TOWNSEND — More than a dozen soldiers from across the pond are training alongside the Montana Army National Guard for allied benefits.
Watch some of the joint training:
"There is really nothing like firing 120 millimeters of pure freedom," Thomas Lyons, a British soldier, told MTN.
The fifteen British soldiers are training with the Montana Army National Guard in the Limestone Hills area outside Townsend for two weeks.
The training focuses largely on tanks because of the differences between the military equipment of the two Allied forces.
"It is a fantastic experience that the Montana National Guard has given to us," Lyons said. "Allowing us to try the Abrams tank when at home, we use the Challenger Two tank, which is a very different platform, trying to get the experience we got on that tank and put it onto this one to see how well that goes across."
The tanks, uniforms, and accents are not the only differences; the way soldiers are trained is different between the United States and the United Kingdom.
"Their level of proficiency at their stations is vastly different than ours," said Lieutenant Clayton Kelly with the Montana Army National Guard. "They get very proficient in one position before moving onto the next, and we tend to be more generalists, and everybody knows a little bit about something."
Despite differences, they are all training together for the same reason.
"It is ultimately about interoperability with our primary and foremost allies, understanding how they use their systems, what systems they have, and if we ever need to operate together, how we would interlink with each other," said Lyons.
For Lieutenant Kelly, training like this and his service with the National Guard have changed his life.
He says, "The National Guard has taken me a lot of different places that I would never have gone on my own. I have made some incredible friends, and I love being a part of a team."
The teamwork between the Montana Army National Guard and British soldiers will continue in October when a team of soldiers from Montana will head to the United Kingdom.
