 |
| CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - Navy Airman Stephanie Artea, a native of King City, Calif., mans the gun turret of a humvee and maintains perimeter security while in Al-Shu’llah, Iraq performing civil affairs missions. Artea is an individual augmentee attached to the 414th Civil Affairs Battalion’s Headquarters Company. Changes the military services, USJFCOM and USCENTCOM have made to individual augmentee training standards means any servicemember deploying will have the training to face situations they may encounter. (Official U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Daniel Sanford.) |
USJFCOM helps define new conditions for individual augmentee training
U.S. Joint Forces Command, the command's Joint Warfighting Center and U.S. Central Command worked together to set new conditions for pre-deployment training of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who are entering a combat zone.
By MC2 (AW) Nikki Carter
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(SUFFOLK, Va. - May 8, 2008) -- U.S Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC) has recently developed ways to improve and streamline the way forces heading to Iraq and Afghanistan are prepared for operations.
About two years ago, JWFC's Command Senior Enlisted Leader Army Sgt. Maj. Thomas Curran starting looking at the Joint Sourced Training Requirements (JSTR) and ways to improve upon it. The JSTR establishes what training is required for service members deploying to U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of operations.
After getting a first-hand look at how individual augmentees (IA) from different service branches train and under what conditions they train, JWFC, in collaboration with USJFCOM's Joint Personnel (J1) and Operations, Logistics and Engineering (J3/4) Directorates, worked with USCENTCOM to update JSTR. The update included an expanded task list, but more importantly, established new conditions to which the tasks must be train under.
"I was tasked by then-Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Ripka to work with USCENTCOM to develop a solution. Early on during my research, I discovered our (USJFCOM's) J1 and J3/4 had previously worked similar issues as their role as the joint force provider," Curran said.
Curran said JWFC established a team to conduct an analysis of the four military services' training to prepare IAs prior to departing for the area of responsibility training. He said JWFC conducted multiple site visits that were used to develop a "side-by-side" analysis of service training programs that identify gaps and seams.
"Our analysis showed that the services had IA training programs, but they lacked commonly accepted tasks and conditions. The preponderance of the IA combat skills and training requirements are ground-centric, which provided a challenge for the non-ground combat-oriented services," Curran said. "USCENTCOM promulgated combat skills training requirements, but varying interpretations of those requirements led to the application of different conditions and standards."
These different interpretations meant the IAs received different levels of training for the operational environment.
Curran said after significant USJFCOM input, review and coordination, USCENTCOM released the Joint Sourced Training Requirements for fiscal year 2008, which apply to both IAs and deploying units.
Highlights from the updated Joint Sourced Training Requirements include:
• Original 22 tasks expanded to 72, and include enhanced task descriptions and key requirements such as close quarters marksmanship and HMMVW Egress Assistance Trainer (HEAT).
• Adjusted task list from an Army-centric construct to more service-generic language.
• Brought increased emphasis on battlefield survival tasks by establishing the conditions under which the training is required to be conducted.
Curran said the services establish the training standards and certify the readiness of individuals and units. He said the JWFC would continue to work in concert with the COCOMs and services to ensure the conditions under which the tasks are to be performed in training to accurately replicate the actual conditions under which those same tasks would be expected to be performed in combat.
"The services are still responsible for ensuring deploying IA and units comply with the JSTR," Curran said.
Ultimately, Curran says the improvements from the continuing work to support JSTR will end up providing a key result.
"The training gives a basic foundation as a soldier, sailor, airmen or Marine for situations that can happen in the combat zone so an individual augmentee can hit the ground running," Curran said.
Curran said there will be a follow-up to the effectiveness of the recent JSTR revision in the coming months.
|
