County resident recalls Atlantic Resolve rotation to Poland

Aug. 1—For 11 months, Major Cody Fields with the Devil Brigade worked and led training exercises in Toruń, Poland with North Atlantic Treaty Organization partnering militaries. The rotation was part of the Atlantic Resolve. Now back with his family the Abilene area, Fields recounted his duties and the people he interacted with during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Fields is a battalion operations officer for 1-5 Field Artillery in the First Brigade Double Brigade. He and the rest of the Devil Brigade left Ft. Riley for Europe in August 2021. The rotation was scheduled to last for nine months, but ended up being 11 months. The brigade was stationed in Lithuania, Estonia, Romania and mostly Poland. This Atlantic Resolve rotation was Fields' first.

Transporting to Europe

Fields said he aided in the planning and organization of moving the troops and equipment to Europe. He said the military movement for this Atlantic Resolve is different from when the U.S. Army moved troops to the Middle East, in his experience. Most of the equipment was already in their Middle East bases. Only the soldiers, their weapons and a few containers would be sent on an airplane. With the rotations to Europe, the army is focused on having an "expeditionary mindset," Fields said, meaning the entirety of the brigade's equipment and vehicles are moved with the brigade. About 2,000 pieces of equipment are moved.

"Even putting it into more perspective is the stuff they did during World War II when you think about power projection and militaries and potential putting half a million soldiers on a different continent with all their equipment. We're doing a small little piece of that. It's difficult, it really is," he said.

Training with NATO partners

In Toruń, Fields led the battalion in training exercises for general training and operating 18 self-propelled cannons simultaneously. Overall, he trained the battalion to become "certified" in the military's opinion. Fields and the battalion also participated with other NATO military partners in exercises such as Operation Victory Eagle and Operation Combined Resolve.

"It's not just the simulated, war-fighting type of training. You take your whole battalion from the middle of Poland, put them on a train and your equipment on a train. That train has to cross international boundaries," Fields said. "It's got to get all the way down to Germany and then you got to unload it. In some cases, you have to drive a little bit further down German roads or Polish roads. It sounds fairly easy, but it's big muscle movement."

Fields said his battalion interacted and trained with several nations' militaries. Mainly, Fields and his battalion worked with the Polish, Latvians and Lithuanians. In the training exercises, the battalion worked alongside those countries and the Italians, Germans, other European militaries and Canadians.

"I said the Canadians because Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and a few others have a NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroups. Countries contribute soldiers and equipment to these bases, and Canada has the lead in Latvia, and so we worked closely with them to coordinate training, space and everything else."

Looking back, Fields said the United States Army could learn from European militaries. Since some European armies are smaller in size, their small units, such as platoons, are "incredibly proficient," Fields said.

"So much of what we do is so large in scope," he said. "Our NATO partners do a really good job at the basics and the fundamentals. It was really exciting to train with them and see what they're capable of."

Experiencing Toruń

Toruń's population is around 200,000. The city is along the Vistula River and is full of medieval history. Fields said soldiers had the opportunity to explore Poland during the weekends before the invasion began.

"In Toruń, you had the medieval city, but really a lot of the cities had a medieval downtown area," Fields said. "Kraków, which is in southern Poland, is close to where Auschwitz was, so soldiers could go take a tour of Auschwitz. They could go to Warsaw, which is the capital. We really had quite a bit of freedom to go explore and do things throughout the country which, if you put yourself in the shoes of a 18, 19-year-old soldier who may have joined the military to see the world, we fortunately gave them that opportunity."

The Invasion Begins

The Devil Brigade was the closest U.S. military unit to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, Fields said. In January and February, the brigade knew the Russians military was amassing. Leading up to the invasion, Fields said the brigade had not received any official orders relating to the Russians. In the mean time though, the brigade prepared "for any eventuality," Fields said, with training, vehicles were packed, equipment and artillery was prepared to be moved at any time.

"It was very impressive to see how everyone really came together because really you just didn't know. You could be no change. You could be forward like we did, further ensuring our partners. Or, for all we knew, in two months we were going to be heading east, and so we had to prepare for the worst," he said.

When the invasion began Feb. 24, Fields said his battalion was instructed to push soldiers and equipment into Latvia and Lithuania "rapidly." The movement arrayed the battalion from south in Poland to north in Latvia.

"Really I'd say the importance of that was standing by our NATO partners and saying 'we see the threat to the east, and we don't know if there's going to be a fight, but if there is a fight, we're here for you.'"

Fields said he never seriously thought his battalion would be sent to the front lines, except during the initial day of the invasion. He feared the Russians would "roll over" the Ukrainians, based on the technology and prowess the Russian military showed during the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. If Russia invade Ukraine successfully and quickly enough, Fields said he feared the Russians would decide to continue their conquest onto other countries.

"But then we started seeing (the Russians) get bogged down and the Ukrainians being able to stall them a little bit. I think it just kind of deescalated from there," Fields said. "But again, I think the Russians are in it for the long-haul. Maybe they do win in the Ukraine, but maybe it takes 5-10 years."

Fields said his brigade commander reminded him and his comrades the invasion of Ukraine is the largest ground invasion in Europe since D-Day. Suffice it to say the invasion is a "big deal" to Eastern Europe, Fields said.

The Locals

Fields said he saw the invasion's impact from two angles. First was from the Ukrainian refugees. The brigade helped some the refugees get to Toruń, though the Polish military primarily handled them. Fields said the refugees he spoke with all feared their homes would be destroyed and family members dead if they returned home.

"What I was impressed with was their resolve. You meet mothers of children whose husbands were fighting and you'd ask them like, not in these exact words but, 'is it all worth it to you guys.' 'Of course, this is our freedom.' I talked to a couple: 'if we have to die, we have to die. Ukraine is our homeland.'"

The second angle was from Ukrainian soldiers. NATO militaries would fly in Ukrainian units to train them on specific pieces of equipment. The unit would be flown in to train for about a week at a time, then be flown back to the front lines. Fields said he experienced training the Ukrainians.

"This was in May, but since the war started in February, they already lost 50 guys from their unit," Fields said in regards about the general state of Ukrainian units coming to train. "They would show up tired, gaunt; the only way you could describe it was shell-shocked, but also very dedicated. You want to see someone who's excited to go to class every day and learn about a new piece of equipment, try the person who's going to use it to fight Russians who are destroying their homeland."

Because of the constant communication and movement with European militaries, Fields said the bond between NATO troops has never been stronger from his perspective as someone with a position on the ground level. If Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning on weakening the bonds of NATO countries, the opposite happened on the ground level.

Returning Home

Due to the invasion, the brigade's rotation was extended for another two months. Fields said his comrades expected the extension when the invasion began. Fields said his superiors informed him and other officers of the two-month extension Feb. 23 a day before the invasion, but had to keep the information classified for a couple of days.

Now home, Fields had a month of reprieve before returning to work. With his family, he's been reintegrating himself into his family's life by being an extra set of hands and gradually taking charge of certain aspects of the family. Overall, it is "fantastic" to be back with his family in the U.S., he said.

"My wife (Tara Fields) has been doing it by herself with the four kids for 11 months. Three — at the time — in school, one at home, three kids playing sports, two of them playing sports year round, (Tara Fields) just started a new business. It wasn't the time we wanted to start the business, but it just happened to be the time when she did. So to manage the household, four kids and a new business without losing your mind was pretty impressive. I credit her for that."