Multinational strategic reserve
units
begin exercise in Balkans
By Rick Emert, Kosovo bureau
CAMP
BONDSTEEL, Kosovo — Adventure Express/Dynamic Response 2001, an exercise involving
about 1,500 multinational troops including 450 U.S. servicemembers, begins Thursday in
Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The two-day
exercise involves strategic reserve units from Albania, Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands,
Poland, Romania and the United States.
It will
test the force’s ability to deploy, familiarize itself with the terrain and
environment in the Balkans and to work with KFOR troops already on the ground. Once the
strategic reserve units are in place, its members will support SFOR and KFOR missions by
manning checkpoints and conducting patrols.
On Friday,
Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit will secure the airfield in Vitina,
Kosovo, and then U.S. soldiers from the Southern European Task Force based in Vicenza,
Italy, will parachute into Vitina.
The
exercise will involve about one-third of the strategic reserve force, according to Maj.
Jim Marshall, Task Force Falcon public affairs officer.
The
multinational force is designed to deploy to the Balkans and support peacekeepers
stationed there, as well as deal with any military contingencies in the area, according to
a press release from Allied Forces Southern Europe, NATO’s operational headquarters
responsible for the Balkan operations.
This is the
first time that troops from the United States, Italy and Argentina will conduct joint
training with Albanian forces, according to the release.
Most of the
exercise events in Kosovo take place in the British-led Multinational Brigade Centre.
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