BABADAG TRAINING AREA, Romania -- Macedonian soldiers kicked off two weeks of training alongside U.S. Marines at Romania’s Babadag Training Area, May 31.
This is the second of four peacekeeping operations courses for partner nations scheduled to be supported by the Marines and Sailors of Black Sea Rotational Force 2010, the first Security Cooperation Marine Air-Ground Task Force to deploy to the Balkan, Caucasus and Black Sea regions. The Marines wrapped up their initial training phase with Romania, May 28, and have training with additional Romanian forces, as well as Ukrainian and Bulgarian forces, slated over the coming weeks.
1st Lt. Marc Tucker, the commander for scout platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Tank Battalion, said he is excited to continue to work with different partner nations and help build their operational capabilities with U.S. and Coalition forces. Scout platoon serves as part of the ground combat element for the Security Cooperation MAGTF currently deployed to Eastern Europe.
“Each experience is going to be unique,” said Tucker, a native of Silver Spring, Md. “They all bring different experiences, different skill sets, and we look forward to the exchange.”
Since arriving at BTA, the Marines and Macedonian soldiers have covered the fundamentals of peacekeeping, rules of engagement, fundamentals of combat marksmanship, night vision training and an introduction to the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program.
Macedonian troops said they believe the skills and techniques that they are fine-tuning will help them on their upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.
“We will deploy to Afghanistan in July for six months, and I think this training will help us while we are there,” said Sgt. Sait Saiti, a Macedonian soldier with Scorpion Co., 1st Bn., 1st Brigade. “I’ve been in the military for nearly five years, and this is my first experience outside Macedonia.”
The Marines are working in the Black Sea, Balkan and Caucasus regions to promote regional stability, build enduring partnerships and build the capabilities of partner nations’ military forces. The Security Cooperation MAGTF 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.
“This is going to be really interesting, and I hope we will be able to use this training in other areas of the world in the future,” Saiti said.