Blog Posts tagged with "Joint Forces Command"

During the past week of LOGEX 10, I’ve had the distinct honor to serve among and work with some of the best people in the multinational logistics community. I was impressed by the professionalism and competence of our friends in US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) J7, Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and our NATO Allies and partners. These characteristics truly show during events such as this and I am proud to be associated with the exercise and everyone here.

It’s been a busy week as my official -- yet, unofficial title as Chief of real life support for LOGEX 10. My time is not my own, of course, and I am constantly tending to the myriad of tasks that make the exercise run or coordinating the support for the next sequence of events.

Participants from Hungary discuss exercise tasks during LOGEX 10

The level of attention given to this exercise by our primary participants is spectacular and the training audience is fully engaged each and every day with 30-40 Main Event List or Main Incident List injects or MEL/MILs. These are NATO terms for what’s normally called the Master Event Scenario List (MESL). The test for the training audience is to access their functional knowledge of NATO doctrine as they officially respond to these MEL/MILs. Did their actions follow NATO doctrine and were the correct reports submitted on time and to the right agency? These are just some of the checks the Exercise Control Group uses to evaluate the training audience throughout the course of the exercise. Some days are easier than others, but each day is targeted towards a specific training objective and designed to address a full spectrum of logistics operations.

Today marks the successful conclusion of our Distinguished Visitor’s Day Events. All in all, there were 23 Senior National Leaders from 13 nations present during DV Day to include Vice Admiral Kavaldzhiev, Deputy CHOD, Bulgaria, as well as Captain Dennis Mikeska, USJFCOM Chief, Joint Exercises Division and BG Barbara Faulkenberry, Deputy Director Logistics, USAFRICOM.

Rear Admiral Brown, Director EUCOM J4 with Senior National Logistics Leaders from 12 NATO and Partnership for Peace nations

Guests were welcomed by Colonel Mark Baines, Commandant NATO School who gave a brief overview of the charter of the NATO School and its illustrious history. The Czech Republic presented a lecture on their initiative with the Multinational Logistics Coordination Center and Montenegro discussed the Adriatic Five Maintenance Status and initiatives. These topics provided the backdrop for an open discussion regarding LOGEX 10 achievements and lessons learned, as well as potential sources of future logistics engagements. Rear Admiral William Brown, Director, EUCOM J4 expressed a desire to move forward in FY11 with logistics engagements and continue to develop and share in our national logistics capabilities. The DVs were then escorted to the training areas to observe the functions and operations of the exercise.

As the exercise draws to a conclusion, I find myself focused on capturing the lessons learned in the Post Exercise Discussion (PXD), which will take place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in late October. At that point, we will review the Exercise Summary Report and re-engage National Leaders on the lessons learned from the LOGEX 10 series.

I would be remiss if I did not give a special thanks to the NATO School for their outstanding support during this exercise. Without them, the exercise would not have happened. The entire staff here is the best anyone could wish for and I couldn’t have assembled a better team if I tried. I am also grateful to the NATO School Protocol Office for their assistance in making the difficult seem easy. Thank you all for your help and hospitality. Thanks also to EUCOM’s MSgt Mike Brackett who helped keep me on track with supporting the exercise and the USJFCOM team for their friendship and tremendous effort it took to assemble the Program of Instruction for this exercise.

This concludes my blog on the LOGEX 10 series. LOGEX 11 will be hosted by Ukraine and Georgia and promises to be another exciting year.

As for my LOGEX 10 readers… thanks for your interest in multinational logistics and I’ll see you on the high ground.

LOGEX 10 Participants and Observers. Senior National Representatives (seated left to right): Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, JFCOM Exercise Director, EUCOM Lead Planner (me), Poland and Romania

MAJ Matt Williams
US European Command J4