• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Immediate Response '05

"Proof of principle" was the operative phrase for Exercise Immediate Response '05, in which U.S. Army, Europe and Bulgarian Soldiers trained through a series of events culminating in a combined-arms live-fire exercise 18 July 2005 at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria. Moving at a logistical blur, USAREUR units and staff quickly "stood up" a dormant operations base, transported tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Bulgaria by rail and air, deployed USAREUR's Immediate Ready Force, and set up and employed a prototype instrumentation system delivering full after-action review capability at an austere location.

The command's objectives also included strengthening NATO partnership and interoperability along with building security cooperation with Bulgarian forces. The exercise does a couple things for USAREUR. It allows USAREUR to exercise the ability to strategically deploy over-the-horizon forces to react here within Europe, using U.S. Army, Europe immediate reaction forces. It also allows USAREUR to reach out to our new NATO partner, the Bulgarian army, and train with them. Security cooperation is important because it allows the US to build trust with other countries, and that bridges a long way in terms of helping us share in the Global War on Terror. USAREUR's presence is a demonstration of the U.S. commitment to NATO and coalition nations. Through partnership activities, USAREUR helps nations transform their armies.

In about seven to 10 days, they built a complete life-support system for US Soldiers and the Bulgarian Soldiers; everything from shower facilities and sleeping facilities to kitchens, fuel and ammunition. They set the stage for forces to train together. Working with Bulgarian contractors and suppliers, the advance party of USAREUR logistics, signal and medical Soldiers also established telephone and Internet connections, set up maintenance areas and force protection barriers, and equipped a clinic facility and a tactical operations center. The rapid pace set in establishing the logistics base was in keeping with the contingency-response nature of the exercise. USAREUR and European Command maintain the capability to deploy a contingency force throughout the European area of responsibility. This exercise is part of that.

IR '05 was the first-ever U.S. movement of heavy military equipment to Bulgaria. M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles traveled by rail and C-17 to Bulgarian facilities near the training area, and 1-1 Cav.'s Bandit and Headhunter troops drove the vehicles the rest of the way by road. The 1-1 Cav. ook this equipment, which is Immediate Ready Force equipment, out of Rhein Ordnance Barracks. They took that to Grafenwoehr and shot it before the came to Bulgaria. Then they deployed via air and rail.

The training progression for IR '05 could be described as crawl-walk-sprint: beginning with an exchange of small-arms weapons between the U.S. and Bulgarian Soldiers, the troops rapidly worked through a series of events including military operations on urban terrain, or MOUT, assaults; a hasty attack with tanks and combat vehicles maneuvering through the seven-kilometer length of the training area; and a live-fire exercise involving U.S. Abrams tanks and Bradleys, Bulgarian T-72 tanks and BMP armored fighting vehicles, and Bulgarian Hind helicopters and Su-25 fighter planes.

Training, planning and rehearsal were the subsequent steps in the exercise. U.S. and Bulgarian Soldiers mounted a joint attack on a "village." For the cordon-and-search (at the MOUT site), they set the outer cordon, then the Bradleys with their dismounts rolled in, established support-by-fire positions, and dropped their dismounts so they could go in and secure the objective. Soldiers from 1st Armored Division's 1st Squadron, 1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment and their Bulgarian counterparts prepare to search adjacent buildings July 15 during military operations on urban terrain training, part of Exercise Immediate Response '05 at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria.