�
MAGAZINE
FALL 2019
The CREVAL “ New Approach ”
By Maj . Nathan Loomis , formerly of LANDCOM G7
The CREVAL , or Combat Readiness Evaluation program , is SACEUR ’ s operational tool to evaluate and verify the combat readiness of land forces and provide the commander of the organisation with recommendations for what to sustain and what to improve .
CREVAL focuses on a headquarters or unit ’ s ability to plan for and execute large scale , high intensity , multidomain warfare against a near peer adversary with an overall concentrated focus on Command and Control ( C2 ), Fires , and Logistic Support .
Evaluations are an essential part of the certification process to facilitate end-to-end quality assurance of the preparation processes of forces for current and future operations .
What ’ s in a CREVAL ?
The current CREVAL process has a rigid checklist format based off the concept of “ trust but verify .” Thousands of performance measures must be checked , which entails maintaining large evaluation teams that are costly to deploy . Additionally , in the current model there is little ability for the commander of the evaluated unit to tailor an evaluation to his or her specific unit .
Thus , CREVALs are changing to become more focused , supportive and balanced . While SACEUR retains the authority to direct evaluations at his discretion , in future CREVALs the scope and scale will be determined through Commander ’ s dialogue with the intent of reaching an agreement on targeted areas to scrutinise within his or her command . The benefits of using this approach include :
a . Evaluation data becomes a valuable aid to commanders in planning their future training events .
b . Reinforcement of the commitment and intent to continuous improvement .
c . NATO ’ s Evaluation and Training ( E & T ) becomes even more of a genuine learning system .
d . Evaluations are reduced in scope and scale , are more targeted and are better synchronised .
e . Consequently , the costs and burden of evaluations are reduced .
Future evaluations will tailor the evaluation criteria to focus on the evaluated commander ’ s priorities . No longer will a rigid evaluation format require the inspection of every performance measure applicable to a headquarters or unit . However , to be clear , this new CREVAL approach will still focus on SACEUR ’ s requirements and his focus areas ( SAGE ) of Command and Control ( C2 ), Fires , and Logistics Support .
How will the CREVAL New Approach work in practice ?
A CREVAL , on average , takes about 18 months of effort and is comprised of several events , starting with the Initial Coordination Meeting ( ICM ) and followed by exercise planning events that include initial , mid and final planning conferences . For HQs , the evaluation is broken down into Phase I , Crisis Response Planning ( CRP ), and Phases 2 and 3 . Unit evaluations consist of Phases 1 and 2 only . ( Phasing is described below .)
The first new event for CREVAL under the new approach is implementation of an Evaluation Team Chief ( ETC ) to
10