Reserve Sailors Support Joint Exercise BOLD QUEST

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Jonathan Word | CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. (OCT. 30, 2020) – Sonar Technician Submarine 1st Class Michael Amenti, a Navy Reservist assigned to Undersea Warfare Operations New London 1, participates in a demonstration of Global Command and Control System Joint given by Gregory J. Ritacco, a systems engineer and GCCS-J technical lead with the Defense Information Systems Agency, during the Joint Staff sponsored coalition capabilities and demonstration assessment event Bold Quest 20.2 on Camp Atterbury, Indiana Oct. 30. GCCS-J consists of hardware, software, procedures, standards, and interfaces that provide an integrated, near real time picture of the battlespace that is necessary to conduct joint and multi-national operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan Word /released)  

IN, UNITED STATES

11.04.2020

Courtesy Story

Commander, Navy Reserve Force   

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. — Navy Reserve Sailors from across the country provided operational support, physical security and force health protection enforcement during the Joint Staff sponsored Coalition Capability Demonstration and Assessment event Bold Quest 20.2 held at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, Oct. 13 through Nov. 4.

The purpose of the Bold Quest series of events is to improve interoperability across systems, services and nations. It fosters rapid and accurate information exchange, providing warfighters battlefield situational awareness to support decision making against modern and traditional opponents and increasing lethality among joint and coalition operations.

“This has been a great opportunity for people to see a joint and coalition environment in practice,” says Cmdr. Lee Dortzbach, Bold Quest 20.2 Operations Synchronization Lead and a Navy Reservist assigned to Navy Operational Support Center (NOSC) Norfolk. “It is a chance to see an operational level of warfighting and learn some of the tactics and see the systems that enable communication between different types of units in different services.”

About a dozen Reserve Sailors supported the exercise this year, working closely with Joint Staff security in setting a watch on two entry control points and patrols of event facilities. They also coordinated with Airmen assigned to the 192nd Air Medical Group of the Virginia Air National Guard to plan and execute a force health protection plan for the event. The Sailors helped check temperatures and issue a facility passes to exercise participants.

“Everybody I have talked to at Bold Quest, whether they are a civilian employee, contractor or another branch, says they want more Navy presence here,” said Sonar Technician (Submarine) 1st Class Michael Amenti, a Navy Reservist assigned to Undersea Warfare Operations New London 1. “They want to interact more with the Navy, surface and sub-surface to understand our tactics and how we can be integrated into a joint operation.”

The Reserve team included Sailors from six different rates, each bringing their own personal background, skills and experience with them. Dortzbach says the event would be difficult to complete if not for the contributions of his team and considers it a point of pride when someone is surprised that he or another Sailor is a Reservist, because they perform at an active duty level.

“It is essential that we have people who are willing to volunteer themselves for a duty like this,” says Yeoman 2nd Class Michael Ledin, from NOSC Minneapolis. “A unit like this that can come together with so many different people, rates, ranks and leadership skills. It has been a great team and I am very impressed with how the Joint Staff has put on the event.”

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• Date Taken: 11.04.2020
• Date Posted: 11.23.2020 12:32
• Story ID: 383579
• Location: IN, US