CHAUBATTIA MILITARY STATION, India – Soldiers with the U.S. Army‚ 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, and the Indian army’s 12 Madras, stood together Sept. 15, 2016, in formation on a parade field nestled high in the mountains approximately 200 miles northeast of New Dehli, India, as part of the opening ceremony for the annual bilateral training exercise known as Yudh Abhyas.

This U.S. Army Pacific-sponsored exercise is geared toward enhancing cooperation and coordination through training and cultural exchanges, which help build the skills and relationships necessary during a peacekeeping operation. This marks the 12th year of this exercise.

The Soldiers from 5-20th Inf. Reg. traveled all the way from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., to train with the soldiers and officers of the Indian army’s 12 Madras.

Scheduled training includes improvised explosive device lanes, cordon and search, battlefield trauma management, room clearing, a command post exercise, and more.

Members of the California National Guard as well as civilian observers from around the world are helping facilitate the exercise. Each element is able to provide a different perspective to the complex issues of peacekeeping operations today.

With this dynamic, there is ample opportunity for U.S. service members to learn about conducting U.N. operations from their Indian army counterparts. The exercise will also afford the U.S. Soldiers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Indian culture.

Prior to the ceremony, history was made when the first U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster landed at the Bareilly airport in India. Capt. Stephen Petraeus led the 1-2 SBCT contingent aboard the C-17.

“We are going to do more dismount operations training in India … and it is going to be very exciting in terms of how we are going to be mixing with the Indian company that we are training with,” said Petraeus, commander of Company C, 5-20th Inf. Reg. “We are swapping around some of the leadership so our Soldiers can get an idea of what the Indian army is capable of and for the Indian army to see the professionalism and the caliber of Soldiers that we have in our Army as well.

“We will show them our weapons systems and they will show us theirs,” he said. “We will do other training exercises that use the best of both of our experiences as armies and hopefully we will pass along those valuable experiences to each other.”