Operation Dragon Spear Demonstrates Army Strong
Operation Dragon Spear Demonstrates Army Strong by Drew Brooks, Fayetteville Observer
… On paper, the exercise known as Operation Dragon Spear was a joint forcible entry exercise demonstrating Army and Air Force capabilities. But it also was an opportunity for the U.S. military to show those capabilities to the world.
"In my mind this is also about deterrence," said then Army Chief of Staff Raymond T. Odierno. "We're making sure everybody understands we have a capability where, if we have to, we can force our way into an area if it's in our nation's best interest."
Odierno hosted the exercise earlier this month at Fort Irwin, California, alongside Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.
Dragon Spear showed the strength of conventional and special operations forces and how each could work together to take on what the military calls a "near peer" threat.
Officials said the training scenario was not based on any one potential enemy, but they acknowledged similarities to the ongoing Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine.
Leaders have repeatedly called Russia the nation's top threat…
