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Joint fires assessment teams help Army improve joint training
U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Fires Integration and Interoperability Team has provided the joint context to the Army's brigade combat teams as they train and prepare for deployment at the National Training Center.
By Casey Bain
JFIIT, USJFCOM
(FT. IRWIN, Calif. - Nov. 26, 2008) -- U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) joint fires trainers assisted the National Training Center here in making significant strides to integrate joint assets, enhancing training for brigade combat teams (BCT) at the Army's largest maneuver combat training center
Led by the Operations Group at NTC, and supported by USJFCOM's Joint Fires Integration and Interoperability Team (JFIIT), this training, focuses on replicating a realistic and rigorous environment for joint warfighters, to prepare them for operational challenges in Iraq or Afghanistan.
JFIIT, acting as the Battlefield Assessment Team (BAT) at NTC, assisted the Operations Group by integrating joint assets for 10 years here in the California desert.
"The NTC leadership has done a great job of creating joint training opportunities," said Army Maj. Thomas Hansbarger, JFIIT lead at NTC. "Our job here is to help integrate those assets and bridge the gaps between the services so they can all work together as one well-synchronized fires team to achieve both service and joint training objectives."
JFIIT's mission at NTC is to improve integration and effectiveness of joint fires to support maneuver commanders operating in an asymmetric, irregular warfare environment. This training integrates joint assets into the targeting process, including joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and enhancing employment of these capabilities during mission execution.
The unit currently training here is the 4th BCT, 25th Infantry Division (Airborne) from Fort Richardson, Alaska. The brigade is conducting its mission rehearsal exercise as it prepares for an upcoming deployment.
"Part of our mission here is to help the 4th BCT integrate and employ assets like the MQ-9 Reaper, B-1 bomber, F-16 aircraft, and the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)," said Air Force Master Sgt. Joel House, JFIIT's ISR lead at NTC. "We want to replicate the conditions that the BCT and their service partners will experience in theater - they have a great opportunity to work together here so they can fully maximize their capabilities once in theater."
Organizations like JFIIT enhance integration of joint assets and provide vital resources to educate units on how to better leverage the skills and capabilities of the entire fires team, according to Army Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, the commanding general of Ft. Irwin and NTC.
"What we're creating here is the most realistic operational training environment that prepares the entire team for what they will experience in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Pittard. "Our ability to synchronize and employ joint fires is a success story for the units that come here to train. We're committed to doing this the right way and that's joint."
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