Photos of American Troops Fighting an Imaginary Enemy in a Romanian Field

A version of this article originally appeared on VICE Romania

In March, photographer Ioana Epure and I stood on a snowy field in the small Romanian town of Galati, while 14 American battle tanks and a Romanian battalion prepared to fight an imaginary enemy army. The exercise was called Operation Justice Eagle, and was carried out to demonstrate NATO's ability to protect the border of a member state.

Despite the fact that the Americans and the Romanians did manage to defeat the hypothetical enemy, the afternoon wasn't a complete success – the Romanian fighter jets were unable to take off due to the bad weather. In other words, the Romanian border is completely safe – as long as the weather holds.

The American soldiers told me that with operations like this, NATO tries to ensure better cooperation among members, and more appreciation of what each individual country brings to the alliance. "At these types of exercises, we develop a very strong relationship with our allies, the Romanians," Sergeant Bo Humphrey added. "We do all sorts of joint manoeuvres, testing how to make our infantry and vehicles work together more efficiently."

Regardless of the weather and the fact that the fighter jets couldn't take off, the troops enjoyed the exercise. As Sergeant Bavusso told me: "If you can't have fun while doing this job, what is the point of driving a tank in the first place?"

Scroll down for more photos from Operation Justice Eagle.