 Joint
training leader discusses Unified Endeavor 2007
U.S.
Joint Forces Command concludes the latest iteration of
the Unified Endeavor Mission Rehearsal Exercise series
designed to help the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps
and other units get ready for duty in Iraq.
By
Army Spc. Andrew Orillion
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(FORT
BRAGG, N.C. –Aug. 23, 2007) –- Army
Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, U.S. Joint Forces Command’s
director of joint training and commander of the Joint
Warfighting Center, Suffolk, Va., and Army Brig. Gen.
Michael Ferriter, deputy commander of operations for the
Army’s XVIII
Airborne Corps, briefed reporters at the Pentagon on the
progress of exercise Unified
Endeavor 07-2 (UE 07-2), via
a video feed from Fort Bragg, N.C., today.
UE 07-2 prepares the XVIII Airborne Corps for its deployment
in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The XVIII Airborne
Corps will work with the Multi-National Corps Iraq (MNCI)
when it deploys this coming spring.
Kamiya
explained how the training, which wraps up this week,
is the culmination of a year of preparation in Iraq
and in the United States. "We brought in about 56
experts from Multination Force Iraq and Multi-National
Corps Iraq to help us in exercise design and as subject
matter experts during the execution of this exercise."
Ferriter said that the training received by the XVIII
Airborne Corps was very helpful in achieving this objective.
"These exercises bring the best practices, as seen over
the last several rotations, fed by the experts at Joint
Forces Command and the experts at the Army’s Battle
Command Training Program," said Ferriter.
While the XVIII Airborne was the focus of the exercise,
Kamiya spoke about the training of subordinate units and
how they were included in the exercise which ends Friday.
"While
the focus here in August is the corps headquarters, we
have invested an equal amount of time energy and time
insuring that the subordinate units, the subordinate commands
are equally well trained," said Kamiya.
One new element came with the Iraqi Ground Forces commander
and his staff as well as members of the MNCI were on hand
for the exercise. Ferriter spoke about the unique perspective
they helped provide for the training.
'The
value of personal relationships in the environment where
we will go and the trust and reliance that we have
in each other and understanding the commander and the way
he looks at things is priceless," said Ferriter. "So
to have them come here and travel with us gives us insight."
The exercise took place simultaneously at Fort Bragg,
N.C., Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk, Va., Fort Leavenworth,
Kan., Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Fort Hood, Texas,
Fort Drum, N.Y., Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.,
and Hurlburt Field, Fla.
In addition to XVIII Airborne Corps, the exercise included
elements of the Air Combat Command, U.S. Special Operations
Command, the U.S. Army Forces Command and U.S. Marine Corps
Forces Command, as well as individual augmentees from other
units and foreign military partners.
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