Photo By Staff Sgt. Ryan Whitney | Brig. Gen. Gregory L. Brundidge, director of Command, Control, Communications and...... read more read more
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - After more than 13 years, the most veteran member of the Combined Endeavor exercise completed his final exercise, Sept. 22, in Grafenwoehr, Germany.
“Colonel Krispler’s work at Combined Endeavor has made a lasting impact on the international community and how we operate between nations, both in combat and in response to crisis around the world,” said Adm. James Stavridis, U.S. European Command commander. “We are all grateful for the work and time he has dedicated to improving the interoperability of more than three dozen nations in a world where communication is the key to success.”
Austrian Col. Heinrich Krispler acted as the director of technical and operational assessments during his final Combined Endeavor, the sixth position he has occupied since he began attending the exercise in 1996.
“At the beginning, Combined Endeavor operated as a simple laboratory, a place where we were simply experimenting with our different equipment, conducting simple radio tests or interconnecting circuit switches, and if we could get any kind of result between nations, it was a great achievement,” said Krispler.
In 1996, the second year of the Combined Endeavor, only 12 nations participated in the exercise, which at the time, was just a test to see if it was even possible to communicate through different systems.
Since then, the exercise has grown from a small technology experiment to the world’s largest communications collaboration between more than 40 European and North American countries, and the Austrian colonel has been there to see it through nearly every step of the way, including the newly created focus to make what the participants learn here more operationally relevant than before.
“With the changes that have taken place in the past two to four years, Combined Endeavor has really changed into an exercise where different nations come together to develop and execute C4(command, control, communications and computers) coalition tactics, techniques and procedures, not just equipment testing,” said Krispler. “I am leaving the exercise in the right hands with [Canadian] Lt. Col. Scott Mclean, and with his leadership and guidance, Combined Endeavor will be able to get where it needs to be.“
The new focus which has been spearheaded by Krispler, is designed to be more relevant to the way the systems are being used in the modern day and age, not just in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but throughout the world when countries come together to react and support each other during natural disaster and crisis response situations, where streamlined communication between nations is key.
“We have identified the interoperability shortfalls between our systems, and we must find quick solutions for the issues that operational forces around the world are having,” Krispler said. “I urge all the Combined Endeavor family to continue forward and stay focused on finding different procedures on how to deal with C4 in coalition operations.”
During the last day of his final exercise, Krispler was presented with a Sabre by Brig. Gen. Gregory L. Brundidge, director of Command, Control, Communications and Warfighting Integration, Headquarters U.S. European Command, with an inscription that read “Thank you for 13 years of service: Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is not path and leave a trail.”
“This is a small token of our appreciation for your work at Combined Endeavor, but I hope that when you look upon it, you will remember the trail that you have forged over the years for the international community,” said Brundidge
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2011 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 77436 |
| Location: | GRAFENWOEHR, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, DE |
| Web Views: | 273 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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