6/19/2012 By Sgt. Ray Lewis , Marine Forces Reserve

Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment learned life-saving convoy operations tactics from the Estonian army during a two-week multi-national combined exercise during Saber Strike 2012.

"Today we practiced convoy-operations with our true allies, the American Marines, said 1st Lt. Madis Koosa, an operations officer with the Estonian Army. We tried different situations: contact drills, medical evacuation and interacting with the locals.

The Pennsylvania-based unit also maneuvered armored vehicles through a forest battle space that was riddled with mock-improvised explosive devices and small arms fire from an unknown enemy role-played by the Estonians.

The thing is, that the Marine units were sent here, because not all of them have been to Afghanistan, Koosa said. This means, that the units aren't 100 percent team-wise.

However, Koosa and his soldiers had a great expanse of knowledge to share with the Marines when it comes to preparing for deployments in Afghanistan. Most Estonians soldiers have served in Afghanistan under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

It's quite obvious, that there are some guys, that haven't done any of the procedures previously, he said. But there were not any problems with that. Maybe we ourselves confirm with these drills, that we do them the same way, as other allied units. It just means, that if we're together in NATO, we have the same understanding of things, as other countries and are able to execute them the same way."

The Marines agreed. Most Marines thought there wasnt much difference between them and the Estonians tactic-wise.

Really, they were the same tactics that we do, said Cpl. Josiah D. Eby, a squad leader assigned to 1st Platoon. They were able to throw us into different situations and we were able to hone those skills

He and his platoon had to deal with a complex ambush that rendered some of his troops wounded and one of their convoy trucks immobile. The Marines had to respond to the enemys assault.

See the original post here:
3/25 Marines learn convoy tactics from Estonians during Saber Strike