Joint Deployment Center/Maritime Operations Center opens doors
U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and Fleet Forces Command (FFC) opened a new combined Joint Deployment Center and Maritime Operations Center. The combined building, which was a cost-effective and operationally effective option to answer the two commands' needs, will improve connectivity between the two commands and improve deployment resources.
By Army Sgt. Josh LeCappelain
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(NORFOLK, Va., - Oct. 21, 2009) -- U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and Fleet Forces Command (FFC) officials cut the ribbon on a new building that will streamline the deployment process for the commands’ personnel here today.
Air Force Maj. Gen. David Edgington, USJFCOM chief of staff, and Navy Rear Adm. Gerald Beaman, FFC Global Force Management and Joint Operations deputy chief of staff, along with gathered military and civilian personnel, opened the Joint Deployment Center (JDC) and Maritime Operations Center (MOC).
Sharing the facility was the most cost-efficient and operationally effective option for the two commands, said USJFCOM Deputy Chief of Staff Marine Corps Col Gary Kling in a memo. The combined facility improves connectivity between USJFCOM and USFFC and improves the state of deployment resources.
“This is very exciting for us to bring to culmination, the opening of this building behind us,” Edgington said. “We’ve gotten a service command, Fleet Forces Command, and the Joint Forces Command, a joint command, which live on the same installation, to collaborate, to fund and to see through to completion a single building for a dual, but combined purpose.
“That is not something insignificant in today’s military,” he added.
Retired Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., who commanded USJFCOM from October 2002 to August 2005, spoke about the combined facility’s importance at the ceremony.
“It’s very important to have this (facility),” said Giambastiani, who retired in 2007 as the seventh vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “This new facility and its attendant automation and connectivity will greatly assist Joint Forces Command and the components, in my view, in further improving its effectiveness and transparency amongst all these different staffs.”
All deploying USJFCOM personnel will report to the JDC and complete necessary training and preparations prior to leaving the U.S.
According to Beaman, there are eight MOCs across the globe forming a valuable interface for the integration of maritime forces in any theatre. Together, these MOCs provide total global maritime awareness. This facility will help optimize maritime forces, streamlining them to where they can best be served.
“What you see in front of you today is a vast improvement over the previously used space. This is a state-of-the-art technological facility from which we are able to direct maritime operations and collaborate with our joint interagency and multinational partners,” Beaman said.
The facility covers 49,000 square feet and has a state-of-the-art data, communication and audio-visual collaborative network supported by more than 110 miles of cable. A centralized server and secured hard drives eliminate the need for desktop personal computers, optimizing work space and network security. It contains a conference center, operational areas and a crisis response center.
The facility is flexible to accommodate future mission requirements and demands, including furniture designed to be reconfigurable.
Norfolk-based Clark-Nexen was the architectual engineer using the original concept design created by Applied Minds Inc.
|
