Photo By Whitney Katz | A total of 26 members of the Joint Communications Support Element set up and operated...... read more read more
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. – Sixty members from across the Joint Enabling Capabilities Command’s subordinate joint commands – the Joint Communications Support Element, the Joint Public Affairs Support Element and the Joint Planning Support Element – joined various federal, state and local organizations to execute U.S. Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) exercise Ardent Sentry 2014 (AS14) from March 27 – April 3.
This year, AS14 was conducted primarily as a Command Post Exercise (CPX) with numerous supporting Field Training Exercises (FTX) focused on a Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) mission. The cornerstone of AS14 was Alaska Shield, a state-sponsored exercise based on the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, in which a 9.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in the vicinity of the Prince William Sound causing a deadly tsunami and massive landslides. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of this devastating event, the goal of Alaska Shield was to test the collective ability to share information among federal, state, local, tribal and other "whole of community" officials.
Two JPASE members and two JCSE planners integrated with various staff directorates at USNORTHCOM headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., to assist with the coordination and execution of AS14 which focused on practicing and validating the processes and procedures of a DSCA operation. As pre-identified forces within the DSCA Execute Order; both JPASE and JCSE are on standby to provide their unique capabilities within hours following a man-made or natural disaster in the U.S.
During AS14, JPASE members, in particular, filled key positions within the USNORTHCOM Public Affairs Office’s current operations/media section and were responsible for a variety of tasks including developing press releases, coordinating media queries and facilitating the dissemination of public affairs guidance to supporting commands and organizations.
JPASE’s expertise was particularly beneficial to this exercise due to their familiarity with DSCA operations, in which the military is in a supporting role to civil authorities. DSCA missions can be a challenge for military members who are not well-versed in the typical nuances of this type of operation. JPASE members, however, have deployed on numerous occasions to support various DSCA missions, most recently supporting Hurricane Sandy in November 2012.
“In the scenario, we role played the deployment of JPASE and what capabilities they would bring to DSCA operation,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Michael Armistead, a JPASE member who participated in AS14. “Sometimes, the public affairs teams identified for these missions don’t have the capacity to begin operating immediately. JPASE can assist in this effort by bringing the necessary public affairs and communication capability needed in those initial, critical days.”
Although JPASE played a key role in the AS14 CPX, the majority of JECC members were located in Anchorage, Alaska as part of Alaska Shield, which encompassed all the exercise events taking place in Alaska. Specifically within Alaska Shield, 27 JPSE members participated in Arctic Edge, a full-scale exercise conducted by Joint Task Force-Alaska (JTF-AK) to improve interagency preparedness to manage a catastrophic, widespread natural disaster in Alaska.
Arctic Edge allowed JTF-AK to exercise its ability to respond to requests for assistance from civil authorities and mission assignments to support a lead federal agency. As part of this drill, JTF-AK executed the process to request JPSE members to fill capability gaps on their staff. While JPSE is not a pre-assigned force for DSCA missions, a request for its capabilities is highly likely in the wake of a natural disaster.
“JTF-Alaska initiated a request for support which traveled through all the appropriate channels and culminated with the deployment of JPSE members to Alaska,” explained U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Campbell, a JPSE member and lead for this exercise. “It was extremely realistic in the fact that although JPSE members arrived on site after the initial event, we were able to rapidly integrate into the organization to immediately begin executing tasks.”
Upon arrival in Alaska, JPSE members helped JTF-AK initiate 24-hour operations and also assumed key positions on the current operations and future operations staff. JPSE, which also has extensive experience in DSCA operations, assisted JTF-AK in understanding the distinct characteristics associated with DSCA missions and determining a maritime command and control structure to operate successfully in support of a lead federal agency.
“Alaska is a very unique area with assets flowing from two separate combatant commands – USNORTHCOM and U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) – during a DSCA mission,” Campbell said. “It was beneficial to learn the intricacies of their construct and understand the key relationships formed during this type of operation.”
Also as part of Alaska Shield, 26 JCSE members participated in the Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) exercise, a field training event focused on the validation of critical logistics capabilities and ensuring that necessary supplies can be provided to areas where key infrastructure may be hindered. JLOTS, which ran simultaneously to Arctic Edge, provides an opportunity to test logistical operations in conjunction with federal, state and local agencies in response to a major natural disaster.
Fourteen JCSE members of USPACOM’s Deployable Joint Command and Control (DJC2) detachment team in addition to 12 JCSE members of the DJC2 Surge team from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. deployed to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage, Alaska to provide communications support throughout the duration of the exercise. JCSE maintains detachment teams at four of the six geographic combatant commands (GCC), including USPACOM, who are dedicated to maintaining and employing the GCC’s respective DJC2 systems; a complete communications package, including tents and generators that can support a small scale JTF staff of up to 60 users. JCSE can also provide additional capacity in the form of a surge team to augment their detachments as needed.
For this exercise, the JCSE members set up the USPACOM DJC2 at the JBER hangar parking lot to provide secure and non-secure voice and data services as well as commercial internet to 55 personnel from the 593rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC), which was acting as the Joint Forces Land Component Command (JFLCC) during Arctic Edge.
“JCSE was identified as the JTF ‘communication package enabler’ best suited to support the command and control functions of the JFLCC staff,” said U.S. Army Capt. Joe Howard, a JCSE member and the USPACOM Detachment Officer in Charge. “The DJC2, which is equipped with its own tents, client work stations, chairs and tables, enabled the JFLCC Commander and his staff to arrive onsite and begin working without delay.”
In addition to JCSE’s ability to integrate, manage and control a wide variety of communication interfaces, which was extremely valuable to the 593rd ESC staff; JCSE also illustrated the flexibility of its communications systems. From small, mobile packages that can deploy within hours to larger packages suitable for an entire JTF, JCSE can support the full range of military operations anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice.
“JCSE supports customers all over the world, however, most of our support comes in the form of smaller packages,” Howard explained. “JCSE’s participation in JLOTS, on such a large scale, demonstrated a capability not seen very often, and validated the versatility JCSE has always been known for.”
This multifaceted exercise provided an opportunity for the JECC to enhance their knowledge of complex DSCA operations and also demonstrate the versatility of their unique capabilities to a broad audience. The JECC participated on many different levels and provided a strong presence within AS14 ultimately contributing to the successful execution of the exercise. Each one of the JECC’s subordinate commands offers a distinct value to the joint force commander, which was evident during AS14 and contributed to the likelihood that a request for JECC capabilities could occur in future DSCA operations.
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.23.2014 14:31 |
| Story ID: | 127273 |
| Location: | NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 207 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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