By Ann Roosevelt
On Friday, U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) wraps up its Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) Mission Rehearsal Exercise 09-1.
“It does prepare us extremely well for the mission ahead,” Rear Adm. Anthony Kurta, prospective commander, CJTF-HOA, said Tuesday. I think it is very reflective of what we will see once we are on the ground in Djibouti.”
The exercise reinforced to the incoming staff that “obviously our number one priority is caring for those folks, those young Americans we send outside the wire…to perform the missions that we have…Our responsibility to care for them, ensure they have the proper communications, security or what they need to do their jobs. It also does a very good job ensuring that we are communicating with the embassies, with our higher headquarters staff, with the other service components that work for U.S. Africa Command that is part of the mission.”
For the past three months, Kurta and his staff of about 55 have been training under the JFCOM directed and conducted, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) supported exercise to serve as an operational headquarters with the Horn of Africa Joint Operating Area, before they deploy.
CJTF HOA conducts unified actions to prevent conflict, promote regional stability and protect U.S. and coalition interest to prevail against violent extremism before military forces must be used.
AFRICOM ‘s mission is to assist partner nations in Africa build security capacity, and the task force helps understand the issues. Building such capacities allows those partner nations to be able to address issues such as piracy, counter narcotics and illegal fishing they face and head off crises before they require military forces.
The MRX conducts strategic and operational planning to build unity of effort and support campaign assessment, and develop tactical plans for actions that support the campaign plan while integrating coalition partners. It also incorporates regional cultural considerations, and adds to the mix any non-governmental and interagency requirements needed. The idea is to replicate the current CJTF HOA battle rhythm.
Specifics run the gamut from counter-IED operations to force protection to degraded communications.
“The realistic training of the exercise is phenomenal,” Kurta said.
Since realism equals better training, JFCOM is continually refining its exercises from configuring the training space to replicate what is found in theater to leveraging the capabilities of the command. Real-time theater data can be added via the Joint Intelligence Lab and scenario-building details from the Special Operations Command-JFCOM and the Joint Personnel Recovery Data.
Additionally, JFCOM continually listens to the warfighters and takes the best practices and lessons learned for the next iteration, according to Army Brig. Gen. Sanford Holman, vice commander of the JFCOM Joint Warfighting Center.
“Here at Joint Forces Command we try to capture the lessons learned from previous operational experiences and balance those to try prepare the joint warfighter for the crises that we have to meet in the future,” he said.
Some three months after the exercise, JFCOM will send a team to find out how the CJTF-HOA training matches the real world, and will then incorporate what they find in the next training cycle, he said.
The MRX gives the deploying staff “the opportunity to go thorough their staff procedures, their tactics techniques and procedures and get them ready, by the time they finish the exercise, they’re ready to deploy,” Holman said.
For Kurta, a highlight of the exercise is the use JFCOM makes of senior mentors who lend expertise throughout. Additionally, the complexity of his new job was highlighted. Complexity can never be fully prepared for nor fully appreciated until the job has to be done, and the exercise brings that aspect out.
Kurta said it is difficult to make everyone experts in just a few months.
“However, the training is designed to give us the tools of how work in the area, some cultural awareness of the area and the rest of our turnover we’ll conduct with folks who’ve been on the ground in the past year once we get into theater. And I’m confident that all of that training will allow us to play the role assigned to us whether it’s dealing with issues in Somalia or anywhere else in the Horn of Africa.”