 My name is Captain Aaron Waller. I'm with Headquarters and Headquarters Company 2nd of the 503rd out of Vincenza, Italy. During the airborne operation I provided a jump master support and later on when we transition into platoon and squad objectives I'll be overseeing the platoon lanes. Operation Topside is a battalion airborne operation into Monte Romano training area focusing on seizing the airhead line, expanding the lodge and seizing follow-on objectives and then later on we will transition into platoon and squad tactical exercises. What's unique about this exercise is that we've never trained in Monte Romano before since I've been in the unit. It's been several years since the brigade has come down here. So what's unique about this is we're executing an airborne operation into a drop zone that we haven't used in a while. We're really kind of seeing what training areas Italy has for us to offer outside of the ones that we normally go to. The purpose of this exercise is for the brigade to demonstrate its ability to outload a battalion out of Aviano Air Base and project power into a non-contiguous area of operations and then within that training area allow us to get some additional squad tactical exercises in as well. Airborne operations are very important because they allow the United States to project power rapidly over great distance, allowing us to, within a short notice, put boots on the ground in another nation. I think Monte Romano training area has a lot of great potential. The unit hasn't been down here in several years so it's a really great opportunity for us to come down here, see what the area has to offer and what we can capitalize on in terms of further training objectives.