Fort Cavazos troops wrap up massive ‘Warfighter’ training exercise with NATO allies
Warfighter gave American troops across the country a chance to prove they could operate across several continents.
FORT CAVAZOS, Texas (KWTX) - Troops at Fort Cavazos got a chance to work closely with some of our NATO allies over the past week.
III Armored Corps has just wrapped up a multi-national training exercise that included other countries like Germany, France and the U.K., with the center of operations in Fort Cavazos.
Months of planning and several smaller exercises brought American and NATO allies together for crucial training they call Warfighter.
“Warfighter is a giant interoperability exercise for III Armored Corps but also, a way to test the systems, processes and staff functions of a Corps Headquarters,” said Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, the director of public affairs with III Armored Corps.
The goal is to work with teams here and in other NATO countries to put their communication skills to the test.
”To see how our IT services work and how data and information is share between the different systems,” said Lt. Col. Stefan Schoenberger with Germany’s 10th Panzer Division. “So, our commanders and the subordinate units have a similar counter operational picture and support for the decision-making process.”
French troops told KWTX the exercise in teamwork was critical.
“Since we don’t have the same kind of systems, we needed to make sure that today it would work well to get orders, assistance, feedback, and to conduct the war,” said Col. Thomas, a liaison officer with the 1st French Division.
Commanders said the exercise highlighted the importance of having allies.
“Considering today’s challenges, there are many challenges that we are going to meet together,” said Col. Thomas. “So, there is a reason we are part of NATO.”
There is one thing everyone is taking with them that is not IT related.
“The biggest memories, for sure, were the comradeship with the United States soldiers, with the soldiers from France, with the soldiers from Great Britain,” said Lt. Col. Stefan Schoenberger. “This is the biggest thing I will take home.”
Those connections can be just a critical on the battlefield.
Large scale NATO exercises like this usually take place in Europe but the Army says this proved the U.S. can run operations from home.
Warfighter gave American troops across the country a chance to prove they could operate across several continents and with several other countries at the same time to get the job done.
Copyright 2025 KWTX. All rights reserved.
