How many of you have participated in an ODT (Overseas Deployment Training) exercise and what was your best part of the experience?

As a Special Forces NCO I have participated in numerous ODT training exercises in several countries in Central America, SE Asia, the Pacific Rim, Korea and the Philipines under the guise of JCET and JCS missions. I can safely say that although the troops and I received great training, the majority of the training went to our foreign allies. I enjoyed all the exposure to both the foreign military and the cultural experience but I will go out on a limb and say that my greatest experience was what I learned by training other troops.

I spent some time in Germany at the tail end of an exercise (Reforger, I think). My reserve unit (11th Group, SFG(A), was tasked with observing traffic behind "enemy" lines, in addition to a couple of DA missions. We did our isolation in England. Our jump into Germany was aborted due to extreme storms (I spend about 45 miserable minutes hooked up, static line in one hand and barf bag in the other, ready to go, before it was called off). Our exfil was delayed due to weather. The Air Force refused to come and get us, so the Italians did. When we got back to England, we landed in fog so thick that we had to taxi for about 30 minutes, trying to find the hangar. The Italian aircraft - a Fiat, I believe - was like a tiny C130 and did not have heat except in the cockpit. So my team, soaking wet and freezing, huddled around the cockpit door trying to keep warm. Oh, the fun we had!

Spc/4 Cruz,got to go on a Reforger called Central Fury. A deployment from Fort Benning , Ga. To Belgium and convoyed throughout Germany and performed some training exercises. Got to visit Sweden before heading out of Wiesbaden back to Fort Benning Ga. After a month stay in Europe. It was an exciting and a learning experience, I really enjoyed it.

I tried to inject myself into the Cobra Gold in THailand but failed :)

Preparing for the arrival of Pacific Command's Commander was interesting, but really not the best . Observing the security details that comes ahead of the general, did not make me too uncomfortable, but instilled confident in me that the team did their job. I didnt get much of the general's time other than a handshake and a coin. Which one of the E-9 from Thai's navy took a liking to and pocketed. It was hard to force that coin back into my pocket.

Hauling the Defense Attache was as much of the action as I had. I probably speak for many young troops when I say that my best experiences are when a high ranking member sit next to me, and I get to pick his/her brain while he/she cant get away. If you're the older troop with command position, you can probably relate to those moment where you sit next to a kid that ask you a million unrelated questions about anything and everything, and you cant get away.

I can pretty much guess what will comes out of people's mind/mouth after a time of working together. The ranking officials who are normally not in daily contact, usually bring a new perspective or something like a humbling wisdom.

On my first tour in West Germany we were expected to be able to load and begin moving to our assembly site within 15 minutes. From there we would either move back to the Kaserne or to other areas. These actions were the result of what was then called, "Alerts". Coupled with these alerts there was also occasionally what was called a. "Pontiac Alert". On these exercise a platoon, company or battalion of infantry. along with their support troups, were airlifted to different NATO countries. I was lucky enough to go on two of these movements. There first to Norway and the second to Greece. These were either pass or fail exercises. You had to have your entire TOE and assigned explosives, ammo, etc. In other words we had to be ready to go the war. These were very valuable learning experiences. It didn't take long to figure out our weak areas. I believe these were the forerunners of the Reforger Exercises.

Back in my days (1965), those of us that were being shipped to Vietnam had to attend MOH Winner Col Lewis Millet's TTC (Tactical Training Course). Col Millet created a realistic looking VC camp. The fun part was the escape and evasion part of the training. We were given maps and had to find each point on the map and return to home base without being captured. Those that were captured were tortured by the trainers pretending to be VC. And, yes they actually did torture us. One method was wires attached to a Field Phone and then attached to sensitive parts of your body. They would crank the phone and give you an electrical shock. This course was primarily for the ASA Troops at Ft Devens, Ma. Col Millet was the 2nd Battalion commander. This course was fine in the summer, but it was hard to imagine Vietnam when you participated in the middle of the New England winters.

Yes REFORGER 1983 or 84 I participated in The German American Friendship Program & stayed with a German Farming Family to Help them with their Winter Crops. It was an Amazing Experience . Being From Los Angeles it was very interesting to drive a tractor for the first time. I also made some new friends. It was an Honor to represent The United States & help create a bond with the German People.

I made three trips to Korea for ODT and all of them had high points in their own respect. Having been on active duty then becoming a Reservist it was a bit of culture shock to go back to an active duty environment and see things as a Reservist having been on the other side of the fence when I was active and we hosted reserve component units when I was in Panama and Germany.

A handful of the Soldiers from my unit were selected to participate in Capable Logistician during the month of June 2015. While the exercise was intended to show how effectively different the armed forces of different countries could work with one another, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the Rigger unit sent down, and more time was spent dropping supplies out of C140s than any other logistical activity.

That said, I loved being there. It was a blast to work with the other militaries, the Germans who in particular. Much time was spent playing BallKickThrowCatch.

Talisman Saber 07.

I spent 30 Days on the USS Essex off the coast of Eastern Australia. It was an experience I'll never forget. It solidified, for me, the reason why I joined the Air Force and not the Navy, lol.

In all seriousness, It was a great opportunity to work with countries other than Canada. I visited at great length with some RAAF officers and had the opportunity to see Sydney. In that same deployment training, I got to fly to Okinawa. It was surreal to me to visit the site of a WWII battle.

The most memorable part of the ODT was landing on the USS Kitty Hawk via COD and being launched off the carrier via COD. Way cooler than a roller-coaster.