Maj. Richard Bartoszuk
1BCT PAO
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, TIKRIT, IRAQ -- Officials in Salah Ad Din Province prepared for the October 15 Iraqi national referendum with a large scale rehearsal September 26 thru 28. The mission readiness exercise was held at the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Tikrit, Iraq.
The MRX included representatives from provincial Iraqi government, Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, emergency services, and Coalition Forces.
The MRX rehearsed responses to various emergencies that could arise during the referendum. This scenario-driven exercise included responses to insurgent activity such as IEDs, VBIEDs, fires, traffic accidents, demonstrations among other emergency situations.
A large part of the exercise was devoted to establishing and maintaining communications to ensure that organizations could send information throughout all levels of the province. The signal plan also included redundancy so that all forms of communication had back-up equipment in place.
The MRX resulted in all organizations being informed of all situations in order to respond to emergencies in a coordinated manner.
Provincial government officials who participated included Governor Hammed Hamood Shukti, Provincial Joint Coordination Center Director Brigadier General Eissa Abid Mohammed, and the commander of the 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division Brigadier General Abdul Jabar Salih. The MRX was the first to integrate the operations of these three officials, and gave them all the opportunity to refine the operations of their agencies, and to build teamwork among their agencies.
Cpt. Zachary A. Szilagyi, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, of LaPorte, Indiana, is the Coalition Force mentor who works with Eissa on a daily basis said the exercise created validity for the PJCC. "It gave them a greater sense of purpose. The coalition created the JCC concept. By letting the Iraqis run the exercise it increased their morale. It was an opportunity for General Eissa to show how his JCCs can help the government and ISF in the province. I know he holds that very dear."
Maj. David N. McNutt, HHC, 1BCT, of Midfield, Alabama, the 1BCT Military Training Team leader who works personally with Abdul Jabbar, said the melding of Iraqi Security Forces and government was the highlight of this MRX. "I think the most important thing the 1st Iraqi Army Brigade took from this was the integration of ISF and government . . . for them to be able to synchronize operations and to be able to conduct command and control of the execution of election operations at both provincial and local levels," said McNutt.
| Date Taken: | 10.04.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 10.04.2005 17:00 |
| Story ID: | 3192 |
| Location: | TIKRIT, IQ |
| Web Views: | 583 |
| Downloads: | 456 |
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