Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Army

USAG BAVARIA – HOHENFELS, Germany – International vendors and community members took part in an on-post bazaar March 19 through 21, 2026, the largest of its kind for the Hohenfels military community.

The annual spring bazaar, because of the increase in vendors, found a new home in the basketball court of the Rodney J. Harris Sports and Fitness Center.

“We could fit all of the vendors in one space,” said Joshua Moore, Outdoor Recreation director and contracting representative for the spring bazaar. “We got a lot of walk-in traffic that we may have not gotten in a different location.”

Vendors came from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland and South Africa. Vendors sold antique furniture and timepieces, ornate rugs of Eastern origin, pendants and other jewelry, pewter drinking vessels, chocolate delicacies, cheeses from the higher lands of the Netherlands, honeys to temper allergies and to simply enjoy, blue and white glazed crockery from Poland, artisanal liqueurs, fabrics and clothing of knitted wool, field-dressing knives, monastic Walloon brews, sausages and confitures to accompany them, and many more items.

Moore said this year’s bazaar, a joint effort between the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation and the Hohenfels Community and Spouses Club, represented a high watermark, which he hopes to exceed in coming years.

“This is absolutely a sustain for next year,” he said.

Moore added that he hopes to bring in more vendors next year.

Source: United States Army

The Maine Army National Guard mobilized 27 Soldiers from the 120th Regional Support Group for state active duty in support of snow removal operations in Rhode Island earlier this winter.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee issued a state of emergency during Winter Storm Hernando, which delivered over 37 inches of snowfall – the highest total ever recorded in the state. The record-breaking snowfall from the storm overwhelmed local resources and prompted the governor’s request for out-of-state assistance.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck response,” said McKee in a press release. “It’s going to take time to fully recover from this historic blizzard, but we will get through it, and we will not stop until the job is done.”

Rhode Island submitted a request for assistance through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, enabling rapid coordination between states. Rhode Island and the Maine Emergency Management Agency coordinated efforts with the Maine National Guard, several municipal public works departments, and out-of-state partners like the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to respond to the storm’s impact.

“It’s definitely a lot of snow for one storm and in such a tight area,” said 1st Lt. Nicholas Roberts, an engineering officer with the Maine National Guard and officer-in-charge of the mission. “I can definitely see how the local public works were a little overwhelmed: it’s a lot of snow and not a lot of places to put it.”

Before deploying, the Maine National Guard had to coordinate across multiple functional areas, including human resources, operations, logistics, and the 120th Regional Support Group to identify qualified volunteers capable of operating the necessary vehicles.

“We got the call the night before we all met up, and right from the get go I thought the state did a great job of getting all the parts and pieces moving,” said Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Macduff, 262nd Engineer Construction Company. “It was smooth. We all showed up, we had paperwork to do, we got our trucks ready, and we were out the door the next day.”

As the Soldiers convoyed to Rhode Island, they noted the amount of snow through the region. “Driving through, you kind of go through the different stages of New England,” said Macduff. “You’re like ‘oh the snow is not that bad, oh it doesn’t look that bad.’ And then you get down here and you see… some snowbanks are up to our windows in our trucks.”

Once in Rhode Island, the soldiers quickly got to work clearing snow in and around Providence from locations including downtown streets, residential neighborhoods, and commercial zones. Snow was transported to designated dump sites, such as unused parking lots, where it could safely melt.

“The other entities down here are great,” said Roberts. “The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation guys we’re attached to are phenomenal to work with. They’re a lot of fun and are running an orderly tight ship so it was very easy to integrate with them.”

Despite challenges like melting snow sticking to truck beds and heavy traffic, the teams maintained a steady pace. In just one day, they moved more than 2 million pounds of snow across 134 dump truck loads. Their efforts helped reduce hazardous snowbanks, reopen lanes, and improve safety for both drivers and pedestrians.

Roberts said missions like this reinforce the skills soldiers and officers train on through their careers.

“Coming down here to help Rhode Island is a great opportunity especially as an engineer officer,” said Roberts. “I get to train on this sort of thing a lot but I don’t get to put the skills into use, so it’s nice to do some engineering work and help some local towns and help our friends down in Rhode Island.”

The teams remained in Rhode Island for about a week, working alongside local agencies and out-of-state partners to restore safe road conditions. Many of the soldiers had positive attitudes and worked with smiles on their faces.

“A lot of the guys are happy to be here and I think that’s just because we have a great work ethic,” said Roberts. “Any time we get a chance to go out and help people, do some work, and get stuff done, everyone enjoys that.”

Source: United States Army

ANSBACH, Germany — U.S. Army Health Clinic (USAHC) Ansbach conducted a mass casualty (MASCAL) exercise at USAG Ansbach’s Urlas Kaserne Wednesday, March 23, 2026.

USAHC Ansbach conducted the MASCAL exercise to validate months of intensive medical treatment and evacuation training. The event showcased Soldiers’ proficiency in responding to emergencies in accordance with established medical treatment and evacuation guidance.

The exercise brought together USAHC Ansbach’s medical troops and personnel from the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade (12 CAB), as well as 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (1-57 ADAR) and the garrison. This collaborative effort simulated a large-scale emergency, testing the participants’ ability to respond effectively under pressure.

The MASCAL exercise featured a hybrid training environment, combining tactical field conditions with operations in a fixed medical treatment facility. This setup allowed participants to evaluate and treat simulated casualties with varying levels of injuries, prepare patients for evacuation, and load and unload both standard and non-standard medical evacuation platforms.

The exercise emphasized the importance of teamwork and interoperability among units. In addition to the medical Soldiers showcasing their skills, personnel from 12 CAB provided air evacuation support, and 1-57 ADAR contributed ground evacuation capabilities, while the garrison played a critical role in logistical coordination, ensuring seamless incorporation of all participating units.

“The multi-dimensional partner integration was critical to our efforts in ensuring a cohesive understanding of our roles when responding effectively to a mass casualty incident or any real-world contingencies,” said Lt. Col. Maggie Fitzpatrick, Chief Nursing Officer, United States Army Health Clinic Ansbach.”The ability to respond effectively to mass casualty incidents is critical to mission success, and today’s performance validates months of rigorous training and preparation.”

By simulating high-pressure scenarios, USAHC Ansbach ensures its personnel are equipped to save lives and mitigate the impact of crises. The training also reinforces the clinic’s commitment to maintaining high standards of medical readiness and safeguarding the well-being of the USAG Ansbach community.

Source: United States Army

KINGSTON, New York — New York Army National Guard Major Corbin Lounsbury’s Soldiers fight their battles with laptops.

“Our computer is our weapons system,” explained Lounsbury, the commander of the New York and New Jersey National Guard’s Cyber Protection Team 173, or CPT 173 for short.

From February 23 to 26, the CPT Soldiers fought an online campaign against a simulated “threat actor” who executed a blended cyber operation against an electrical utility.

The Soldiers were physically located at the Kingston Armory, but their battle took place inside the U.S. Cyber Command’s Persistent Cyber Training Environment. This is a national-level computer simulation that replicates the challenges a CPT Soldier faces.

“The system can be programmed to provide cyber-Soldiers with varying threat levels, adversaries, and scenarios”, Lounsbury explained.

The scenario was built around a classic attack against a computer network, said Major William Mackey, the officer in charge of the New York National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters’ Defense Cyber Operations Element.

In the exercise scenario, the attackers conducted “reconnaissance” by identifying security weaknesses in the computer network, stole user logins and passwords in an operation known as “credential harvesting~~”,~~” Mackey said.

That information was then used to gain access to the computer and shut down key systems, he added.

The mission for CPT 173 was to determine how the “bad actor” got into the system, close those holes in the defenses, find the malware – in the case “ransomware”—and end the threat, Mackey said.

The members of Lounsbury’s Cyber Protection Team were also joined by the Division of Military and Naval Affairs Critical Infrastructure Response Team and the Defensive Cyber Operation Element in battling the simulated threat.

Thirty-four Soldiers took part in the exercise.

Ransomware is software that is placed on a system to shut it down. The hackers offer to remove the software once money—the ransom—is paid.

According to the FBI, in 2024, there were 3,156 ransomware attempts against American businesses and individuals, which cost over $12 billion.

Healthcare organizations have been especially susceptible to these attacks, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report for 2024, but utilities—charged with providing electricity, water, and natural gas to hundreds of thousands of households – are also a concern.

A likely mission for a National Guard CPT is to help local governments and critical infrastructure companies counter these threats, Lounsbury said.

~~.~~Fortunately, most of the CPT 173 members work in the computer security field in their civilian jobs, he said. As Guardsmen have always done, they use their civilian skills to further the mission.

Lounsbury, for example, has worked for General Dynamics in network protection since 2018.

TV and movies portray cyber experts defending a computer system by feel and instinct. But in real life, everything is much more methodical, Lounsbury said

Just as any other unit would do when they are given a mission, the CPT 173 leaders spent two days using the Military Decision-Making Process and Joint Planning Process to plan their response to the threat, Lounsbury .

The CPT Soldiers determine how to counter a computer threat and then help the threatened firm’s computer technicians make the right moves, he said.

“Actions are very planned and very deliberate, and nothing is done without approval,” he said. “There are a lot of reporting and tracking processes we need to follow,” he added.

Along with the specialized hardware and software installed on their computers, the CPT Soldiers also have access to a portable server kit~~,~~ that includes a collection of devices loaded with incident response tools.

The Soldiers can use these to identify and neutralize the threats to a network, he explained. The mission normally breaks down into “hunt the threat, clear out the adversary, then harden the system against further attacks,” Lounsbury said.

The 173 Soldiers were very successful in countering the cyberattack during the exercise, Mackey said.

The team determined what actions the simulated attacker took, found the malware, and then “hardened” the network defenses and set up a system to monitor for further attacks, Mackey said.

This was the first time a National Guard cyber unit conducted this type of simulation exercise and they still wrapped up their mission a half-day earlier than expected, Mackey said.