 I'm Captain Brennan Eserella. I'm the Crusher Company Commander in 1187 Infantry Battalion. So today we fought as a company against a company of French light infantry. So we're here in Estonia. We're out at their company sticks training, fighting against different company-sized elements from different countries. The best part that our company gets out of this training opportunity is the chance to train with our allied partners and see how they fight. So we know American doctrine. We know how we fight in the offense. We know how we fight in the defense. But it's interesting to see how different countries and also different types of formations would attack a defense like this. We get to learn something from the way that they're attacking us, and hopefully they get to learn a little something from the way that we're defending this terrain. To start off with, one of the things that is unique about this particular opportunity was the chance to work with the Estonian engineers. We don't have that many opportunities when we're working in a defense to have large-scale engineer support. We were able to communicate with the Estonian Defense Force engineers, and they were able to construct the entire trench system, one for each platoon, in about a day and a half. And so that type of interoperability will be huge in the future where we're fighting as an alliance in large-scale combat operations. Personally, it's really interesting to see the different styles of fighting that the British and the French have shown. So the French, we've noticed they have an incredible violence of action. So they're running full speed. They are attacking with 110%. The British, it's also been interesting to see the way that they combine their mechanized infantry, their dismounts with their armor and compare how they would attack us with those different styles of formation and how they throw them at us compared to how we might expect in American formation to do so. The biggest training value for our soldiers and our company out of this has been the chance to really work on and refine our defensive tactics. So a lot of the times we tend to focus on offense when we're back at Fort Campbell Training. This is a four-day exercise where we're really drilling down and refining our defense and able to do that against a thinking, fighting enemy with our allied partners. It's rare to get this opportunity where we're not fighting at just the squad level and the company level, but the Estonians have done a great job of running this event and allowing us to just focus on fighting as a company element. I think it's important to do training exercises like this because all the different countries in NATO can come together and each has different strengths and different weaknesses, and I think we can all learn something from each other and make ourselves a more well-rounded fighting force. Today we were defending against the British who were attacking us. I had to keep in contact with the listening and observation posts, making sure that everyone's radios were working, also calling up reports like if we came into contact. For me specifically, it's understanding how leadership works and how communication is key when you're in a battle. It's good to get practice in, being able to listen to orders, follow commands, to do your key role, and practice makes perfect. Something that I found especially fun was when we were on the flank of what happened today, the British, and they were engaging another platoon, a second platoon that was in the trench and we came up on their flank and surprised them because they just took the trench and then we came in right behind them and yeah, I thought that was fun. Things that I've learned that will help me be better in the future is moving around fast and doing everything smoothly and making sure you have your eyes on your target and also having good motivation and good listening skills. What's important about what we're doing here is it's good to strengthen our alliance with our allies and get to know each other and be familiar with each other's tactics. I think it's something that's definitely going to better our army as a whole, learning, being in an environment like this. I'm glad to say I've been to this part of the world and it's awesome to say that I have done it as a job and it's something that I'm definitely going to remember in the future. So today we were the defense and our NATO allies were the offense and we were defending our trenches while they were coming up on us. This is my first time in Europe. I've never left America so it's a big change. Some things that I thought were interesting today, the tanks the British had, I've never seen tanks really. I thought that was really cool to see. I think being out here training is different because we're actually able to work with our NATO countries and get to learn from each other and where we're weaker they can help us and where they're weaker we can help them so we have a lot more learning opportunities here. When I first was going through AIT they really teach you to be a line medic so most of the time most new medics kind of the goal is to eventually become a line medic and be right up there with the guys. Before I became a line medic for Crusher I was in the aid station so we were role one so I was on the treatment squad so the line medics will do their treatment on the casualty EVAC will get them and then bring them back to us and then we treat the casualties more like long term and more in depth. I mean this is my first field exercise with like on the line as a medic so just being close by with the infantry all together was new and a good experience to gain that experience as a line medic. It's definitely colder here but it has been warming up and everything's been getting greener which is nicer there's been days where the sun's out and that's been nice but definitely the cold is tough that's hard to get used to at first. I'm excited to see more countries we're supposed to go to Germany for some more training here soon so I'm excited to see Germany and just to get to learn more. Before I came here I didn't really know anything about this part of the world so it's been cool to see and to learn what the people are like and what their culture is like what the food is like. I've enjoyed it, it's been a good adventure so far.