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Northern Strike uses RC quarry for Friday’s training

News Photo by Julie Goldberg A field tactics scenario exercise takes place at the Rogers City limestone quarry on Friday. The exercise involved military personnel from Georgia and Puetro Rico and is one of Northern Strike exercises being held in Northeast Michigan for two weeks.

ROGERS CITY — The Rogers City limestone quarry held an exercise Friday that’s one of the many Northern Strike exercises taking place throughout Northeast Michigan in the two weeks the event is in the area.

Military personnel from Georgia and Puerto Rico participated in a field tactics scenario exercise at the quarry. The exercise is one that tests them and is an evaluation for them from all the training they learn throughout the year, Tech. Sgt. Joshua Aleprete of the National Guard in Georgia said.

“It’s to see where our strengths are, where our weaknesses are, what we do well, what we need to work on better, and the fact that we have different branches here, different nations here, we can teach each other,” Aleprete said.

The Northern Strike exercises have been in Northeast Michigan for the past week and are taking place until Aug. 3. The exercises take place at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, Camp Grayling, the quarry in Rogers City, and other locations.

CRTC Commander John Miner said Northern Strike is the base’s capstone event of the year. He said there are around 6,000 military personnel from several different countries in Northeast Michigan for the event.

“This is probably the largest integrated exercise the Michigan National Guard holds every year,” Miner said.

The community should know the exercises bring the military personnel together for opportunities they wouldn’t get anywhere else in the country, Miner said.

“We’re able to bring these folks here from all over the country and the world,” he said. “We couldn’t do this without the support. We just don’t get this anywhere else.”

Miner said the event brings an economic impact of about $6.5 million to Alpena. He said that’s exciting and certainly helps the community from an economic standpoint.

“We’re certainly excited to share that because it’s great for the community,” Miner said.

Aleprete said Northern Strike is a great opportunity to work jointly with the Army and other countries to provide security elements.

“It’s great to get that experience and see how everything plays in together,” Aleprete said.

He said interacting with military personnel from around the world is a great opportunity because he loves meeting people. He said talking to host nations and seeing how the operate differently than the United States is a great experience.

Aleprete said this is his first time participating in the exercises and said it’s pretty tiring being out every day in the hot weather marching while wearing full combat gear.

“It’s really good, not just for the experience on how to conduct our maneuvers and staff like that, but also it’s great conditioning for us so if we ever have to come out here and do that stuff in the real world, we’re prepared for it,” he said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.

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