173rd Airborne Brigade
June 18, 2015
First Ukrainian troops complete Fearless Guardian
Story by Sgt. Alex Skripnichuk
YAVORIV, Ukraine: Paratroopers from the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade finished the first rotation of Fearless Guardian here with the graduation of more than 200 soldiers from the Ukrainian national guard’s 3029th Regiment June 13, 2015.
The paratroopers are in Ukraine for Fearless Guardian at the request of the Ukrainian government to train several battalions of the newly-established Ukrainian national guard. The training is expected to last six months. Fearless Guardian is the name for the Congressionally-approved, Departments of State and Defense initiative under the Global Security Contingency Fund-Ukraine.
A graduation ceremony was conducted to mark the end of training for the 3029th Regiment soldiers.
“We have trained together, we have experienced things over these last eight weeks,” said Lt. Col. Kyle Reed, the commander of 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. “We are sure that the soldiers in this room are ready to deploy into the rigors of combat, in the defense of Ukraine.”
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Paratroopers have spent more than eight weeks here training soldiers from the Ukrainian national guard, beginning with individual soldier skills including movement techniques, marksmanship skills and first aid. The soldiers progressed to squad and platoon-level exercises with the use of live ammunition, requiring the guardsmen to work together.
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Soldiers from the Ukrainian national guard’s 3005 and 3001 Regiments were already arriving to begin the next rotation of Fearless Guardian as the 3029th Regiment said its goodbyes. The next rotation will incorporate much of the same training from the first rotation with some changes requested by both American and Ukrainian partners to further enhance the quality of training.
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