{"id":13130,"date":"2023-05-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=13130"},"modified":"2023-06-01T06:49:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T06:49:34","slug":"michigan-guard-brings-himars-capability-to-swift-response-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=13130","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Guard Brings HIMARS Capability to Swift Response 23"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n U.S. Army crew with the 1-182nd Field Artillery Regiment Michigan National Guard, fire a rocket with the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System into the Baltic Sea at Skede, Latvia, May 13, 2023. The Soldiers participated in a live fire event in support of the Defender 23 exercise to build readiness and interoperability between U.S., NATO allies and partners. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Patrick Mayabb)
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CAMP \u0100DA\u017dI, Latvia – For most of the year, National Guard members have civilian occupations \u2014 some are firefighters, police officers, teachers, mechanics and electricians. But when military duty calls, they drop everything to put on their uniforms and support U.S. national security interests.<\/p>\n

In early May, nearly 100 members of the Michigan National Guard\u2019s 1st Battalion, 182nd Field Artillery Regiment, did exactly that. More than 4,000 miles away from home, they partnered with the Latvian Mechanized Infantry Brigade and fires elements within NATO\u2019s enhanced Forward Presence group from Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Poland. Operating in the Baltic region, they participated in a multinational fires exercise called Solar Eclipse, nested under U.S Army Europe and Africa\u2019s (USAREUR-AF) exercise Swift Response 23.<\/p>\n

The 1-182 FA operates the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a long-range precision strike weapon system. It fires rockets or missiles to provide a ground forces commander with highly mobile combat power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on providing \u2018deep fires,\u2019\u201d said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Richie Sands, 1-182 FA commander. \u201cWe train on the deep threat, focusing on the enemy\u2019s command and control, logistical nodes and supply lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

These Michiganders worked with NATO allies to refine the ability to integrate fires and interoperability to allow them to fight as a single force if called upon. To enable an even more rapid deployment of forces, the Michigan battery coordinated with USAREUR-AF to draw their HIMARS systems from the U.S. Army\u2019s Prepositioned Stocks program in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe battalion reported to the armory in Detroit on May 4th; within 72 hours we had projected our forces forward to Camp \u0100da\u017ei, Latvia,\u201d said Sands. \u201cWithin hours of landing, we drew equipment from the Army Prepositioned Stocks program, got it operational, and began training and integrating with our NATO partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

While National Guard members train to deploy anywhere, any time, the sandy ranges of Camp \u0100da\u017ei are familiar ground to the Michiganders thanks to the state\u2019s 30-year State Partnership Program agreement with the National Armed Forces of Latvia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not our first time here,\u201d said Sands. \u201cWe truly value the opportunity to participate in exercises like this with our Latvian partners because we see tactics, techniques and procedures that maybe we haven\u2019t thought of before. We can also provide lessons we\u2019ve learned while deployed abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presence of Michigan\u2019s 1-182 FA is especially relevant due to the Latvian Ministry of Defense\u2019s confirmation in October that Latvia will acquire the HIMARS system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe event allowed the Michigan National Guard to partner with Latvia and enable development of Latvian rocket artillery,\u201d said U.S. Army Maj. Catalin Bugan, bilateral affairs officer for the Michigan National Guard. \u201cThis cooperation marks the latest chapter of our 30-year partnership with Latvia under the SPP, and Michigan is proud to have been invited to provide our HIMARS expertise to Latvia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exchange of knowledge and experience on the HIMARS will continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like the Michigan National Guard has done with other lines of effort such as the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, Michigan will provide support as Latvia establishes their own techniques and procedures on the HIMARS,\u201d said Sands. \u201cWe want to understand Latvia\u2019s objectives and then offer knowledge and conduct state partnership exchanges based on what their objectives are.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to other live fire exercise events at Camp \u0100da\u017ei, highlights of the 1-182 FAR\u2019s time in the Baltic region this spring included a \u201cBaltic Raid\u201d drill at \u0160\u0137\u0113de, Latvia, which saw the HIMARS fire for the first time from Latvia into the Baltic Sea against simulated naval targets. The 1-182 FA also performed a HIMARS Rapid Infiltration live fire exercise from Latvia into Estonia. For this event, the HIMARS were loaded onto C-17 Globemaster aircraft from the U.S. Air Force and transported from Lielv\u0101rde Air Base, Latvia, to Saaremma, Estonia, where operations continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal with the event in Estonia was to expand on our relationship with the Estonian Armed Forces as another important ally in the region,\u201d said 1st Sgt. David Howie, Bravo Battery 1-182 FA first sergeant. \u201cThe time to build relationships is during an exercise, so you know how to work together prior to a time of conflict or crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Michigan National Guard members also provided several HIMARS static displays throughout Latvia, including in Daugavpils, about 33 kilometers north of the border between Latvia and Belarus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese public events gave residents an up-close look at the HIMARS,\u201d said Bugan. \u201cThe static displays were a tangible demonstration of the strength of Michigan\u2019s partnership with Latvia and the U.S. commitment to NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sands says that while he has been to Latvia approximately 20 times over the past 10 years to help build capability within Latvia\u2019s Joint Fires Observer program, this trip was a bit different. With Russia\u2019s ongoing war in Ukraine, there is a greater sense of urgency to deter and defend against threats to democracy, peace and sovereignty in Europe.<\/p>\n

He says that\u2019s why ongoing exchanges and coordination with allies under the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program are so important.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it\u2019s very beneficial to build that interoperability and understanding with our partners so if we do have to fight together, we know how each other\u2019s militaries work and how we can be successful in combat together,\u201d said Sands. \u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding, and we truly love working together. I think that\u2019s why Michigan and Latvia continually demonstrate what a good partnership is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Army crew with the 1-182nd Field Artillery Regiment Michigan National Guard, fire a rocket with the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System into the Baltic Sea at Skede, Latvia, May 13, 2023. The Soldiers participated in a live fire event in support of the Defender 23 exercise to build readiness and interoperability between U.S., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13132,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13133,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13130\/revisions\/13133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}