Blog Posts from September, 2009
Unexpected Twists Are Normal Business at SOCEUR
The Jackal Stone Special Operations Training Exercise is now officially finished with the successful completion of the closing ceremony Saturday afternoon, Sept. 26. And as with all military operations (especially special operations in my experience), flexibility remained key. You see, we set up for the ceremony on a concrete “parade field” area on Zemunik Air Base near Zadar, Croatia (beautiful area by the way). Of course, we had already briefed the boss, we’d conducted a rehearsal, and we had set up all of the props – chairs, podium, speakers, etc. Those scheduled to be given awards were seated and awaiting the beginning of the ceremony. The plan was in place.
Flags representing the ten nations that participated in Jackal Stone 2009. (Photo by Army Master Sgt. Donald Sparks)
It was a typical late September cloudless day in central Croatia – sunny and about 85 degrees, which is great for the beach, but not so exciting if you have to sit on a concrete slab for a 30 minute ceremony. I gathered that the assembling masses did not particularly care to hang out in the hot sun as I observed them wander up and stop short of the parade field, electing to wait in the cooler shade of the surrounding trees until the last possible moment. Just as I announced that the ceremony would begin in five minutes, Maj Gen Kisner appeared out of nowhere (amazing how senior officers can appear out of thin air like that) and offered a “suggestion” to me. He recommended that we move everything into the shade so that people would not have to bake in the sunlight. In my experience, when a general officer makes a “suggestion” like that, I do my best to accommodate – it tends to make things go better.
So, I made the announcement to flip everything 180 degrees into the shaded area. Mind you, this is all occurring five minutes before “go” time. Immediately, people charged out of the woodline, grabbed chairs, and placed them neatly into the shaded area opposite of the parade field. The PA system and podium were uprooted and moved to their new location and all of the senior country representatives’ chairs were relocated to the shade. This operation took exactly three minutes and we were ready to go on time as scheduled. It was the right decision and I was truly impressed how the team members who had been working together in the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) for the past two weeks sprang into action to make the general’s “suggestion” a reality. Even though I was impressed, I wasn’t surprised. They had all been working day and night together, developing bonds of friendship over the past two weeks planning and then reacting to complex exercise scenarios. They were used to the unexpected, and this twist was nothing for them.
Soldiers who participated in Jackal Stone 2009 attend the closing ceremony. (Photo by Army Master Sgt. Donald Sparks)
The ceremony proceeded quickly and flawlessly. Maj Gen Kisner remarked that the exercise had been a true success and that it had attained the goal of increasing our interoperability. The CJSOTF had conducted a total of 17 combat operations throughout the country during the two weeks on the ground, to include four special reconnaissance, six direct action, three hostage rescue, two maritime interdiction and two personnel recovery operations – almost all of them during periods of darkness. We had incredible support from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment’s two MH-47s as well as Croatia’s two Mi-171 helicopters and the 352nd Special Operations Group’s MC-130P Combat Shadows. In addition, the USS Higgins as well as U.S. and coalition rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) were assisting with all of our maritime training conducted near Split, Croatia.
It will be tough to replicate an experience like this, but we will start planning this upcoming month for Jackal Stone 10. With the relationships and professional interoperability gained during this exercise, we’ll all be ready for the unexpected whenever or wherever it occurs. That’s just what we do in SOCEUR.
MAJ Jim Gregory
SOCEUR PAO
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Harvest time; Harvesting Interagency Best Practices
It is autumn, harvest time here in southern Germany. People are celebrating what has been planted in the spring with fests in Munich, Stuttgart and even in smaller towns like Garmisch-Partenkirchen where I have been for the last three days.
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Balkan Dreams
As I fly back from a three day visit of the region, I certainly had ample opportunity to see firsthand all that he describes; yet today, there seems to me to be real hope in the region for cooperation and security alignment, perhaps for the first time in the more than two millenniums of recorded history.
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Focusing on the Fundamentals
I had a good series of meetings in Lisbon, Portugal on Monday. The gathering in Lisbon was with all of the Defense Chiefs from the 28 nations of NATO. We focused on two key topics for the alliance: Afghanistan and the Strategic Concept.
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SOCEUR and Exercise Jackal Stone -- ‘Speed, Strength and Efficiency: Rising to Challenges Together’
Two weeks ago, I jumped on a flight headed for Croatia to participate in special operations forces (SOF) Exercise Jackal Stone 2009. Although the name sounds strange (you’ve got to love how the military often throws two completely unrelated words together to name training exercises), the purpose of the exercise is quite ambitious: to promote cooperation and interoperability between the 11 participating nations. Significant is the fact that the Croatian government is hosting its first major military exercise since accession as a NATO member nation earlier this year, and that they chose to host a special operations exercise. To me, it shows the importance that the Croatians place on special operations and the value they place on increasing international military partnerships.
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Getting Stronger Together in Bulgaria
The EUCOM project in Paderevo consists of renovating the Vela Peeva Kindergarten which is being undertaken in conjunction with the deployment of Task Force East near the training area of Novo Selo. This project is unique because it is a combined effort between the U.S. Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 (NMCB3), U.S. Army engineers from the 15th Engineering Battalion, and Bulgarian military engineers. This HCA project provided a unique opportunity to cross train techniques cross DoD services, work with new materials, and most importantly, working collaboratively together in an international context. A U.S. Navy Seabee from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion THREE lays tile in the Vela Peeva Elementary school in Padarevo, Bulgaria.
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EUCOM Legal Conference
Senior legal experts from over 30 European nations are meeting at the EUCOM International Legal Conference beginning Sep. 22, 2009, in Garmisch, Germany. Co-sponsored by the George C. Marshall Center, this week-long event will encourage discussion on such emerging legal questions as: what is the military role for ensuring energy security in Europe? What are the legal and military challenges facing the future of the Arctic/High North in the decades to come? A multinational panel will also discuss trends in Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs).
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Generation to Generation: A story from Albania
We traveled to Albania Sept. 14, 2009 to witness the grand opening of the newly renovated Kucove (Ku-cho-va) Elementary School. Along with the U.S. European Command’s Office of Defense Cooperation and U.S. Charge d’Affairs, we made our way to Kucove and after a 2 ½ hour drive arrived to the sight of 200 young students waving U.S. and Albanian flags in the yard of their newly renovated school. As we toured the grounds and met our Albanian hosts we immediately became aware of the deep admiration Albanians feel for the United States. More than admiration- to use their words- “love” for the United States and all Americans.
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Building partner capacity through medical engagement
In response to changes in the 2006 Quadrenial Defense Review and the U.S. European Command’s new Strategy for Active Security, engagement has moved to Building Partner Capacity. Medical engagement is an excellent venue to execute this mandate.
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Switzerland takes part in Combined Endeavor for the 11th time
As you have read previously in this blog, Combined Endeavor is the world’s largest international Command, Control, Communications & Computers (C4) exercise. Participants of CE09 include nations within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Partnership for Peace (PfP) or other International Organisations. In recent years most NATO and PfP Nations have been taking part in Peace Supporting Operations (PSOs). Over 1000 participants from more than 40 nations take part in two weeks of intensive technical testing.
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What is the South-Eastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG)?
Here at Combined Endeavor 09, we have participating organizations in addition to country participants. One of the organizations -- NATO -- is familiar to many people. SEEBRIG, however, is not as well known, so I want to take a few minutes to tell you about it.
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Stories to tell – A visit to Serbia
I have a story to tell of my visits to several U.S. European Command humanitarian assistance projects in the Republic of Serbia.
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Phoenix Endeavor - a military spectrum management exercise
You’ve seen quite a few posts here about USEUCOM’s Combined Endeavor (CE) exercise that is currently being conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, and the Netherlands. But what you may not have heard about is Phoenix Endeavor -- also known as PE -- which we believe is the world’s premier international military spectrum management exercise!
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Excellence in Action: Combined Endeavor’s Regional Site in Denmark
This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting the national delegations at Combined Endeavor 2009’s regional site at Bülows Kaserne, Fredericia, Denmark. Delegations at this site are from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Slovenia and Sweden with additional support personnel from the United States, Austria and Germany.
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Partnership Engagement
Last week, in the second of the EPTF blogs, I discussed the concept of framework nations and discussed a concept for getting framework nations involved in the EPTF.
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Prepping for CE09
Tomorrow, I'll be gathering my gear and moving into my temporary home at Banja Luca, Bosnia-Herzegovina to do my part within EUCOM's Combined Endeavor 09 exercise.
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Connecting Stuttgart to BiH
Well, the Tandbergs worked between here and Stuttgart! What's a Tandberg? It is a point-to-point (or multipoint) teleconferencing tool used by many commercial firms as well as by many nations. The screen looks like a portrait-sized computer screen (in other words, a normal computer screen turned 90 degrees) and there's a camera embedded into the top of the screen. With this tool, individuals can sit at their desk and communicate with any number of others for video conferences.
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Transforming the Main Operating Base
Things are going well as Kozara Barracks is being transformed into a large telecommunications site to support the Main Operating Base of Combined Endeavor 2009 (CE09). We are finalizing contracts, continuing to build the main operating base infrastructure, and installing several networks which will serve as the backbone for our daily communications during the communications interoperability testing. There are as many Bosnia and Herzogovina military support personnel on the ground here as there are members from the CE staff and early participants!
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