Army, NATO Allies Test Their Mettle During Frigid Training in Estonia

By Army Spc. Hubert Delany, U.S. Army

TAPA, Estonia — Among the things that stand out to many who visit the training area here are the frigid temperatures.

Given this challenge, Soldiers with the 82nd Brigade Engineer Battalion tested their mettle during a series of training events March 6 – 14.

Making it through these challenges required each soldier to trust the training they’d completed up to this point in their deployment to Europe. It also required them to depend on and trust their NATO allies.

PARTNERSHIP

“This is one of the most tightly knit teams I’ve seen in my 26 years in the Army,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Vedros, the senior enlisted member of the 82nd BEB.

Within hours of an order to move to the Baltics, Vedros and his men packed their gear and moved more than a thousand miles from Grafenwoehr, Germany, to a location previously unknown to most of them.

“These men have done a terrific job,” said Vedros, while reminiscing of previous deployments and Army experiences. “It was like watching an 82nd Airborne Division rapid deployment. Before anybody knew it, these Soldiers were coming to Estonia loaded up and ready to go, and our NATO allies knew exactly what to do when we sent them.”