Cross national training question.

[gazzthompson]

General question for the serving personnel on this forum. Excuse the poor use of the terminology, im not serving.


Im watching a US sniper school documentary and there is a Brazilian participating, it didn't specify whether he was in the US army or Brazilian army. Im aware training with other nations is common place (red flag exercise for one, being a well known one) but can you participate in training schools of other nations? for example (the most relevant nations here probably) Could a british sniper take part in an American sniper school, then return to his original unit? or dose cross training with nations not go this specific and more just general large scale exercises?

To my knowledge british armed forces regularly train in america due to the large exercises areas (some of which are probably bigger than england), are these trainings regularly done with American forces to?

And lastly on deployments, can you be attached to foreign units for combat operations ? (English to American and American to English). for example i saw a program in which british JTAC's where attacked to Estonian units due to a lack of trained personnel in said units. dose this happen at all between American and English forces?

Thanks for any answerers.

[[R-DEV]Gaz]

Peacetime: Upon invite, yes.
Ops: As and when tbh.

We can attend other nation's schools/cadres if invited, or if a specific request is made and accepted. However, it's not really the norm. Usually there's an annual invite between forces to take part in annual exercises. It opens up the chance to see and interact with another country's way of doing things, and SOPs.

Most training on the other side of the Atlantic is actually in BATUS, Canada. Units and formations also deploy to the US for cross training for a limited period of time. We have in the recent past deployed on a cross-training ex with US Forces doing COIN Ops in Florida.

We also deploy as training teams in peacetime to other NATO countries. I was in Lithuania a few years back assisting in a command cadre for junior officers and SNCOs.

In short, we can't just rock up to the US, or have a chat to the OC and say "I wanna go to America and do some shooting". People who are deployed tend to be the best at what is being asked for, or whoever's left back home when the parent Bn's on Ops already...

On ops, if a multi-nation coalition force is responsible for an AO (Task Force Helmand for example), the Cmdr will have x number of FACs, JTACs etc available. If units or formations in the field lack those skills, qualified staff with language skills (if applicable to the 'needy' nation) can be attached. Could also be snipers or recce who have had eyes on that area and are vectoring or guiding friendly nation troops, or who also have JTAC capabilitiy within the platoon.

[[R-DEV]Ninja2dan]

The US military, especially the US Army, do have certain courses that offer slots to foreign soldiers on a limited basis. I have seen several soldiers from other countries attend the Army Sniper School as well as our Artillery School. I personally took part in training some soldiers from 3 different nations in towed artillery.

On the opposite side, other nations sometimes allow US soldiers to participate in their own training schools. I have seen artillery courses offered in Germany and South Korea, after which you can earn a special badge authorized for wear on your Class A's. It's not uncommon for US troops stationed in those countries to participate in their local training schools.


I don't see it being impossible for a British Soldier to attend the Army Sniper School, but getting an open slot might take a while depending on how many US soldiers are lined up. I've even seen US police and government agents (FBI, etc) given slots when they were available. But don't be surprised if a foreign slot has a 2+ year wait.

[gazzthompson]

Thanks guys, you 2 are pretty much the only people i wanted to reply and you have .

[anglomanii]

can i just add to this guys,

i think things are a little different in Australia, (note i am not a serving soldier, i am however somewhat familiar with this side of the job).

The ADF regularly embeds officers and senior NC O's in America and the UK. this is mainly due to either the ANZUS treaty obligations or the commonwealth forces interoperability schemes. ADF members serve as if they are a completely integrated part of the unit, they wear the same kit carry the same weapon and use the same training (they basically do a sped up basic course) this is mainly because we have to learn to work with other forces and be able to fit in with larger operations, often the only way you will know the is an Australian around is
1. the accent.
2. the usually wear a small patch with the ANF on it.
3. F*^k and C#@t are heard a lot (NCO's).
4. Beer will be found secreted around in strange places.

there is also the training side of things on our end too. we often do not have the facilities for some of the larger or more complicated operations. and or more expensive or specialised pieces of kit, so whole units often travel OS to train.

[Scot]

Originally Posted by anglomanii

3. F*^k and C#@t are heard a lot (NCO's).

Sounds like British soldiers then

[ankyle62]

aussies trained on my base with the f18 training squadron. while on deployment they did ops with the french carrier, both sides doing touch and goes on each other.

[Thanato]

Probably the most common cross training between soldiers is that of the US and Canada. Canadian soldiers have taken part in a variety of US military training courses. I personally know someone who was undergone US Army Ranger training, as well as a variety of small courses in the US.

I have also witnessed US military personal in Canada training with Canadian forces. Also probably the largest foreign military training establishments is the british detachment in CFB Suffield. Which is the largest British training base.

~Thanato

[Shredhead99]

I've been deployed to the Infantryschool in Hammelburg, Germany. There are multiple army- units training with and against each other, US, british, french, austrian and so on.
We had also cadets from countries like Kirgisistan and were training UN- observers for their missions in Georgia and other countries.

[Undies]

The Brits regularly run Exercise 'Long Look' where they will send soldiers/Officers to Australia for basically a year long exchange program where an Aussie will swap jobs with them for 12 months at a time. Those i know who have done it reckon its great.

We also have some foreign nationals working in various HQ locations and training establishments all over the place. I have come across Germans on 2 year liason jobs, Americans on 2 year posting teaching tank crews (with a Brit in Fort Knox doing the same) and lots of Poles and stuff in various job roles.