U.S. Army Spc. Michael Hood, (center) from Alpha Company,

U.S. Army Spc. Michael Hood, (center) from Alpha Company, Special Troops Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), gets his equipment checked before a mission during a training exercise at the Grafenwoehr Training Area (GTA) in Grafenwoehr, Germany, March 14, 2012. Soldiers stationed at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Hohenfels, Germany, train the U.S. Army's 173rd ABCT, Europe's rapid-reaction force, at the GTA in preparation for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. The mission rehearsal exercise is designed to develop combat skills, counter-insurgency tactics and the multinational partnerships between the military forces of the U.S., Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.