European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse \ vol or it s \ v a ,. V Quot Rcv a it a v a a kit a Quot to Quot a a it of a 3 Ltd Jjck a a a a . Soldier shows Quot refugees where his a squad will be taking them. At left a reporter from a Warsaw based radio station wearing a borrowed uniform interviews a polish Soldier. / # an a Quot it v. If a amp it i Jaili it a la v it a v a 1v i of to Quot by a t vehicle How far it can shoot and How much steel it can penetrate. Their pc s penetrate up to 14 centimetres of steel. Our Bradley can fire through 18 inches of still american soldiers can be humbled a As sgt. Timothy Britt discovered As he left the target Range brimming with Relief. They re More disciplined than i thought Quot said Britt As he looked toward the platoon of polish soldiers. Quot to put it bluntly i m glad they Are our friends now. I would t want to go against a a the exercise was t All work and no play. Once supper was Over soldiers were off until 11pm during this time Many swapped military Memorabilia Over a few mugs of polish Beer. Some even went into to Poznan a a City of about 600,000. One Soldier staff sgt. Jaime Garza jr., said he got some great deals on sweaters and sheepskins. Quot As for the people they re really Nice Quot he added. The participation of 105 German troops Here was also very symbolic because this area of Poland 80 Miles East of the German Border was once part of Germany. Quot anyone who knows even a Little bit about history knows this is not a routine event when polish and German soldiers Are working together Quot the German defense a minister Volker Ruhe said As he sat alongside polish defense minister Piotr Kolodziejczyk at a joint news conference. Quot it shows How Well German polish relations Are As polish army chief of staff it. Gen. Tadeusz Wilecki told All soldiers during the closing ceremony Quot the Friendship you have made in this exercise will remain with you a Long . A a contributing to this report spec. Bryan Driver 1 Star my div Public flairs and wire reports. Pvt. Thomas Bowman stands guard during the final hours of the came together in a hurry c considering there were Only 31 Days to plan cooperative Bridge 91, it s amazing that it turned out so Well said one of tin organizers. Quot formally you would Epe Ltd to have a year or More to plan an exercise As Complex As cooperative Bridge Quot said maj. Gen. William g. Carter Iii commander of the 1st army div headquartered Kreuz Nach Germany. Carter served As one of two directors in the peacekeeping exercise. Quot our main concern was the ability to pull 13 countries together get them to agree on a training concept and then bring that concept to the general said he was proud of his staff and the 3rd in 5th Cav regt in Kirch Gons Germany for organizing everything on such Short notice. Carter shared responsibility for running the historical exercise a a which brought nato and former Warsaw pact allies together for the first time a with polish Brig. Gen. Zygmunt Sadowski chief of staff for the silesian military District. Quot he proved to be a Superb Guy to work with Quot Carter said. Ironically Sadowski had about As much time As Carter did in preparing polish troops for the exercise. Quot he was tagged for the Job and pulled off leave Quot in the Middle of his vacation Carter said. The two leaders needed an interpreter to communicate but Carter said the language harrier caused Only minor problems. The purpose of the exercise was Quot to Sha re not compare Quot Carter said. And to find out How different countries react in different peacekeeping situations. I can t say i would single out any country As being better than someone else Quot the general said. Quot when you set politics aside All soldiers Are the same. They were All Bright eyed kids who wanted to do Well regardless of what country they came prior to the closing ceremony Carter met with polish president Lech Walesa for about 30 minutes Quot i found him to be extremely interested in the exercise and very knowledgeable of military affairs a Carter said. Later Carter experienced a first when Walesa accompanied him in reviewing the soldiers during the ceremony. Quot what i was really impressed about was his desire to. Come out and shake hands with every company commander and platoon Lender. Carter said. While Many Good things came from the exercise one important one was new friendships Quot those kind of contacts Are invaluable Between East and West and will stand us a very Good Stead Over the Long a Jon Connor Carter Lech Walesa left answers questions during a visit. Wednesday september 28,1994 the stars and stripes m x
