Stars and Stripes:
Many Patriot crew team members go whole careers without taking part in a single live-fire launch, but this week Army Spc. Harold Holland will be one of the lucky ones to watch the multimillion-dollar missile take flight over the Mediterranean.
“The closest I’ve ever gotten to actually seeing one fire is on YouTube, so this is a big deal,” said Holland, a Patriot crewmember with the Baumholder, Germany-based 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery.
On Thursday, five U.S. Patriot crews will fire 10 missiles from the Greek island of Crete, home to Europe’s lone launching site for the warhead. The mission is to intercept a fake enemy missile and blow it out of the sky.
This rare opportunity to engage in live-fire action could become more commonplace at the seaside NATO Missile Firing Installation in Chania, where the Army’s top general in Europe wants to see increased participation between U.S. and allied air defense units.
“Doing live fires builds confidence in one another and builds trust when you talk about firing a live missile. There is trust that comes with that,” said U.S. Army Europe’s Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges during a stop Tuesday at the training site, where he met with U.S. and German troops. “Probably the biggest threat to the population in Europe is going to be ballistic missiles, coming from any number of places.”
The exercise, known as Rapid Arrow, aims to certify a German Patriot battalion to NATO standards, but it also will put U.S. troops inside German systems, which will then be mounted with the Army’s Patriots for U.S. soldiers to test-fire. For the past week, U.S. troops have been learning how to operate the German system, exchanging tactics and ideas with their air defense counterparts.
“We’ve found a lot of similarities,” said Chief Warrant Officer II Kevin Kruthers, a tactical control officer with the 5-7 ADA. “In today’s world you never know if you will have to serve with them side by side.”…
