{"id":9856,"date":"2024-09-06T12:56:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T12:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=9856"},"modified":"2024-10-15T12:56:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T12:56:50","slug":"maryland-national-guard-trains-600-estonian-volunteer-members-during-tactical-live-fire-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2024\/09\/06\/maryland-national-guard-trains-600-estonian-volunteer-members-during-tactical-live-fire-exercise\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland National Guard trains 600 Estonian volunteer members during tactical live-fire exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Story by Sgt. Danyelle Lanford<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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J\u00d5HVI, Estonia – Twelve Soldiers from the Maryland Army National Guard\u2019s 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, supported the Estonian Defense League (EDL) during Exercise Ussisonad 24, a squad live-fire exercise held Sept. 7-8, 2024, at the Sirgala Training Area near the Russian border. This mutually beneficial training event was part of the National Guard\u2019s State Partnership Program, which began in 1993 when Maryland became a partnering nation with Estonia.

During the two-day training exercise, the MDARNG Soldiers provided train-the-trainer guidance for executing squad-level live-fire exercises to strengthen interoperability between U.S. and Estonian forces. Approximately 600 EDL section leaders and personnel participated, rotating through training lanes that included both practice (dry) and live-fire phases.

\u201cThe EDL has performed far beyond what we expected,\u201d said Maryland Army National Guard Sgt. Conner McClaskey, an infantryman with the 1-175th Infantry Regiment. \u201cThe way they\u2019re able to shoot, move, and communicate is incredible \u2014 especially considering they\u2019re not paid for it. They do it because, if called upon, they want to stand up for their country. I respect that more than anything in the world.\u201d

The exercise commenced with the dry-fire phase, allowing participants to rehearse squad movement and actions under simulated conditions, including reacting to mines, responding to enemy direct fire, and neutralizing armored vehicle threats. Participants formed squads and were then issued live ammunition to progress to the live-fire phase, employing live ammunition in similar scenarios.

\u201cSection commanders need to make decisions depending on what actions they see on the ground,\u201d said Estonian Defense League Command Sgt. Maj. Ott Sepp, the command sergeant major of the EDL\u2019s Northeast region. \u201cThe Maryland Army National Guard non-commissioned officers are here to give inside experience on how to improve our range conducting skills from a tactical perspective.\u201d

From the planning stages to the execution of the exercise, MDARNG and EDL leadership worked together to ensure seamless coordination. Maryland Soldiers played a key role in marking training area boundaries, placing simulated mines, and plotting target locations with a focus on tactical realism. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working very closely together\u2026ensuring that everything was thought through as a joint effort,\u201d added Sepp.

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about coming out here to build relationships and have fun; it\u2019s about building capacity and capabilities,\u201d said Maryland Army National Guard 1st Sgt. Matthew Hawkland, a senior noncommissioned officer with the 1-175th Infantry Regiment. \u201cWe\u2019re helping the Estonians [EDL] gain more confidence in their ability to maneuver under fire alongside their allies, and that\u2019s something we can\u2019t replicate anywhere else.\u201d

According to Hawkland, the exercise training was planned, coordinated, and executed by Maryland NCOs. \u201cThis is the first time we’ve operated this closely with the Estonians on a maneuver live-fire range,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going through squads \u2014 moving, firing, and communicating at the same time.\u201d

The Estonian Defense League is a mostly voluntary national defense organization in Estonia, composed of civilian members who are trained to support the country’s military efforts. The EDL works alongside the Estonian Armed Forces to enhance national security through exercises like Ussisonad 24.

\u201cThe training went really well. The U.S. provided us with valuable insights, and I hope we were able to give something back in return,\u201d said Estonian Defense League Sgt. Siim Saradik, assigned to an anti-armored and javelin unit. \u201cI\u2019m definitely taking a lot away from this exercise, especially how the U.S. utilizes the terrain.\u201d

Ussisonad 24 directly supports U.S. European Command\u2019s mission of helping deter conflict, maintain peace and stability, and provide strategic depth through military operations, exercises, and security cooperation with NATO allies and partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Story by Sgt. Danyelle Lanford J\u00d5HVI, Estonia – Twelve Soldiers from the Maryland Army National Guard\u2019s 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, supported the Estonian Defense League (EDL) during Exercise Ussisonad 24, a squad live-fire exercise held Sept. 7-8, 2024, at the Sirgala Training Area near the Russian border. This mutually beneficial training event was part  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":9862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9856"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9863,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9856\/revisions\/9863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}