US to help train first Bulgarian army battle group

Bulgarian troops participate in a military parade © AFP/File Nikolay Doychinov

AFP

SOFIA (AFP) – The US army will help Bulgaria train its first battle group by the end of 2012 following the signing of a memorandum in Sofia on Monday.

“Over the next year we will train the first Bulgarian battle group in an extensive manner, which will pave the way for future such organisations within the Bulgarian army,” US Army Europe commander Lieutenant General Mark Hertling said after the signing.

Training of the 800 troops has to be completed by the end of next year, Bulgarian land forces commander Major-General Stefan Vasilev added.

Some 120 Bulgarian troops have already received training at the Joint Multinational Training Command Center in Grafenwoehr, Germany, with another 100-troop company to follow suit at the beginning of August.

Full training will kick off at the beginning of next year at the joint US-Bulgarian training area in Novo Selo in southeastern Bulgaria, Vasilev added.

The memorandum does not include any equipment from the US army to the new unit, which will make use of the best of what the Bulgarian land forces already have, Vasilev said.

“Some of the most important lessons that we train on are not lessons of equipment but actually lessons of action – how you train, how you gather intelligence, how you focus on targets, how you approach convoy operations,” Hertling added.

The training in Germany will specifically include the operation of mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles and dealing with types of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), he added.

Bulgaria currently has about 600 troops, army instructors and military doctors deployed in NATO’s ISAF operation in Afghanistan.

© AFP — Published at Activist Post with license