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Task Force GTEP prepares for next cycle

Marine Corps News

Release Date: 10/30/2003

Story by 1st Lt. Justin Colvin

KRTSANISI, Georgia(November 21, 2003) -- Marines and Soldiers from Task Force Georgia Train and Equip Program are near completion of the current training cycle and have begun preparation for the next phase of training for a mechanized infantry company. MajGen. Arnold Fields, Deputy Commander, Marine Corps Forces Europe, was on hand Tuesday to inspect the initial completion of pre-exercise maintenance for the Soviet T-72 tanks and BMP-1 armored personnel carriers required for the next cycle.

The general attended numerous conferences and meetings about the progress of the training here, but enjoyed the opportunity to get out with the troops and witness a live fire ambush after touring the area on a tank. "It's always good to be in the company of warriors," said Fields.

Task Force GTEP is in this country in support of the Global War on Terrorism to train and equip selected units of the Georgian armed forces to provide security and stability to Georgia and the Caucasus region.

The TF GTEP Marines spent this week conducting ambush training in the hills of Vaziani, Georgia, patrolling exercises atop the snowy mountains of Kdjori and MOUT training in Krtsanisi. Vaziani and Kdjori are used as supplemental training facilities in addition to Advanced Operating Base Krtsanisi where the Marines and Soldiers are based.

With the culmination of the training approaching, the Georgian soldiers are preparing for a final exercise that combines a command post exercise with a company-sized live fire. "I'm looking forward to the CPX and the live fire exercise," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Stewart, Task Force GTEP intel chief. "We get to see what all of our hard work has done."

The final CPX is the fourth in a series of similar exercises designed to get the senior Georgian leadership thinking in terms of maneuver warfare and western military doctrine. Under the Soviet Union, decision-making was extremely centralized and limited to only the highest-ranking officers.

Maj.Gen. Fields spoke to the Georgian officers attending the CPX and highlighted the shift in thinking. "As a senior officer, I understand how tempting it is to want to try and do everything yourself," said Fields. "One of the principles we have to adhere to is centralized planning, de-centralized execution. You have to have confidence in your people."