US Army cavalry reinforces Romania

Credit: Courtesy | Date Taken: 08/03/2022
In Romania, the cavalry has arrived: soldiers from the US Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment are busy training alongside their Romanian counterparts. Synopsis Soldiers from the US Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment are currently deployed to Romania to show support and deterrence in NATO’s east. About 800 soldiers from the Regiment’s Second Squadron, based in Vilseck, Germany, arrived in Romania in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In early March, the soldiers joined up with their counterparts from the Romanian Armed Forces’ 9th Mechanised Brigade for an exercise in Smârdan Training Area. They practised moving and communicating in the field while coordinating with nearby American artillery. Since Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, NATO has enhanced its defensive posture in the eastern part of the Alliance, with more land, air and maritime forces deployed across the area from various Allies. Footage includes shots of US and Romanian soldiers practising field maneuvers together and interviews with US and Romanian officers. Transcript ---SHOTLIST— (00:00) VARIOUS SHOTS – US ARMY SOLDIERS PREPARING TO MOVE OUT (00:08) VARIOUS SHOTS – US BRADLEY INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLES MOVING OUT (00:18) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS (MUTE) – US ARMY STRYKER INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLES (00:45) VARIOUS SHOTS – SOLDIERS FIRING FROM FIGHTING POSITIONS DURING BLANK-FIRE EXERCISE (01:36) VARIOUS SHOTS – SOLDIERS FALLING BACK AND BOARDING STRYKERS (02:00) MEDIUM SHOT – ROMANIAN FLAG (02:04) WIDE SHOT – ROMANIAN ARMY TAB B33 ZIMBRU INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLES PREPARING TO MOVE OUT (02:09) WIDE SHOT – ROMANIAN ARMY T-55 BATTLE TANKS (02:11) VARIOUS SHOTS – US SOLDIERS TALKING TO ROMANIAN TANKERS (02:17) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN SOLDIERS ENGAGING IN BLANK-FIRE EXERCISE (03:02) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN SOLDIERS MOVING INTO VEHICLES (03:11) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS (MUTE) – ROMANIAN ZIMBRU VEHICLES (04:14) VARIOUS SHOTS – US ARMY M777 HOWITZERS FIRING DURING LIVE-FIRE EXERCISE (04:49) VARIOUS SLOW-MOTION SHOTS (MUTE) – M777 BATTERY DURING LIVE-FIRE EXERCISE (05:02) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS (MUTE) – M777 BATTERY DURING LIVE-FIRE EXERCISE (05:09) CLOSE-UP – 2ND CAVALRY REGIMENT PATCH (05:12) SOUNDBITE (Romanian) 1st Lieutenant Ovidiu Cosma, Platoon Commander, 9th Mechanised Brigade, Romanian Armed Forces “We are in the Smârdan shooting range within the multinational Justice Eagle exercise.” (05:18) SOUNDBITE (Romanian) 1st Lieutenant Ovidiu Cosma, Platoon Commander, 9th Mechanised Brigade, Romanian Armed Forces “The experience was really good and at the end of the multinational exercise we were able to report that the mission was accomplished.” (05:27) SOUNDBITE (Romanian) 1st Lieutenant Ovidiu Cosma, Platoon Commander, 9th Mechanised Brigade, Romanian Armed Forces “The benefits of the Alliance were the improvement of interoperability, and to sum it all up in one sentence, together we are stronger.” (05:37) SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Colonel Adrian Costaru, Commander, 9th Mechanised Brigade, Romanian Armed Forces “My name is Colonel Costaru, I am the Commander of the 9th Mechanised Brigade from Constanța and I came to this range because part of my units are performing a combat shooting exercise combined with our strategic partners, American partners and I wanted to see a sequence from this exercise today.” (06:07) SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Colonel Adrian Costaru, Commander, 9th Mechanised Brigade, Romanian Armed Forces “It is very good because on one hand the confidence in NATO clearly increases, I think that by deploying and increasing the number on the Romanian territory, the coherence and the fact that the Alliance can deploy and support the entire eastern flank of NATO, and on the other hand, the fact that we are working together, because at this time there are several nations that have deployed the troops – the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany and of course the United States, all the countries that have deployed troops on the Romanian territory shows us solidarity and the fact that they support the whole eastern flank.” (07:09) SOUNDBITE (English) 1st Lieutenant Kyle Meurer, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, US Army “We’re here in Romania with 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the Romanian Army, just doing training together and showing our ability to work together whenever we need to be.” (07:19) SOUNDBITE (English) 1st Lieutenant Kyle Meurer, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, US Army “We really just get a chance to learn a lot from the Romanians, and see how their army operates, and how it operates with ours, and show, like, how well we can link in with each other and do our jobs together whenever NATO needs us to.” (07:33) SOUNDBITE (English) Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Nagy, Commander, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, US Army “So we were deployed here to reassure Allies, deter aggression and support the Alliance.” (07:39) SOUNDBITE (English) Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Nagy, Commander, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, US Army “So [2nd Cavalry Regiment] is a Stryker cavalry regiment. What it brings to the fight is, it is one of the most mobile motorised units that we have. It can bring everything from artillery, mortars, anti-tank capability, communication platforms and a bunch of infantry soldiers that can do multiple roles, tasks. And so, it’s a very unique unit that is rapidly deployable. And it is trained to rapidly respond across Europe for any type of mission, mission requirements.”