Surprise drill tests US soldiers’ readiness near Russian exclave

U.S. soldiers were jolted awake before sunrise this week and ordered to get their Bradley fighting vehicles ready during a surprise alert drill near one of NATO’s most closely watched potential hot spots.

The 37th Armored Regiment soldiers had no advance warning when leaders sounded the alarm at Bemowo Piskie Training Area in northeastern Poland, the Army’s V Corps command said Wednesday.

The soldiers scrambled to gather rucksacks and other equipment and prepare to move out with infantrymen aboard their Bradleys.

“Alert exercises are meant to gauge the readiness of the battalion and its companies,” 2nd Lt. Brandon Spence, a regiment platoon leader, said in a statement.

The drill tested how quickly the unit, part of an American-led NATO battle group designed to spring into action in a crisis, could go from sleep to combat-ready at a location about 50 miles from Russia’s heavily militarized Kaliningrad exclave.

A soldier performs a radio check inside a Bradley Fighting Vehicle at Bemowo Piskie Training Area, Poland, Sept. 30, 2026. Soldiers with Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, NATO Forward Land Forces Battle Group-Poland, ran a surprise alert exercise to test how quickly the unit could ready its Bradley Fighting Vehicles and respond to a crisis. (Emilie Lenglain/U.S. Army)

The troops also are positioned near the Suwalki corridor, a narrow strip of Polish and Lithuanian territory separating Kaliningrad from Belarus.

A Russian attack on the corridor could cut off the Baltic state’s land connection to the rest of NATO, putting the U.S.-led battle group in Poland among the forces positioned to first respond. That vulnerability has long made the area a focus of NATO defense planning.

Soldiers woke, prepared their gear and mounted Bradleys while crews conducted maintenance and communications checks, V Corps said. They also installed antennas and transceivers and loaded equipment aboard the vehicles as leaders measured whether the platoons could meet required movement timelines.

Bradley crews were “making sure their PMCS and radio checks were conducted,” Spence said, referring to inspections intended to ensure vehicles are ready to roll.

While much of the battalion operates M1 Abrams tanks, Charlie Company operates more maneuverable Bradleys, which can carry infantrymen in areas where tanks might face limitations.

In a crisis, the fighting vehicles would enable infantrymen to dismount and maneuver through northeastern Poland’s woods and boggy terrain.

The exercise showed that Charlie Company could rapidly mobilize as the battalion’s infantry force, Spence said.