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U.S. Marine, soldier and an airman all work together
during Atlantic Strike
V April 17. Atlantic Strike is a joint forces training
event involving joint terminal attack controllers from
the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marines and is held semi-annually
at Avon Park Air Ground training Complex, Avon Park,
Fla. (Click on this U.S.
Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Otero to get a
high quality version) |
Joint integration vital for Atlantic Strike participants
A
subordinate, functional command of U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) tasked
with
improving the integration, interoperability and effectiveness of joint
fires is playing a key role in helping to train soldiers, airmen and
Marines to better do their jobs as joint fires observers and joint
terminal attack controllers.
By Air Force 1st
Lt. Natasha Waggoner
U.S. Central Command Public Affairs
(AVON PARK
AIR GROUND TRAINING COMPLEX, Fla. (AFNEWS) - April 24, 2007) -- The
Joint Fires Integration and
Interoperability Team from Joint Forces Command helped Exercise Atlantic
Strike V participants improve joint combat effectiveness
April 14 to 20 here.
"Through our participation, we are able to help
the context of the scenarios and increase joint play," said
Marine Corps Col. Lawrence Roberts, the JFIIT commander
at Eglin AFB.
"We
are getting the joint fires observers incorporated
with the joint terminal attack controllers and making
sure they can use their equipment together as well getting
them familiar with each other's cultures," Roberts
said.
Serving as a subordinate, functional command of U.S.
Joint Forces Command, JFIIT is tasked with improving
the integration, interoperability and effectiveness of
joint fires teams. They take a holistic approach to improving
joint fires by providing solutions that produce effective
target acquisition, command and control, and interoperable
firing systems, in a military-wide effort to reduce fratricide
and collateral damage.
During Atlantic Strike V, members of the JFIIT team
collected anecdotes from seasoned combat JTACs. These
experiences, as well as data collected during the training,
help to improve tactics, techniques and procedures for
the next joint training event and on the battlefield,
said Army Sgt. 1st Class David Mahnken, the JFIIT project
lead for Atlantic Strike V.
JFIIT's training assessments serve two functions: to
gauge a training program's ability to provide a joint
training environment, and to assess the effectiveness
of the participant's joint task execution.
"JFIIT can help to increase the joint play in a
training event -- taking it from a single service event
to a more realistic, joint training event or exercise," Mahnken
said. "Then our team will assist in adding
lessons from the battlefield and new ideas we've pulled
from our research to create that magic moment in a participant's
mind when they say, 'Oh! I see how this is supposed to
work.'"
During training, feedback is provided to the training
audience and event leadership. Post-exercise evaluations
and lessons learned are also documented for the Joint
Warfighting Center in the form of findings and recommendations
regarding joint task execution and assessment.
"This time around, JFIIT used the lessons learned
from previous Atlantic Strike iterations to help plan
the current event. Everything has run a lot smoother
and we're able to continually add complexity and realism
to each event," Mahnken said.
Combat
experience is helping to illustrate the importance
of training in a joint environment and is already leading
to a reduction in the number of single-service training
events, Roberts said. For example, new developments
in close-air-support software and communications gear
have increased the ability for services to work together,
while conversely increasing the complexity of military
systems and procedures. Interoperability problems often
become apparent only when joint forces are in the heat
of battle.
"We are learning to fight joint as we're fighting,
not as we're training," Roberts said. "Training
events like (Atlantic Strike) are helping us break that."
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