October 18, 2012

US, Israel prep for largest ballistic missile defense bi-lateral exercise

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Senior leaders for the exercise Austere Challenge 2012 announced the arrival of U.S. troops and equipment in Israel for the event and provided background to reporters via telephone Wednesday from Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

October 16, 2012

Saber Junction tests U.S., partners’ interoperability

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Approximately 1,800 forces from 18 European nations train for the post-Afghanistan fight using the U.S. Army’s most-current doctrine for unified land operations. At the Grafenwoehr Training Area, also called GTA, and Hohenfels Training Area, or HTA, and more than 1,300 square miles in-between installation facilities 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, also known as 2CR, engages a complex enemy.

October 12, 2012

Parliament tour encourages cross-nation partnership

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Leadership from the 52nd Fighter Wing toured the Rheinland-Pfalz parliament in Mainz Oct. 10, 2012.

October 10, 2012

Bayonet brigade deactivates at Baumholder

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The 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team conducted a casing of the colors ceremony Oct. 9 in the Hall of Champions on Smith Barracks. The ceremony marked the end of an era which saw the presence of combat Soldiers in Baumholder for more than 50 years.

October 19, 2012

Up North

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Just back from Sweden and Finland -- not NATO allies, but certainly premier partners both. I visited both in my hat as Commander of US European Command.

October 17, 2012

EUCOMversations with Dan Regelbrugge, Defense Language Institute

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The Defense Langauge Institute opened its first Europe-based language lab Oct. 4 at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany. Dan Regelbrugge joins us from the lab to talk about what the new facility offers and the dedication it took to get the center up and running.

October 15, 2012

Brussels and the Balkans

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I spent the early part of the week at the meeting of the NATO Defence Ministers at NATO Headquarters up in Brussels, about 45 minutes north of my operational command in Mons, Belgium. The second was with the NATO and additional troop contributing nations to our ongoing mission in Kosovo.

October 1, 2012

Interagency Synchronization Forum

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The EUCOM IASF was born of necessity as a response to the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008. It was organized then by the J9 to better link the geographic combatant commander with the Crisis Response Team established at the State Department.

September 20, 2012

Kansas NG partners with Armenia for demining

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YEREVAN, Armenia - (Sept. 20, 2012) Sgt. 1st Class Travis Eichhorn, a Pittsburg, Kansas native, gives an update on today's training with humanitarian demining soldiers in Armenia. Kansas National Guardsmen and the HDTC representative are instructing Armenian peacekeepers and engineer battalions on international demining standards as part of the Humanitarian Mine Action program and will assist the Armenian government in developing a national standard operating procedure for demining.

September 19, 2012

Kansas NG partners with Armenia for demining

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YEREVAN, Armenia - (Sept. 19, 2012) Kansas National Guard Capt. Michael Liotta takes viewers to some on site demining classes with the Armenian engineering and demining battalions. Kansas and Armenia have a long partnership stretching back to Senator Bob Dole being nursed backed to health in World War II by an Armenian doctor and calling for the U.S. to be the first to recognize Armenia’s independence.

September 18, 2012

Environmentally friendly military bases

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In an era of decreasing financial resources, it’s even more important to use all of our resources in a responsible manner. AFN’s Aaron Talley reports on an Assistant Secretary of the Army whose job is to ensure soldiers have the resources they need to complete their mission.

September 18, 2012

Welcome to the Air Assault Course

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Soldiers from more than fifteen units throughout US Army Europe are in Schweinfurt, Germany to take on the challenges of earning the Air Assault Badge. SGT Benjamin Boggess has more.

October 19, 2012

U.S.-Israel Drill to Practice Defense on Multiple Fronts

(Bloomberg) - The three-week, $30 million U.S.- Israeli air and missile defense exercise later this month will simulate attacks and defensive intercepts on multiple fronts including fending off drone attacks, according to U.S. and Israeli military officials.

October 19, 2012

Norway cautions activists against sailing to Gaza

(AP) - Norway’s foreign ministry has cautioned a ship with pro-Palestinian activists and Nordic lawmakers from trying to break an Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza strip to deliver humanitarian goods.

October 19, 2012

Five new countries join UN Security Council

Rwanda, Argentina, Australia, South Korea and Luxembourg won non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council on Thursday.

October 19, 2012

Ashton to meet Kosovo, Serb leaders

(AFP) - European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton meets the prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia on Friday in a bid to relaunch talks to normalise strained relations between the two.

October 19, 2012

Turkish Army Stages Drills at Syrian Border

(AFP) - Turkey's army has begun staging drills at the Syrian border following warnings that it would follow Kurdish rebels across the frontier, the Anatolia news agency reported Friday.

October 18, 2012

U.S., Israel to hold major missile defense exercise

(Reuters) - The United States and Israel will hold a major missile defense exercise in Israel this month, sending a message of close cooperation as both countries weigh their options over Iran's nuclear program.

October 18, 2012

Gaza-bound ship brings on food, activists off Greek coast

A sailing ship with pro-Palestinian activists that is planning to break an Israeli blockade of Gaza took on food and passengers off the southern Greek coast, a spokesman said Wednesday.