U.S. ARMY GARRISON GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- The Joint Multinational Training Command, or JMTC, here, is hosting more than 40 nations and multinational organizations participating in Combined Endeavor for the third year in a row.
Most nations find this centralized location to be very beneficial to them for several reasons.
“In a geographical sense, the location is very good,” said Serbia’s Lt. Col. Milan Krtinic, Serbian Delegation Chief. “If we are looking through economical glasses, it is in the middle of Europe and all the nations can expect similar expenses to go there.”
Other than their central location, U.S. Army Maj. Paul Woods, chief of communications at JMTC, said one of the great things about this training site is its flexibility.
“We have a very large footprint which can support almost any kind of network built in this organization,” he said. “Also, we have equipment, communications planners, as well as a large multinational simulation center which can be used conduct all kinds of joint and multinational training for many NATO and Partnership for Peace nations.”
Maj. Roman Grytskiy, Operational System Controller from Ukraine, a Partnership for Peace nation, participating in CE since 1997, believes JMTC’s central location and training flexibility also lend to another CE benefit -- the human interoperability.
“We bring new people every year to Combined Endeavor to see how things in the communication environment are going and the difference between what we’re doing in Ukraine and what other nations are doing in the signal environment,” he said. “It’s also good to see others from different countries doing the same job and we can work together to share ideas and solve problems.”
Although this exercise could potentially be conducted entirely by remote sites via internet, the most important goal of developing human interoperability would be lost, said Grytskiy. Therefore, the fact that the JMTC has great infrastructure and a large footprint to cater to all 40 nations and multinational organizations in one place is very beneficial.
All 1,300 participants have a place to live, dining facilities to eat and work centers located all within walking distance.
“It’s really good to be on one base which has an infrastructure conducive to the people,” he said.
