SOUTH BASE, Serbia -- With the unpredictability of the global security environment, Partnership for Peace countries continue to build extensive relationships with U.S. and NATO forces; through standardization, integration and cooperation, these exercises improve combined-force capabilities and demonstrate a collective commitment to preserving European stability.
“The world’s problems are no longer solvable by one nation,” said Capt. Caleb Reed, commander of American Forces for Platinum Wolf.
During Exercise Platinum Wolf 15, U.S. Marines, along with Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian and Serbian Armed Forces, conducted peacekeeping operations training together.
"Peacekeeping operations are a growing trend in our modern global climate; the focus of the exercise is on procedures and specific skills that a unit would require during a mission," said Reed.
Strong bonds continue to be maintained through multilateral training like this, enabled by a rotational contingent of Marines known as the Black Sea Rotational Force. Their year-round presence in the region helps keep robust relationships and familiarity with partner nations in a way that convention six-month deployments can’t.
"The operational knowledge and experiences exchanged between each country is the type of information that can be used in future missions," said Serbian 2nd Lt. Aleksandar Obrenovic, a Serbian Armed Forces platoon commander.
The training was split into two phases, non-lethal systems and infantry skills. Topics covered included: Vehicle and entry control points, crowd and riot control techniques, the effects of oleoresin capsicum (OC) pepper spray and Tasers, cordon and searches, convoy escorts, combat life saver, mounted and dismounted patrolling, urban combat and force preservation.
"Globalization has us at the point where we need coalition forces to accomplish any task; the more that we train together as coalition forces, the more experience and proficiency we're going to have forming multinational commands to operate together," said Reed.