News From USJFCOM: Command senior enlisted leaders complete four-day joint operations module

Command senior enlisted leaders complete four-day joint operations module

More than 40 top enlisted leaders from across the Department of Defense and around the world recently wrapped up training designed to improve joint warfighting.

By Army Sgt. Jon Cupp
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. - Feb. 4, 2005) - U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and the National Defense University delivered four days of instruction to command senior enlisted leaders (CSEL), supplying them with the foundations for successful joint warfighting.

More than 40 CSELs from combatant commands throughout the world participated in the Keystone CSEL joint operations module (JOM), which began Tuesday and ended today, at USJFCOM's Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC) here.

Students came from all the services including the Coast Guard as well as some coalition partners from Canada and the United Kingdom.

The course creates opportunities for the CSEL to be an "immediate impact player" to a joint force staff and a joint force commander, according to Army Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Ripka, USJFCOM command sergeant major.

"Keystone aids CSELs in understanding how to become part of the command inner circle to help staff understand the (joint force) commander's intent," said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Cindy Pritchett, senior enlisted advisor and command sergeant major for Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan. "Throughout the services' professional military education programs, we weren't being taught jointness; now we're learning how to use the collective good among the services and how to integrate."

"The course helps to bring a better understanding of what each capability/service brings to the fight," added Pritchett.

"It helped me to learn that there are quality people in all of the services and to gain a greater understanding of the direction we're trying to bring the services," said Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. William Kinney, senior enlisted leader for U.S. Pacific Command. "For myself, it teaches interaction and gives me an appreciation of the other services. Everything we do now is joint and we never want to make everyone the same, but make everyone compatible because everyone has something unique to contribute on the joint battlefield."

According to USJFCOM officials the course helps CSELs learn how to build teams in a joint, multinational and interagency force integration environment and provides them an understanding of base operating support capabilities and requirements in those environments.

It also builds participants a knowledge base of joint and multi-national doctrine, command and control relationships and systems, collaborative information environments and interagency processes and relationships.

Learning objectives for the Keystone CSEL JOM were:

• Forming/organizing the joint task force and joint manning document development
• Operational level planning
• Joint command and control
• Joint deployment planning
• Leadership challenges of building and maintaining an integrating environment
• Maintaining discipline and standards in the joint environment
• Special operations forces integration

CSELs also received briefings on operational level joint lessons learned, the JTF and public affairs, coalition perspectives, logistics and base operations, joint information operations and rules of engagement and legal issues.

Navy Command Master Chief Billy Cronin, regional command master chief for U.S. Naval Forces Marianas, said the course has been an valuable experience.

"We go from the tactical level to strategic levels to organizational levels and there's a huge strategic level of thinking," said Cronin. "In my 24 year career, I never really grasped jointness until this week. We're always going to fight joint, but we have different cultures and mentalities. We learn to keep our service identities while learning how others think. It's important to be interoperable and collaborate with our sister services."

"Keystone will help me in my collaboration with the Army National Guard and Air National Guard so I can learn better how they think and we can all work together," he added.

The next Keystone CSEL JOM takes place in July 2005.

The program is expected to evolve and, by 2006, it will be identical to USJFCOM and NDU's Capstone program for flag and general officers. The Keystone program will last 15 days, incorporating the JOM along with an "aggressive" travel schedule that includes visits to several combatant commands.