Romania, one of the main USA allies in the world anti-terrorist campaign, has hosted the joint Romanian - American drilll ROMEX-05, between the 19th of July and the 2nd of August.
I left in a hurry to find out how a Romanian-American drill looks like. It was the first time I took part in such an event. I knew that 1,500 American soldiers from the terrestrial and air forces would come to Romania and they would practice at Babadag and Kogalniceanu, together with 500 Romanian soldiers from the terrestrial, air and navy forces.
IN AIR On our way to Babadag, we stopped at Kogalniceanu, at the military airport, where six A-10 where waiting for us. Four of them where about to get off the ground under the curious eyes of the few journalists present on the track under the close surveillance of Lieutenant Kristin Morrow, one of the few girls from the drillâs Press Center. We patiently waited for the pilots to get ready. Approximately one hour later, the planes took off. "A-10 flies at a low altitude and with a low speed", a pilot who remained on the ground told us.
I left the airport with the thought that there wonât be another time for me to miss the cabin of an A-10. Together with Kristin, we left for Babadag. We took a dusty shortcut. We couldnât see a thing in front of us, except the corn and the grass on the sides of the road.
THE OMNISCIENT When our patience got to its very end, and the dust outside covered our car, we were able to see the military base from Babadag. At the entrance, a few Black Hawks were calmly waiting for their masters. Further on, about 10 HMMWVs, two combat vehicles of the US infantry M2A2 Bradley and a lot of soldiers in similar uniforms. The equipment and the heavy stuff have been brought in Romania with a C-17 Globemaster III, at least this is what we found out later on from the one we continuously jumped at wit
