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 Slovenia hosts exchange training with Colorado Guard By Capt. Michael Odgers, Colorado National Guard
 LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, - Surrounded by beautiful  green tree-covered hills, the striking Southern Alps that are older than our  nation itself, Soldiers of the Colorado Army National Guard’s 5th Battalion,  19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) spent the first three weeks of June  conducting joint combined exchange training with the Slovenian National Army’s  Special Operations teams. The Colorado Guard has been a proud partner with Slovenia  as part of the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program for more than  14 years. Although a number of friendly nations are potential hosts to conduct  these types of training exercises, Colorado leverages every opportunity to  further cement the relationship between Colorado and Slovenia. Slovenia is a European country bordered by Austria,  Hungary, Croatia and Italy to the west, as well as a little slice of Adriatic  coastline. It has been part of the European Union since May 1, 2004. Slovenia,  while a Yugoslavian state, was the first to declare – and fight for – its  independence in June of 1991. The 10-day war suffered only 18 deaths on both  sides. While the Cold War often leads Americans to associate  this area with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the Slovenian way of life  has been more closely tied to that of the west. “Even though we were a communist country, my parents  could travel to Paris far more easily than Moscow,” said a Slovenian special  operations soldier. Yugoslavia was never a member of the Warsaw Pact, and until  2004, it wasn’t a member of NATO. Ljubljana is the capital. A city of less than 300,000,  It’s a modern city with historic roots. Modern streets and buildings surround  300-year-old buildings, and stone-lined sidewalks are filled with open-air  cafés. The restaurants not only serve delicious traditional Slovenian fare, but  also bear the influences of all the surrounding countries. The radio dial is  littered with both American and English pop music. Just like its partner  state’s capital of Denver, it has a majestic backdrop of snow-covered  mountains. In general terms, joint combined exchange training is a  small unit mission conducted by an Operational Detachment-Alpha, which allows  Special Forces soldiers to train on one of their seven doctrinal missions:  Foreign Internal Defense (FID) operations. FID involves working with a host nation’s military and  police forces to improve their technical skills so they may defend themselves  from insurgency, secure their sovereign territory and prevent insurgent threats  from becoming international terrorist capabilities. This exchange training also provides the opportunity for  Soldiers to learn from the host nation, sharing techniques and best practices.  This collaborative exchange of ideas improves the capability of both nations.  COARNG Soldiers and Slovenian National Army soldiers are deploying together to  Afghanistan this year as an Organizational Mentor and Liaison Team to help  train and mentor the Afghan Army. They will train together, deploy together and  return home together. This training provided the opportunity for Colorado and  Slovenia to better understand how the other operates, and familiarize  themselves with each other’s equipment and standard operating procedures. It  also fosters good relations between the U.S. and the host nation. While Colorado soldiers served as advisers and trainers  for the operation, they also learned a few things from their Slovene  counterparts who were more than competent to share skills, techniques and  subtle differences with the Colorado soldiers. The training consisted of close-quarters combat  techniques, door-breaching, mobility live-fire and standing live-fire  techniques, all culminating into a scenario-based exercise that challenged each  participant. One of Slovenia’s Military Operations in Urban Terrain  sites was an old three-story former Yugoslavian Army Barracks, complete with  red stars and communist slogans from the days of Josip Tito, the former  Yugoslavian leader. It provided multi-room and multi-floor obstacles for  demonstrating room-clearing techniques. A Colorado Soldier’s ears were ringing and his neck was a  little sore after several Slovene soldiers rushed into the room where he was  waiting. Shortly after prying open the door and throwing in a flash-bang  grenade, they rushed in, yelled at him to get down and gently – but firmly –  applied a knee to his neck. The Colorado Soldier was amazed at how compliant he  became after they implemented this subtle technique. “Man, that knee on the neck thing is effective!” The now  more docile role-player was led away in flexicuffs only to be detained a few  more times. The close-quarters combat provided an excellent learning  platform for the Slovenes to demonstrate some nuances in room-clearing  techniques and the Colorado soldiers are considering adding the neck technique  to their SOPs. “These guys are good, real good, when it comes to CQB,  and the flat range. They are as proficient – if not more so – than we are,”  said the ODA’s weapons sergeant. Like any modern army, Slovenia is equipped with modern  ranges with towers and pop-up targets. However, due to scheduling conflicts,  one wasn’t available. Instead the training had to utilize an old Yugoslavian  army range in an alpine prairie with stone-lined firing positions, surrounded  by high grass and nowhere to place targets. But the Soldiers couldn’t have been  happier. The range was like a box canyon with steep cloud-capped  hills marking the range’s left and right limits. “This is too beautiful to be working,  I should be setting up a tent, and cracking open a beer here, not setting up  targets,” one Colorado Soldier remarked with almost universal agreement. In addition to the beauty of the range, its lack of  facilities allowed the SF soldiers the freedom and innovation to create dozens  of shooting scenarios a more traditional range would have limited. The day was spent conducting reflexive fire and  transitional fire drills. Colorado and Slovene soldiers advanced side-by-side  toward a series of targets shooting constantly and then instead of reloading,  transitioned to their sidearms. One Slovene Soldier could be seen a well defined  arm-length ahead of the pack with his Sig Sauer 9 mm pistol in hand and shell  casings flying over his head. “A gorgeous day, plenty of ammo and targets – I could do  this all day, I love this ...” said the owner of that muscled arm in perfect  English. But the highlight of the day was the familiarization of  each other’s weapons. This involved both nations finding a counterpart and  swapping one set of weapons at a time. The counterpart would give a quick class  on the fundamentals of the weapon system prior to letting them loose. While the Slovenes appreciated the M4’s economy of size,  and the Colorado Soldiers liked the accuracy and reliability of the Fabrique  Nationale’s FN 2000, both services preferred their own weapons. Each day at the range seemed more beautiful than the one  before. Whether it was a small arms range, or a demolition range, they were all  nestled in the valleys between the lush green Slovenian foothills. Even for  well-disciplined combat arms soldiers, the serene beauty could be distracting. The last range event was explosive breaching. Prior to  the range, however, was a day spent in the classroom learning how to calculate  the size and type of breaching charges, minimum safe distances and  understanding of the different types of explosives and their effects. The Slovenians were very eager to learn what the SF  engineer sergeant was teaching as both their experience and authorization to  train on explosives is limited. For any Soldier, a day at the range firing your weapon or  blowing something up is a beautiful day. Three days, a couple hundred pounds of  explosives and a truck load of doors, windows and masonry bricks were  heaven-sent. The Slovenians practiced calculating, creating – and of  course destroying – water-impulse charges, wood and steel door breaching  charges, window and masonry breaches. In addition to the charges they practiced  reacting to the explosion and immediately entering through the breached door  before they lost the element of surprise. Even for those setting the charge,  the explosion has a stunning effect that must be overcome. “They were professionals, quick learners and great to  work with,” said the ODA engineer sergeant. “Of course the fact that blowing  stuff up is always cool didn’t hurt.” One of the highlights of the breaching training was the  ability to conduct a demonstration for the Slovenian Armed Forces Commander,  Maj. Gen. Alan Geder. Geder was not only a commanding officer during the War  for Slovenian Independence, but also a graduate of the U.S. Army War College. Also attending the demonstration was U.S Chargé  d'Affaires for Slovenia, Brad Freden. Prior to joining the foreign services, he  served for four years in the Air Force assigned to Peterson Air Force Base,  Colo. Many military demonstrations involving VIPs can take  place a very safe distance away. Both the Slovenian and U.S. Special Forces  felt that in order for the VIPs to thoroughly appreciate how SF Soldiers can  safely but effectively employ explosives, the VIPs would need to be in the  breaching stack with the soldiers. Surprisingly, both Geder and Freden were  delighted to get in the action. After both were equipped with body armor, a Kevlar  helmet, and eye, hand and ear protection, they jumped into five separate  breaching stacks while Soldiers demonstrated the different types of breaches a  NATO Special Operations force could encounter in Afghanistan. With Slovenia on the roster for the first time, there was  no lack of World Cup fever. If Slovenia was playing, it was easy to find a  place to watch. You only needed to follow the sound of vuvuzelas playing across  every café’s television. The United States and Slovenia facing each other  presented the perfect opportunity to build camaraderie – as well as a little  rivalry. A brief training holiday was taken to enjoy this rare opportunity. The U.S. being the largest of the countries participating  and Slovenia being the smallest presented a David and Goliath-like scenario.  However, with only a handful of Americans and a bar full of Slovenians, the  Americans didn’t feel like Goliath. With a few seemingly underhanded contacts by the U.S.,  and a stream of yellow cards on the Slovenian side, friendly, if not a tad  boisterous, arguments ensued. A 1-1 tie as well as a complimentary round of  Slovenian schnapps soothed any temporary disagreements. “It was a great game with a friendly ending,” said the  Slovenian Special Operations battalion commander. The three weeks of training ended in a five-day  culminating exercise implementing all of the previous events, practicing  dealing with village elders, gathering intelligence and capturing high-value  targets. Several members of the ODA acted as augmentees to the  Slovenian team while the rest acted as role-players or evaluators. But even more  important than practicing these familiar scenarios was practicing the  communication, planning and coordinating necessary to conduct these missions as  a NATO force. Slovenia has been a member of NATO since 2004 and has  been working since then to be a NATO-interoperable combat force. All of the  training events were tailored towards that goal, and in this aspect, the  Slovenes excelled.
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