Photo By Adrian Cadiz | U.S. Army Lt. Col. Derek Christensen, a member of the Joint Enabling Capabilities...... read more read more
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. - The Joint Enabling Capabilities Command (JECC) held its quarterly Mission Readiness Exercise (MRX) from March 10-14 at Shaw Air Force Base, Sumter, S.C. Over 90 personnel from across the JECC’s subordinate joint commands – the Joint Planning Support Element (JPSE), the Joint Public Affairs Support Element (JPASE) and the Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE) – participated in this MRX to further develop their individual skills sets and validate the readiness of the oncoming Ready JECC Package (RJP).
The JECC is an integral component of the Global Response Force (GRF), capable of responding to emerging crises or contingency operations anywhere in the world within hours of notification. The JECC’s RJP construct, which includes members from each of the JECC’s subordinate joint commands who assume a three-month alert posture, is an integral part of ensuring the JECC can adhere to the GRF requirements and respond to requests in both a timely and effective manner.
The JECC creates a unique scenario for each MRX, usually pertaining to relevant world events or crises, to challenge participants to stand up a joint task force (JTF) and execute operations in environments reminiscent of those they could encounter in the future. During many MRXs, JECC members also have an opportunity to engage with mission partners adding to the realism of the exercise. Twelve members of U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT) participated in the most recent MRX offering various benefits to the overall execution and success of the exercise.
“The participation of AFCENT was a real advantage in terms of building and sustaining relationships with the JECC’s primary counterparts in the Air Force component of U.S. Central Command,” said U.S. Army Col. Mark Elfendahl, a JPSE member and the Joint Planning Group lead during the MRX. “This allowed us to cooperate and collaborate on a realistic, relevant scenario.”
Ultimately, these scenarios are carefully designed to test the specific skills set of each of the JECC’s subordinate commands to verify that the organization, as a whole, is prepared to support potential operational requirements worldwide.
Members of JPSE, in particular, are extremely well-versed in the Joint Operation Planning Process, the foundation of deliberate or crisis action planning. While the facilitators provide a few guidelines at the start of the MRX; once underway, the participants are asked to apply their joint skills to determine the most effective method to meet the JTF commander’s mission objectives.
For instance, during this MRX, the only guidance the participants received was to form three, separate Operational Planning Teams (OPT) to promote an integrated planning effort. However, based on the objectives of the JTF commander and the requirements of the exercise, Elfendahl, decided it would be worthwhile to stand up ad hoc working groups across the JTF’s functional areas to increase the realism and effectiveness with which the staff could operate.
“The purpose of the working groups was two-fold,” Elfendahl explained. “First, they helped us better replicate the processes and products of a JTF and second, they allowed us to gain efficiencies and focus on the requirements of the MRX to produce more than we otherwise could have.”
In addition to JPSE’s operational planning techniques, members of JPASE also experimented with new mission partners and methods to better prepare them for real-world operations. Three personnel from the U.S. Air Force’s 1st Combat Camera Squadron (CTCS) out of Joint Base Charleston, S.C. participated alongside JPASE during this MRX. This was the first time 1st CTCS participated in a JECC MRX, providing JPASE with a more robust visual imagery capability.
“Images are one of the most powerful ways to communicate a message, an idea, or an event, and few know how to capture images better than Combat Camera,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Lorraine Borghetti, a JPASE member and the acting JTF Public Affairs Officer (PAO) during the MRX. “JPASE often deploys to support crisis-response missions where the information environment is initially ambiguous. When deployed together, Combat Camera can help JPASE provide accurate, timely and memorable visual information to the public.”
Additionally, the scenarios presented during previous MRXs have all been based on classified operations in which JPASE has been limited to a more reactive approach to public affairs requirements. However, during this MRX, JPASE assumed an active public affairs posture, allowing the participants lean forward when reaching out to the media.
“Once our posture went active, the PAOs handled a myriad of media-related events ranging from media interviews with senior leaders, to correcting misinformation published in the press,” said Borghetti. “The MRX forced the PAOs to evaluate and prioritize a number of important tasks and rapidly synthesize emerging facts into existing public information about the operation.”
JPASE’s need to provide timely and accurate information has become increasingly important in this digital age, especially during the early stages of a crisis response where the public is anxious to learn about conditions on the ground. JPASE’s close relationship and streamlined access to JCSE’s assets has offered an advantage in situations where they are required to deploy to an austere environment without reliable communications.
“JCSE provides the technical communication capability that allows JPASE to ‘talk’ to the rest of the world,” said Borghetti. “With JCSE resources in place, JPASE can effectively begin public affairs operations immediately upon hitting the ground. “
This MRX reaffirmed JCSE’s ability to provide a dedicated communications capability to JPASE through the employment of an Initial Entry Package. This small communications package offered unclassified and classified network access, voice and video-teleconferencing capabilities to assist JPASE in achieving its objectives. The MRX construct also allowed JCSE to ensure that their standard communications capabilities were sufficient for the mission at hand.
“The MRX provided a forum where our communicators could install, operate and maintain their equipment in a risk-free environment,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Angel Rodriguez, a JCSE member who participated in the MRX. “This helped our communicators build confidence, learn how to troubleshoot and interact with customers; which in turn, better prepared them for real-world missions.”
This MRX challenged JECC members to execute tasks under stressful and ambiguous conditions with limited time constraints. The MRX structure revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the JECC, both as a team and as individual professionals, helping to identify areas for professional development in the future. Overall, the MRX allowed JECC members to refine their working knowledge of joint planning to adapt and succeed in a crisis response environment with unpredictable circumstances and a fluctuating operational landscape.
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2014 10:56 |
| Story ID: | 123292 |
| Location: | NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JECC members engage with mission partners, enhance skills during Mission Readiness Exercise, by Whitney Katz, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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