 You're going to put your finger in the hole, push down, quarter turn, pull, as hard as you can. In the middle of the road on a path, join with concerting. They use different dimensions. They go in actual 2x4, not in American 2x4. You're going to put your finger in the hole, push down, quarter turn, pull, as hard as you can. So, first I want to describe where we are. We're in Latvia. We're on the Dossi trading area, and I really want to express my thanks for the Latvians for allowing us to come out here and train, and what it's enabled us to do is come out here with our NATO allies and work on engineering interoffability, experiencing some of each other's techniques and procedures, describing what we can do with our equipment, and really getting to know each other and what our capabilities are. During Operation Verboom, I was in charge of setting up some of the demolition charges, as well as setting up and emplacing of the actual charges with our foreign partners. I allowed them the opportunity to tie into our charges and initiate those charges, which was an amazing experience for a lot of them. Continuing to do these exercises is going to improve the knowledge that we have one another's capabilities, as well as knowing how to best use one another or recommend them to maneuver for those different tasks that they may bring to us. They're also going to be improving their cross-cultural competency, but because we are all engineers, there's commonality between some of the things that we do. You have your route clearance personnel that are learning about getting rid of UXOs and IEDs. You have your engineer support personnel that are focused on supporting maneuver with their tasks, and then you also have the engineer breach squad within that engineer support platoon that is responsible for breaching and also emplacing minefields. And then that sapper platoon, well, we all know what they do. Verboom absolutely makes us a more ready and capable force, not only for the battle group here in Lavia, but across NATO, bringing together engineers understanding where our capabilities are. I am second lieutenant Ryan Smith. I'm a platoon leader in BAD Company in the 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion at the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. So for Exercise Verboom, I was tasked with being the officer in charge of the BAD Company personnel that came up to Lavia from Poland to attend this event. Now we were instructed that we were going to be demonstrating and displaying our engineer capabilities and based on the assets, the ammunition, and the explosives that we were able to bring, that was going to dictate the displays and the capabilities that we brought here with us, as well as personnel. So the first day, we had our capabilities briefing, and what I wanted to focus on is the Bravo Company within a brigade engineer battalion, specifically an armored brigade combat team, is a very diverse company in that they have a sapper platoon, they have an engineer support platoon, and then they also have a route clearance platoon. The Alpha Company within those brigade engineer battalions has two sapper platoons and then an engineer support platoon. So because our company is more diverse, or perhaps there are more assets involved with it, I wanted to highlight how we do have many different vehicles that our personnel across the formation are going to be tasked with learning different things. You have your route clearance personnel that are learning about getting rid of UXOs and IEDs, you have your engineer support personnel that are focused on supporting maneuver with their tasks, and then you also have the engineer breach squad within that engineer support platoon that is responsible for breaching and also in placing minefields, and then that sapper platoon, well we all know what they do, so they're just going to focus on breaching and getting through obstacles. But because we are all engineers, there's commonality between some of the things that we do, but because there are so many different tasks, I wanted to highlight those vehicles and those capabilities specifically. Continuing to do these exercises is going to improve the knowledge that we have one another's capabilities, as well as knowing how to best use one another or recommend them to maneuver for those different tasks that they may bring to us. I think that the most important part is yes, you're able to demonstrate your capabilities. You need to not only execute those tasks properly, but you also have to instruct other people on that, and while you're doing that, there could be a little bit of a language barrier, and through the execution of these tasks, through an enhanced level of learning, they're also going to be improving their cross-cultural competency, which I think is vital to the continuation of these exercises. My name is Sergeant Timothy Zink. I'm a squad leader for the Breach Squad in Bravo Company, 9th BB, 2ABCT, 3rd ID. Here I'm a Breach Squad Leader, so I'm in charge of, I have two joint assault bridges. I'm also in charge of a volcano mine system, which is mounted on the back of a HEMMIT truck that allows us to facilitate mind operations. For me, this has been an amazing experience getting to work with foreign nations, understanding their capabilities, as well as working in depth with the personnel, explaining them how our processes work and how they may differ from what they do in their current armies. It kind of allowed me to understand that sometimes the language barrier can be difficult, but we can work through it. Oftentimes, it's a lot easier to just show the physical portion of your event and allow them to get a little bit of hands-on. That kind of helps with some sort of language barrier that you might face. I was in charge of setting up some of the demolition charges, as well as setting up and emplacing of the actual charges with her foreign partners. I allowed them the opportunity to tie into our charges and initiate those charges, which was an amazing experience for a lot of them. Think out, in Latvia, our use of the demolition range has been the most rewarding part so far. Over here, we have the ability to initiate a little larger explosives than normal than we would in the rear, so it's been a fun experience. I think Exercise for Boom has been an amazing experience for myself, my soldiers, and everyone involved. We get to work very heavily with foreign nations, who we don't work with on a regular basis, and it's a good opportunity for my soldiers to learn some of the different techniques and tasks that our foreign allies do. Lieutenant Colonel Clint Brown, 9th Engineer Battalion, and a Battalion Commander for the 9th Engineers. So, first I want to describe where we are. We're in Latvia. We're on the Dossi training area. And I really want to express my thanks for the Latvians for allowing us to come out here and train, and what it's enabled us to do is come out here with our NATO allies and work on engineering interoffability, experiencing some of each other's techniques and procedures, describing what we can do with our equipment, and really getting to know each other and what our capabilities are. For Boom consists of NATO allies coming together here in Latvia with all of our different pieces, our equipment, our explosives, our detonators, to come together and train in a field environment to understand each other's capabilities, what we are capable of doing so we can work together and achieve interoffability. What you'll see is engineers from across NATO with their different engineer pieces of equipment, such as dig assets. We have wire obstacles. We have explosives breaching coming together and demonstrating what their each nation brings to the Alliance and working together to achieve an engineering capability to enable the NATO Alliance to either conduct offensive or defensive operations. Yeah, so awesome opportunity for young soldiers getting here within the last 90 days in the country to have the opportunity to see what other nations are capable of to interact with engineers from at least 10 other nations here in Latvia to see what they're capable of doing, to learn different things and actually make new friends and make some lasting relationships. For Boom absolutely makes us more ready and capable force not only for the battle group here in Latvia but across NATO bringing together engineers understanding what our capabilities are.