V Corps Soldiers, NATO partners protect eastern flank

FORT KNOX, Ky. - Since 1918, one Army unit has had a persistent presence in Europe, reinforcing NATO commitments along its eastern flank.

"Our commitment to defending NATO territory is ironclad," said V Corps commander Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza. "V Corps will continue to work with our NATO allies and partners to enhance force posture on the eastern flank and increase the resilience of NATO."

The V Corps has permanently stationed their forward command post, an Army garrison headquarters and a field support battalion at Camp Kosciuszko in Poznan, Poland. Costanza said the V Corps Soldiers stationed in Poland are the first permanent U.S. forces on NATO's eastern flank.

V Corps History

Activated during World War I in France, the unit fought in the Lorraine, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne campaigns. It was dubbed the "Victory Corps." Soldiers assigned to the V Corps took part in the World War II D-Day invasion and liberation of Europe; defended Western Europe during the Cold War; and saw service in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Polish Army Maj. Gen. Maciej Jablonski, deputy commanding general, interoperability, said having V Corps Soldiers serving in Poland is important to the people of Poland.

"You can't find a family in Poland that didn't lose someone during the second World War," he said. "We had a very bad experience with Russia. The job the V Corps is doing in Europe is extremely important for the nation. We are prepared for the worst-case scenario. We can deter the enemy."

Jablonski, who's served in the Polish armed forces for 31 years, said when he was an Army inspector and division commander, he participated in exercises along the eastern border.

"I talked a lot with the local people, and they were very, very happy not only to see Polish troops, which is very good, but to see Allied troops there as well," he said.

Mission

About 30,000 assigned, rotational and supporting forces in nine countries with the majority along NATO's eastern flank make up V Corps. This includes Soldiers assigned to NATO Forward Land Forces Battle Groups in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia.

V Corps oversees between 30 and 40 exercises each year that build readiness and interoperability throughout the region to provide ready, combat-credible land forces to deter potential threats, assure allies and quickly respond and win should deterrence fail, said the V Corps official website.

Building warfighting capability

V Corps is bolstering corps and division warfighting capabilities through key initiatives such as the Abrams Tank; European High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS; and the AH-64 Apache.

The U.S. and Polish government purchased 250 Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 tanks and 26 M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicles. The purchase includes support, equipment, transportation, overhaul, accessories, training and contractor logistics support. The Polish Abrams Tank Initiative resulted in the first Polish Abrams-equipped tank crew qualifying on Table VI at the Nowa Deba Training in January.

Table VI is the final table in certifying a tank crew during gunnery, but the path to table VI involves a tremendous amount of planning, training, and collective tasks in a live fire environment, in order to deploy, fight and win whenever called upon.

"Table I-IV are a foundation for crew qualification and include learning fire commands, conducting dry-fire rehearsals, weapons familiarizations, bore sighting and live-fire zeroing the main gun." said 1st Lt. Nathaniel Tucek, fire direction officer, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. "When we get to our table VI, we have external valuators so there's no conflict of interest from having anybody in the company evaluating us."

Soldiers from 1st Infantry Division implemented the Abrams Partnership Program as a collaboration between V Corps and Polish Land Forces and used small engagements with subject matter experts working with Polish master gunners, operations and training officers in the planning process for Abrams battalion operations.

Romania was the first European country to receive the HIMARS system in 2021 and in 2022, the State Department approved the sale of HIMARS to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Poland purchased 20 HIMARS launchers in 2019. To support these allies, V Corps leads a series of initiatives, known as the European HIMARS Initiative, or EHI, to increase allies' capability and capacity, further interoperability, and complement the security assistance and fielding programs, said Jablonski.

"This initiative is critical to enhance the overall readiness of NATO's eastern flank through security assistance activities," Jablonski said.

The EHI has been held in Poland, Germany and Romania. EHI5 is planned for Tallin, Estonia, in December.

Poland is scheduled to become the world's second largest operator of the Apache helicopter, said a V Corps official fact sheet.

"Interoperability will increase at a time when stability in the region is being threatened," Costanza said.

The AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopter is the most modern configuration of the Apache and is ready for multi-domain operation on the battlefield. The first two arrived at the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade in September. The upgrade included sensors, software and weapons systems.

"The Apache has served as the backbone of the Army's attack helicopter fleet for four decades," Costanza said. "The upgrades will increase lethality, survivability and interoperability."

About 45 Soldiers from the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom participated in the first Apache Initiative Summit in October in Bismark Kaserne, Army Garrison Ansbach, Germany. They learned tactics, sustainment and maintenance considerations.

"The importance of modernization, the reason why we need to keep upgrading the tanks and the Apaches, is because if you keep working on outdated equipment, it's going to break down on you," said Jablonski. "Right now, we're mainly a deterrence but if we have to go in, and we're working on equipment that gets too outdated, it's going to break down."

Partnership

The V Corps is headquartered at Fort Knox, but Soldiers serve nine-month rotations from cavalry and armor division in the states in battle groups.

The Forward Land Forces Battle Group in Poland is the only committed force structure to a NATO organization, said Lt. Col. Patrick Merriss, NATO Forward Land Forces Battle Group-Poland commander. He and his team, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, are deployed from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Cavazos, Texas.

He said the battle groups have existed for about seven years, starting with the Baltics, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. It's now grown to eight along the entire eastern coast of NATO.

Within his battle group, he has a U.S. tank battalion, Croatian field artillery battery, a Romanian air defense battery and a reconnaissance squadron from the United Kingdom. His organization consists of about 1,150 U.S. and NATO Soldiers.

Merriss said the biggest benefit of being forward deployed in Poland with NATO forces is interoperability across the military fighting force.

What interoperability means is increased communication across different cultures; understanding the different equipment on a Polish tank versus an American tank; the European terrain and weather; and other opportunities U.S. and NATO Soldiers can get when serving in a deployed location together, he said.

"We live together. Our Soldiers sleep in the same barracks, eat together, play the same sports. We do everything here on the base together," he said. "We work through any language, cultural or training challenges now so we don't have to when we fight alongside each other in a conflict."

Spc. Hayden Eaves, geospatial engineer stationed at Fort Knox, served on a seven-month rotation to Poland with V Corps.

"My work was similar there, but I'm interested in seeing how the foreign equipment is operated," he said. "If we train together, we have a better understanding of how foreign Soldiers operate and how we work together more efficiently to get the task done. Working with Soldiers from other countries has broadened my way of thinking on how to operate together in various fields."

He said everything the Soldiers do is multinational, so they become more efficient.

"The more efficient we become as a multinational force, the better we will fight when we go into a conflict," Merriss said. "Here, we learn what each NATO country brings to the fight."

Jablonski said the V Corps mission is deterrence but if they were ever to go into a conflict, the goal is that the NATO allies and the U.S. Soldiers would be able to be interdependent.

"We can send the database in each direction. We can support both sides, the Polish using the U.S. maintenance troops in case the Polish needs work on the Polish tank and vice versa. The Polish facilities and infrastructure can support the U.S.," he said.

It's important not to underestimate spare parts, he said.

"Spare parts are very important," the general said. "The spare parts, the same type of ammunition, the U.S. and NATO forces all need to be using the same equipment and assets, so they have spare parts and ammunition available here in theater."

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