Maj. Gen. Ryan F. Gonsalves, left, commanding general, 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, visits with Polish soldiers during his battlefield circulation June 14, 2016. More than 1,000 Soldiers assigned or attached to the 4th Inf. Div. were in Poland for Anakonda 16, a Polish-led multinational exercise. (By Sgt. 1st Class Tre Marris)
By Sgt. 1st Class Tre Marris
4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
WEGORZEWO, Poland — After two weeks in Poland fighting a simulated battle, the Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division celebrated another successful training mission, this time with their Polish counterparts.
Exercise Anakonda 2016 ran from June 7-17, 2016, and involved more than 20 allied partners and more than 25,000 Soldiers. The Soldiers and leadership from 4th Infantry Division served as the lead command and control element for the U.S. military, including multinational air assault and airborne operations, air defense operations, bridging operations and numerous other training events.
For one Soldier, this training event was the first time he had the opportunity to work with foreign military, and he said it proved to be an invaluable experience.
“It was interesting to see how the Polish soldiers perform some of the same daily tasks we do,” said Spc. Matthew Mohr, human resources specialist assigned to Company B, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 4th Inf. Div. “Their processes to accomplish the same or similar tasks are different than ours but we both achieve the same end result — accomplishing the mission.”
Maj. Gen. Ryan F. Gonsalves, commanding general, 4th Inf. Div. and Fort Carson, said this experience was a great opportunity for troops to be able to learn and work with their foreign military counterparts.
“Our division and Division Artillery staff Soldiers are the consummate professionals. No matter what came up, our team worked hand in hand and across language barriers with our allies to accomplish the mission,” Gonsalves said. “We were visited by
numerous U.S. and Polish senior officers as well as the secretary of the Army, who praised our Soldiers’ professionalism and the focus they placed into this important exercise.”
Despite challenges in a multinational exercise, Gonsalves said there were some good things to take away from this mission.
“First, I have been impressed by how competent and capable our allies are. Just like the 4th Infantry Division, they have magnificent officers and soldiers who are dedicated to their profession. They have certainly gained our trust,” he said. “Participating in an exercise like this highlights areas of interoperability difficulties while operating under a multinational command structure. However, our Soldiers were adaptive and creative in finding workarounds to solve these matters and accomplish the mission.”
Training with multinational forces can be difficult due to many factors, however the importance of building relationships with other nations and their soldiers has a far deeper impact, he noted.
“Exercises like this send a clear message that our allies are capable of uniting and working together. We also want our allies to know that we are reliable, ready and experts in our duties,” Gonsalves said. “More so, our Soldiers have developed genuine and trusting relationships with our Polish, Hungarian and Latvian allies. We fight together, eat our meals together and share stories of our Families.”
Gonsalves added that the building of these relationships with other nations will remain important but needs to be continually reinforced.
“We now have that trust and understanding of each other, and if we had to execute this in combat, then our ability to integrate back into this structure would be swift and efficient,” he said. “However, this is a skill that can atrophy, and we must continue to build upon these existing relationships and multinational integration training.”