{"id":114168,"date":"2021-06-02T11:02:36","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T15:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=114168"},"modified":"2021-06-02T11:02:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T15:02:36","slug":"a-tale-of-an-airfield-and-an-olive-oil-factory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=114168","title":{"rendered":"A tale of an airfield and an olive oil factory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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173rd Airborne Brigade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maybe this olive oil factory in Bulgaria has a really, really long driveway. If not, there better be a 2LT nearby with a faulty compass, because it’s hard to see how an airfield and an olive oil factory could be conflated.<\/p>\n

Which is just what happened over the weekend. During joint NATO exercises involving the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Bulgaria, the paratroopers seized an olive oil factory. The article isn’t clear, but it sounds as if the factory was adjacent to the airfield. Perhaps the soldiers liberated some nice crusty bread and were in need of some rations of olive oil.<\/p>\n

Despite the obvious humor in the incident, the owner of the factory was none too pleased. He’s apparently already filed a lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Oops! Paratroopers raid Bulgarian olive oil factory by mistake<\/a><\/h3>\n

Soldiers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade mistakenly seized and secured a working olive oil factory in Bulgaria as part of a large-scale NATO exercise aimed at deterring Russian military aggression in eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn May 11, soldiers entered and cleared a building next to the airfield that they believed was part of the training area, but that was occupied by Bulgarian civilians operating a private business,\u201d according to a U.S. Army Europe and Africa statement released today. \u201cNo weapons were fired at any time during this interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials said that during the exercise, soldiers simulated entering and clearing multiple bunkers and structures across the decommissioned Cheshnegirovo airfield in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

The statement said the Army would \u201cimplement rigorous procedures to clearly define our training areas and prevent this type of incident in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sincerely apologize to the business and its employees,\u201d officials wrote. \u201cWe always learn from these exercises and are fully investigating the cause of this mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva posted security camera video of the daytime raid on her Twitter account. She reported that the owner of the factory had filed a lawsuit after the event.<\/p>\n

The paratroopers were conducting assault maneuvers following large-scale airborne drops conducted through Exercise Swift Response which took place in Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania.<\/p>\n

Swift Response is part of the larger, umbrella exercise Defender Europe 21, an annual exercise that partners U.S. forces with NATO allies in multiple events across the continent.<\/p>\n

The initial portions started in early May and will conclude later this month with Exercise African Lion in Morrocco.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some video of the incident.<\/p>\n

US special forces mistakenly storm a factory producing machinery for olive oil during #NATO<\/a> drills in #Bulgaria<\/a>. The owner has filed a law suit pic.twitter.com\/3NRM558Q7g<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dilyana Gaytandzhieva (@dgaytandzhieva) May 30, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n