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On the ground with Resolute Castle

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British Armed Forces and Romanian soldiers worked together to erect several buildings throughout the new training ranges, from a multipurpose shelter to a light demolition training range where soldiers can practice demolition of objects like doors and windows. Building the structures was no easy task considering the amount of rain during construction. Soldiers made fast work of sunny days. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges and U.S. ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm listen to a briefing from a soldier from the 926th Engineer Brigade on the work the unit, comprised of National Guard and Reserve forces as well as British and Romanian soldiers, has been doing to build up the Joint National Training Center in Cincu, Romania, to include ammunition storage, a nonstandard live fire course for tanks with moving armored targets, a light demolition range and a sniper range. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • Romanian soldiers put finishing touches on the multipurpose shelter to service the ammunition storage facility and the nonstandard live fire range as Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges and U.S. ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm toured the work performed during Resolute Castle, the exercise for engineers training to build infrastructure, at the Joint National Training Center in Cincu, Romania. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges gives a Romanian soldier a coin following the soldier’s presentation on the multipurpose structure as part of Resolute Castle. The soldiers were challenged to build the facilities by an onslaught of rain storms throughout the spring and summer but were nearing completion on most projects by July 14 in time for a distinguished visitors day. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • The light-demolition facility nestled in the Romanian countryside outside Cincu, Romania, was built by engineers from the United Kingdom and Romanians. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • The nonstandard live fire range has five lanes for tanks, which meets both the NATO standard of requiring four lanes and the Romanian standard for five lanes, allowing flexibility for multinational training. The engineers are in the process of removing an enormous chunk of hill at the bottom of the range to accommodate the moving targets and will remove roughly 153 cubic yards of soil when finished. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • A group of U.S reservists from the 926th Engineering Brigade brief distinguished visitors, including Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges and U.S. ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm, on July 14 overlooking the nonstandard live fire training range. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • An excavator is used to place concrete mattresses on a low-water crossing being built for the Romanians so their field artillery can reach an area for setup. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • A scraper removes dirt from lane two near battle position two of the nonstandard live fire range. The area needed to be firmed up, so the soft material was excavated and backfilled with better material to solidify the surface. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • Two D7 dozers travel down lane two near battle position 2B. Each lane has two battle positions for tank firing. The photo was taken before the first layer of rock was placed in the lane. The dozers were traveling to the fuel point to receive fuel. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • A 20-ton truck waits for cattle to pass along the access road to the nonstandard live fire complex. The stockpile site is in the background. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • A member of Britain’s Armed Forces takes a break to pet a local puppy while checking out the construction site. The Joint National Training Center in Cincu, Romania, is located among many farms, so members of the military have the opportunity to work near animals from those farms. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • The multipurpose shelter, which was almost fully constructed by July 14, is being assembled by soldiers from the U.K. and Romania. British soldiers specialized in building structures during Resolute Castle. Building training ranges on the Romanian site will have a lasting impact, by providing both new state-of-the-art facilities as well as training experiences for engineers assigned to the building. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • Engineers discuss construction plans inside a tent. While the soldiers encountered interoperability issues from language barriers to using the metric system, they quickly adapted to varying procedures and learned to communicate, even through a form of sign language. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • Soldiers from the British Armed Forces and the Romanian military, working late into the evening, constructed much of the buildings required for the new training facilities at a good pace. Most of the facilities were finished or nearing completion by July 14. All of the projects under the Resolute Castle umbrella began in October 2016 and were expected to wrap up by September. Eight reserves units rotated in and out to complete the project. Roughly 2,000 soldiers were involved in Resolute Castle from three different nations. (Jen Judson/Staff)
  • British Armed Forces and Romanian soldiers worked together to erect several buildings throughout the new training ranges, from a multipurpose shelter to a light demolition training range where soldiers can practice demolition of objects like doors and windows. Building the structures was no easy task considering the amount of rain during construction. Soldiers made fast work of sunny days. (Jen Judson/Staff)

About 

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.