US Army Central Soldiers establish contingency command post for Eager Lion 2017

Photo By Sgt. Zoe Morris | The USARCENT contingent command post tactical operations center for Exercise Eager Lion was built to standard in less than 60 hours at the Joint Training Center in Jordan.  

JORDAN

05.05.2017

Story by Sgt. Zoe Morris 

U.S. Army Central   

Soldiers with U.S. Army Central worked well into the night May 2, placing them ahead of schedule during their first full day participating in Exercise Eager Lion 2017.

Traveling from locations such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Illinois, West Virginia, California, Colorado and South Carolina, USARCENT Soldiers and augmentees are convening in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for one of U.S. Central Command’s premiere annual exercises.

The first task on the ground was to establish the USARCENT contingency command post tactical operations center.

Lt. Col. Riley Matthews, commander of the Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, USARCENT, said she is very impressed with the level of motivation displayed by the Soldiers.
The standard for a CCP to become fully operational is 72 hours, Matthews said, adding that it’s been done to standard in 52 hours, which is the goal for this exercise.

“This is a contingency command post, so it’s supposed to be set up in a short, rapid timeframe,” said Maj. John Dixon, USARCENT operations officer. “The more practice that people get handling the equipment, the better off it’s going to be - the sooner we’re going to be fully operational in a real-world situation.”

“One of the opportunities we have right now is many of the folks on the CCP are very new,” Matthews said. “They’ve never been on a CCP before, or never deployed, so there’s a learning curve here. So what truly impresses me is not just the level of motivation but the teamwork … everybody coming together for a common mission. It doesn’t matter what their position is, they’re helping out and they’re making it happen.”

According to Dixon, only about 25 percent of the USARCENT participants have been working on this exercise for about 18 months.

“We had a (three week) exercise in March in Kuwait where we brought a majority of this group together,” Dixon said.

The March exercise - Operation Lucky Torch - followed Operation Lucky Strike, a one-week exercise at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, in January. This allowed the other 75 percent of new personnel to get familiar with everything from mission purpose to tent construction and layout.

“Day in and day out, typically a headquarters ARCENT Soldier or officer is in front of a computer,” Matthews said. “So this is exciting. This is an opportunity for them to return to their roots.”
“The exercise planners build a pretty robust scenario for this exercise,” said Dixon, who has participated in six CCP exercises.

Eager Lion 2017, CENTCOM’s largest and most complex iteration to date, will consist of a week-long series of simulated scenarios to facilitate a coordinated partnered military response to conventional and unconventional threats. The scenarios developed will include border security, command and control, cyber defense and battlespace management.

There are about 3,600 United States military personnel representing CENTCOM and its components for the exercise. Along with the Jordan Armed Forces, another 22 nations – Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Romania, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Tajikistan, Poland and the Netherlands – are also expected to participate for a total of about 7,400 military personnel.

• Date Taken: 05.05.2017
• Date Posted: 05.18.2017 13:51
• Story ID: 234217
• Location: JO