Cooperative Spirit 2008: Showing the Cooperative Spirit

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Showing the Cooperative Spirit

My name is LTC Rob Cain, and I will be your blog host. I am a member of the ABCA Coalition Press Information Center (CPIC) located here at Albertshoff, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center here in Germany. This site will not only bring you press releases, stories and photographs of the what is going on here, but public affairs representatives of our coalition partners from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Britain will bring their observations and insights to this blog site.

If you are a member of the media the best way to get more information about Cooperative Spirit ’08 and the ABCA program is to contact:

LTC Eric Bloom, CPIC Director at +49 (0) 9641.83.7776.

The CPIC is located in Bldg. 1270 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC).

Members of the 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment (MPAD) out of Fort Lewis, Washington, will join in, for most of the stories and photos are examples of their work in the field. In addition, we will try to get Soldiers (from all countries) training here at the JMRC to come on line and explain their thoughts and impressions of participating in a unique test of interoperability. We will attempt to give you the academic and high level concepts of what interoperability is, but we will also try to relate to you what it means on the ground – Soldier to Soldier.

The purpose of this blog is informational, and if successful will provide insights into why interoperability between these nations participating is important and necessary.

The following is a list of our initial contributors. As Cooperative Spirit ’08 progresses others will join our ranks in trying to bring you not just information about the ABCA efforts, but what we see and feel on the ground. Here are some of our blog contributors. If I don’t get everyone, they will eventually be identified as the weeks go on.

Click on the flags to go to these nations web sites.

CONTRIBUTORS:

1st Battalion Welsh Guards -- Major Martyn Miles

Canadian Armed Forces - Capitaine Marie-Noelle Blanchet

Australian Armed Forces – Captain Dan O’Mara

New Zealand Armed Forces – Nicole Munro-Johnson

United States Army – Major Juanita Chang,
First Sergeant Betty Thompson and ...

The 5th MPAD out of Fort Lewis, Washington, USA

I hope that you find these entries valuable, and thanks for joining us on the ABCA adventure.

1 comment:

Unknown said...: Fantastic blog. Just recently retired from 20 years in the Canadian Forces. Took part in the ABCA Ex in Kingston, Canada in 2002, the first Ex after 9/11. Having since deployed to Afghanistan where we worked very closely with each nation represented by the ABCA, to great affect, I can say that this type of interaction is critical to build upon our proud history, and mutual goals. One only has to look at RC(S) in Afghanistan to see our troops fighting together, and sacrificing together. With nothing but total respect to our NATO allies, it does add a little something when you find that the coalition troops on your flank, share a partially common history and culture. As the Col in Kingston said when he dismissed that parade in 2002 "Soldiers of the Commonwealth, and you bloody rebels, disssmmmisssed!" Nothing but smiles all around. Soldier on.; September 25, 2008 at 8:39 PM

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LIVE FIRE!

Roll of Honor for Cooperative Spirit '08

The people of Hohenfels, Germany
1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment
2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment
2nd/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
The 1st Welsh Guards Regiment
3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division
5th Battalion, 20 Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division
Charlie Company, 5-158th Aviation Regiment
478th Civil Affairs Battalion (Special Operations) (Airborne)
Utah Army National Guard
5th Public Affairs Detachment (Mobile) Forces Command
Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC)
Headquarters, DOA, G3/5/7, Pentagon, Washington D.C.
Seventh United States Army

On the Web (Washington Post.com)

A photo provided by the U.S. Army Joint Training Command Public Affairs Office on Thursday, Sept. 25 2008 shows soldiers from New Zealand observing their surrounding during a training on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008 at the U.S. Army's Joint Multinational Readiness Center JMRC in Hohenfels, Germany, near the Czech border in eastern Bavaria. Soldiers from the U.S. Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are taking part in the joint exercise of the five English-speaking nations from Sept. 12 to Oct. 5, 2008 designed to help them operate together. The units practice a multitude of situations they'll face once deployed, like extracting targets in door-to-door fighting, dealing with the culture and protocol of Afghan leaders, and how to detect and work around roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices. (AP Photo/U.S. Army Joint Training Command Public Affairs Office, Nicole Munro-Johnson, HO)

What they are saying about us

HEADLINE: > The Canadian Press (CP) News [W7555]> DATE 25-09-08> > The Canadian Press (CP) News [W7555]

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS > > Story: W7555> Source: CP> Date: 25-09-08, 06:37ET > > HOHENFELS, Germany --The language spoken by the soldiers is the same, but knowing English means little without joint training before being thrown into combat together in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That's the idea behind Joint Task Force Exercise Cooperative Spirit 2008, currently under way at the U.S. Army's Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, near the Czech border in eastern Bavaria.

About 2,000 soldiers from the U.S., British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand armies are taking part in the exercise, which began Sept. 12 and ends Oct. 5. The goal is to test the interoperability and in some cases the standardization of processes and equipment of the English speaking nations to work out the kinks before hitting the battlefield, where mistakes are fatal, said Col. Shane Amor, the Washington-based chief of staff of the ABCA Armies, an umbrella organization for the five militaries.

The group was formed in the aftermath of the Second World War by the U.S., Britain and Canada to keep up the close coordination between their armies; Australia joined in 1963 and New Zealand became a formal member in 2006.

``We're training with the coalition so this won't be the first time we see one another,'' the Australian officer told The Associated Press. ``We're looking to see what the capabilities of one another's operations are so we know what each others' strengths are, and use units in the best possible way.''

Amor said that also meant professional observers finding units' weaknesses and correcting them before they deployed to hostile regions. All five countries are currently involved in the conflict in Afghanistan, while U.S., Australia and Britain also have troops in Iraq.

At Hohenfels, units can practice a multitude of situations they'll face once deployed, like extracting targets in door-to-door fighting, dealing with the culture and protocol of Afghan leaders, and how to detect and work around roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices, which have been deployed with lethal effectiveness in Iraq and Afghanistan. Amor said all the armies involved had similar values, but to some extent, different ways of doing business.

``Understanding these differences, mitigating them, and integrating capabilities is essential for effective deployment of forces and achieving mission successes,'' he said. ``The key thing is understanding the different variances in capability; deploying the mission successfully.''

Lt. Col. Greg Allnutt, the commander of about 170 men of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment said that despite the 24-hour flight to Germany, the training has proven invaluable.

His troops are practicing how to take down doors in buildings and decide instantly whether people on the inside are friendly or hostile.

Hohenfels ``has designed lanes for a lot of the skill sets we need to practice,'' he said during an exercise over the weekend.

``We train, make mistakes, and get debriefed by independent experts and go through it again. We didn't come here unprepared, but we're always learning.''

Qs and As (Questions and Answers)

Q1: What is ABCA?
A1: American, British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Program.

Q2: What is the focus of ABCA?
A2: To achieve interoperability using doctrine, technology, and material solutions to close or mitigate interoperability gaps.

Q3: What is Interoperability?
A3: The ability of allied forces and, when appropriate, forces of Partner and other Nations, to train, exercise and operate together in the execution of assigned missions and tasks.

Q4: Members of ABCA have called each other a coalition. What does that mean?
A4: An organization or common effort created for a limited purpose, and a set time. This concept is not new. The American, British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand have participated in several coalition operations during the twentieth century. It is these nations that stood together during World War II.

Q5: Is ABCA like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?
A5: No, NATO is an alliance of nations. ABCA is a test to work out problems and find solutions. Each Army has its own equipment, methods and procedures. ABCA attempts to work out solutions that are:
1. Relevant and responsive
2. Standardized, integrated, and achieves interoperability
3. Mutually understood
4. Shares knowledge
5. Efficient and effective

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Showing the Cooperative Spirit

1 comment:

Media point of contact:

Important Links and places to go

Blog Archive

LIVE FIRE!

Roll of Honor for Cooperative Spirit '08

In the box

In the box

From the Townsville Bulletin, The North's own Website

On the Web (Washington Post.com)

Links to Go!

On the Web

On the web

What they are saying about us

In the Box: "Running to Battle"

In the Box: "Not real, but really good practice."

In the Box: "Communcating is part of Interoperability"

Qs and As (Questions and Answers)

Contributors