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Apollo's Chariot 2025
A group of health professionals gathered in Stuttgart April 15-17 to execute Apollo's Chariot 2025. The U.S. European Command Surgeon General led the exercise to enhance preparedness for high-consequence infectious diseases.
Photo by: U.S. European Command Public Affairs
The U.S. European Command recently executed Apollo's Chariot Exercise 2025, a significant training initiative to enhance preparedness for high-consequence infectious diseases. This exercise took place from April 15 to 17 at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, and served as a critical opportunity for evaluation and improvement.
Apollo's Chariot provided an essential framework for assessing the Command's ability to identify, characterize, and respond effectively to potential outbreaks of high-consequence infectious diseases within Europe. The training focused on evaluating USEUCOM's ability to deliver on-site medical treatment, streamline intra-theater patient movement, and facilitate inter-theater transfers, all while ensuring comprehensive care in collaboration with Department of Defense combatant commands.
"Our goal is to describe a scenario detailing the need for early detection, characterization, and management of threats from high-consequence infectious diseases (HCID), to include the complexities of international and interagency coordination for movement of affected patients to the United States," said U.S. Air Force Col. James Chambers, USEUCOM Command Surgeon. "We must identify the material needed, the training, and relevant authorities and protocols to address a broad spectrum of health and security challenges. We also intend to collectively refine the related infectious disease and public health standards for our medical forces in Europe and other Combatant Commands to be reported in the Defense Readiness Reporting System (DRRS)."
Chambers remarked that the Apollo's Chariot Exercise reinforces the Command's commitment to readiness and operational preparedness. The insights from this exercise underscore the U.S. EUCOM's dedication to pursuing continuous improvement and commitment to developing detailed action plans and milestones that prioritize essential recommendations for effectively addressing challenges posed by high-consequence infectious diseases.
Chambers further emphasized establishing a USEUCOM playbook for contagious disease response. "This document and the exercise findings will identify requirements not just for US European Command, but for the U.S. government to enable our nation to effectively and decisively manage HCID threats, in itself a meaningful deterrent to potential adversaries who might consider using bioweapons," he stated. Through these concerted efforts, the U.S. European Command aims to enhance its capacity to respond proficiently to emerging health threats.
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About USEUCOM
U.S. European Command is responsible for U.S. military operations across Europe, portions of Asia and the Middle East, the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean. USEUCOM is comprised of more than 65,000 permanent military personnel supported by rotational forces and DoD civilians working closely with NATO Allies and partners. For more information about USEUCOM, visit www.eucom.mil.
