National Guard troops wind up international training

Over 1,100 National Guardsmen from Idaho, Oregon, and Montana are returning home. For the past two weeks, the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team has been supporting the International Joint Exercise Saber Guardian 2016 in Romania.

Saber Guardian is an annual, multi-national exercise designed to enhance joint combined operations with allied and partner nations.

Gen. Nicolae Tonu, the deputy commander of the Romanian Land Forces 4th Infantry Division, spoke at the closing ceremony. “Today we finish an exercise that brought all of us closer together as nations and partners,” said Tonu. “This exercise gave us the opportunity to prove ourselves and to anyone else that we can work together as a team.”

Saber Guardian 16 involved nearly 2,800 troops from five NATO countries (Bulgaria, Canada, Poland, Romania and the United States) and five Partnership for Peace states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine) and ran from July 27 to August 7.

Soldiers of the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team are scheduled to begin returning home later this week.