkhas assigned to the 99th Mountain Brigade, the Indian paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade, and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team (504th Parachute Infantry Regiment).
While still sponsored by USARPAC, the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C., hosted this year's training.
Fittingly, the capstone exercise was a combined airborne operation.
"The camaraderie I saw here has been outstanding," said Harms. "Everything has been developing proportionally each year."
While the vastness of the Pacific region makes strong partnerships all the more important, it also makes them more logistically challenging. The old adage of "500 miles is a long distance in Europe, 500 years a long time in America" does not apply. The history is deep, the distances great.
Since 2005, Harms has been involved with planning bilateral U.S. training operations with Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and India, she said.
Personally, Harms believes that economic challenges in the region may in fact overshadow military ones, but because the military is such a major player in many Pacific Rim countries and because military leaders often move on to positions of political leadership, bilateral training is a very practical way to engage them and to re-enforce the benign nature of the U.S. military, that it really is there to help, she said.
Capt. David Von Bargen, a battalion-level military intelligence officer with 82nd's 1st Brigade Combat Team, said that the logistics involved with bringing the two armies together provides much of the challenge but also much of the knowledge gain.
"Scheduling the flights, getting embassy to embassy and higher-level commands talking is a big portion, so if we need to do this again, whether it is for additional training or some sort of real-life aid scenario, we have those systems in place," Von Bargen said.
Von Bargen's job was to build an opponent force for the participating soldiers to face during partnered field training, and then to deliver intelligence on the opposing forces to those troops.
A seven-year veteran who has been in and out of combat multiple times, Von Bargen
said his goal was to build a realistic scenario that was useful to the commander and soldiers doing the training, while simultaneously building bilateral relationships.
"Relationships at all levels," he reiterated. "Even privates need to see the other army not just as partners, but as equals."
The Indian Army commander of the 99th Mountain Brigade, 26-year veteran Brig. Gen. Jagdish Chaudhari, said the way Indian and America soldiers think and act is essentially the same. The profession of soldiering is such that it demands certain attributes that one finds in any army.
The other brigadier who attended this year's event, Indian military attaché and paratrooper, Brig. Gen. Ashok Dhingra, explained:
"Our culture may be different, but our attitude and approach to work, what we yearn and fight for and honor -- those qualities are just the same. However, when you have a hierarchy of other institutions and organizations affecting the way you work, you find there are certain roadblocks, bureaucratic procedural delays and lack of understanding that comes about."
Yudh Abhyas spurred both armies to become more self-aware of those challenges and how to surmount them, he said.
During this year's exercise, there were very few troops in either force who had not experienced combat. That and the professional execution of training, including live-fire ranges, situational training exercises, and combined air assaults and airborne operations, made soldiers of each army receptive and respectful while learning from the other.
"We know that the U.S. Army is one of the strongest armies in the world, so we want to know why, and what we can learn from them," said company 1st Sgt. Indra Kumar Pradhan of 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles.
A self-described connoisseur of outdoor adventure and physical activities, Pradhan said that the Indian Army also has its strengths, one of those being its ability to be effective in challenging topography.
"We operate in mountainous jungle," he said. "In India, that starts at 9,000 feet. We don't have the technology that the U.S. Army has, so we have to do everything manually and physically."
The Gurkhas are superbly fit.
Many U.S. soldiers commented favorably throughout the exercise on the Gurhkas' ability to move silently and quickly through the forest, using a minimum of verbal communication to maneuver.
As light infantry, paratroopers have great respect for that.
Brigadier Dhingra, who works out of Washington D.C. and came down for the exercise in part to represent the Indian airborne contingent, said that jumping with his countrymen at the Home of the Airborne was a dream come true.
"That is something that I think I will keep in the corner of my heart forever," said Dhingra.
North Carolina's stormy spring weather thwarted the Indian paratroopers' first attempts to jump with the 82nd Paratroopers, and as a major facet of the capstone field exercise, cancelling the jump altogether was something that no paratrooper wanted to do.
"But you know, even if something is dominating your thoughts, it doesn't come to the fore when you are executing the very basic drills and actions that you are expected to be taking on [during an airborne operation]," said Dhingra of his thoughts when he finally made it to the jump door above a Fort Bragg drop zone.
"It was the culmination of all the things we have been attempting to do over the last two weeks," he said. "It was a huge sense of satisfaction finally leaving the aircraft."
For Harms, Yudh Abhyas 2013 was a fifth consecutive win for the bilateral planning team, that also generated fresh ideas for next year's exercise in northern India.
For the soldiers on the ground, it proved to be a curious mix of the rigors of field training and the cultural abstractions of world travel, without the travel.
For Dhingra, who was in his third month of overseeing defense activities between the two countries at his new post in D.C., it helped to quickly settle him into the role.
"From here I can only look at the sky and have blue skies," he said. "I am sure when I get back home, I will be able to influence and get those good things I have learned into our organization."
The general said that he had personally benefited from joint training at the right time in his military career. It molded him and changed his attitude about the kinds of things the Indian Army might do to enhance its skills, and to pass along its skills to theater partners.
"If I am here today, perhaps it is because of the good things that I did in the days before," he said.
Indian soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles, and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team exit a CH47 Chinook helicopter during a field training exercise May 11, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The exercise...
Indian Army paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade climb through the window of an mock insurgent compound during a company-level field exercise with U.S. Army paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 14...
Indian Army Col. Prashant Kandpal, commander of 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles, 99th Mountain Brigade, and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Phillip Sounia, commander of 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, lead an...
An Indian Army paratrooper with the 50th Independent Para Brigade prepares to exit a CH47 Chinook helicopter during a partnered airborne training exercise with U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team May 15...
FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- What enduring benefit can be gained when two armies, each over a million strong, chip in 200 soldiers apiece for partnered training?
"You'd be surprised," said Blaire Harms, a former military intelligence officer of 21 years and current exercise planner for United States Army Pacific. Case in point: Yudh Abhyas, an annual training exercise between the armies of India and the U.S. that Harms has taken the lead on planning for the last five years, running its ninth iteration May 3-17.
"Especially in foreign militaries where the terms of service are longer, onesies and twosies stay in to carry the training forward," she said.
The initial term of service in the Indian Army is 15 years.
From a company-sized engagement in 2004, Yudh Abhyas 2013 was executed with battalion-level field exercises and brigade-level command-post exercises.
This year's exercise paired historically heralded units from both countries -- the Indian Army Gurkhas assigned to the 99th Mountain Brigade, the Indian paratroopers with the 50th Independent Para Brigade, and U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team (504th Parachute Infantry Regiment).
While still sponsored by USARPAC, the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C., hosted this year's training.
Fittingly, the capstone exercise was a combined airborne operation.
"The camaraderie I saw here has been outstanding," said Harms. "Everything has been developing proportionally each year."
While the vastness of the Pacific region makes strong partnerships all the more important, it also makes them more logistically challenging. The old adage of "500 miles is a long distance in Europe, 500 years a long time in America" does not apply. The history is deep, the distances great.
Since 2005, Harms has been involved with planning bilateral U.S. training operations with Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and India, she said.
Personally, Harms believes that economic challenges in the region may in fact overshadow military ones, but because the military is such a major player in many Pacific Rim countries and because military leaders often move on to positions of political leadership, bilateral training is a very practical way to engage them and to re-enforce the benign nature of the U.S. military, that it really is there to help, she said.
Capt. David Von Bargen, a battalion-level military intelligence officer with 82nd's 1st Brigade Combat Team, said that the logistics involved with bringing the two armies together provides much of the challenge but also much of the knowledge gain.
"Scheduling the flights, getting embassy to embassy and higher-level commands talking is a big portion, so if we need to do this again, whether it is for additional training or some sort of real-life aid scenario, we have those systems in place," Von Bargen said.
Von Bargen's job was to build an opponent force for the participating soldiers to face during partnered field training, and then to deliver intelligence on the opposing forces to those troops.
A seven-year veteran who has been in and out of combat multiple times, Von Bargen
said his goal was to build a realistic scenario that was useful to the commander and soldiers doing the training, while simultaneously building bilateral relationships.
"Relationships at all levels," he reiterated. "Even privates need to see the other army not just as partners, but as equals."
The Indian Army commander of the 99th Mountain Brigade, 26-year veteran Brig. Gen. Jagdish Chaudhari, said the way Indian and America soldiers think and act is essentially the same. The profession of soldiering is such that it demands certain attributes that one finds in any army.
The other brigadier who attended this year's event, Indian military attaché and paratrooper, Brig. Gen. Ashok Dhingra, explained:
"Our culture may be different, but our attitude and approach to work, what we yearn and fight for and honor -- those qualities are just the same. However, when you have a hierarchy of other institutions and organizations affecting the way you work, you find there are certain roadblocks, bureaucratic procedural delays and lack of understanding that comes about."
Yudh Abhyas spurred both armies to become more self-aware of those challenges and how to surmount them, he said.
During this year's exercise, there were very few troops in either force who had not experienced combat. That and the professional execution of training, including live-fire ranges, situational training exercises, and combined air assaults and airborne operations, made soldiers of each army receptive and respectful while learning from the other.
"We know that the U.S. Army is one of the strongest armies in the world, so we want to know why, and what we can learn from them," said company 1st Sgt. Indra Kumar Pradhan of 2nd Battalion, 5th Gurkha Rifles.
A self-described connoisseur of outdoor adventure and physical activities, Pradhan said that the Indian Army also has its strengths, one of those being its ability to be effective in challenging topography.
"We operate in mountainous jungle," he said. "In India, that starts at 9,000 feet. We don't have the technology that the U.S. Army has, so we have to do everything manually and physically."
The Gurkhas are superbly fit.
Many U.S. soldiers commented favorably throughout the exercise on the Gurhkas' ability to move silently and quickly through the forest, using a minimum of verbal communication to maneuver.
As light infantry, paratroopers have great respect for that.
Brigadier Dhingra, who works out of Washington D.C. and came down for the exercise in part to represent the Indian airborne contingent, said that jumping with his countrymen at the Home of the Airborne was a dream come true.
"That is something that I think I will keep in the corner of my heart forever," said Dhingra.
North Carolina's stormy spring weather thwarted the Indian paratroopers' first attempts to jump with the 82nd Paratroopers, and as a major facet of the capstone field exercise, cancelling the jump altogether was something that no paratrooper wanted to do.
"But you know, even if something is dominating your thoughts, it doesn't come to the fore when you are executing the very basic drills and actions that you are expected to be taking on [during an airborne operation]," said Dhingra of his thoughts when he finally made it to the jump door above a Fort Bragg drop zone.
"It was the culmination of all the things we have been attempting to do over the last two weeks," he said. "It was a huge sense of satisfaction finally leaving the aircraft."
For Harms, Yudh Abhyas 2013 was a fifth consecutive win for the bilateral planning team, that also generated fresh ideas for next year's exercise in northern India.
For the soldiers on the ground, it proved to be a curious mix of the rigors of field training and the cultural abstractions of world travel, without the travel.
For Dhingra, who was in his third month of overseeing defense activities between the two countries at his new post in D.C., it helped to quickly settle him into the role.
"From here I can only look at the sky and have blue skies," he said. "I am sure when I get back home, I will be able to influence and get those good things I have learned into our organization."
The general said that he had personally benefited from joint training at the right time in his military career. It molded him and changed his attitude about the kinds of things the Indian Army might do to enhance its skills, and to pass along its skills to theater partners.
"If I am here today, perhaps it is because of the good things that I did in the days before," he said.
Similar threads
