Realism Key to Arrc Training Success tells us when we ’ re going to be on standby for a particular task and there ’ s a series of NATO exercises that are prepared in order to make sure people are ready for that task ,” said British Brigadier General Andrew Jackson , chief of ARRC ’ s G7 , Training and Development branch . “ Trident Juncture is the culmination of one of those exercise series , evaluating us as the NATO Response Force Land Component Command .”
“ The ARRC has three missions , to be a Joint Task Force Headquarters for NATO , a land component command within the NRF construct or a corps headquarters within a wider setting ,” he said . “ So ideally , we have to make sure that our training hits on the core skills required for all of those roles but is adapted so it can hit the special requirements of each of those roles at different times in our training cycle .”
Their role in next year ’ s NRF has created some additional challenges . In addition to the ARRC fulfilling their training requirements , Juncture was designed primarily to test JFC Naples , making the ARRC the secondary training audience .
“ The exercise has been designed principally to deliver the training objectives of the NRF HQ , JFC Naples , so all through this process we ’ ve been engaged as a partner in the planning but as a secondary training audience ,” said Jackson . “ Led by G7 , with a team from across the headquarters , we ’ ve been influencing the exercise designers at JWC so we still have a chance to achieve our objectives .”
In addition to achieving their exercise objectives , G7 and the rest of the staff have worked to ensure the scenario was challenging as well as realistic . With the collective operational experience available throughout the ARRC staff , there was no question that realism would be an integral part of any scenario . Tangible , realistic training is critical no matter if you ’ re a platoon on the ground or a three-star NATO headquarters .
“ Being part of an Army that ’ s been at war for the better part of 15 years , you understand how to create realistic training ,” said US Brigadier General Ron Clark , ARRC Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations , “ The realism comes from operational experience and you do the best you can to replicate environments that put the kind of stress on soldiers in training that they may experience in a combat situation .”
Clark , who has commanded troops since before the fall of the Berlin Wall , has seen the effect of realistic training first hand , and knows how important it is to a successful unit . Earlier in his career , during a training scenario , Clark describes a lieutenant of his was thrown into a worst-case situation : enemy combatants everywhere , downed aircraft , casualties , and a battalion commander , Clark , asking for updates faster than he could process the situation . The lieutenant struggled , but the stress of that realism paid off shortly after .
“ Six months later , we ’ re in Iraq , in Ramadi , which in 2005 was arguably one of the most dangerous locations where Soldiers , Sailors , Airmen and Marines were forward deployed ,” said Clark . “ Again , a very similar situation : enemy on the battle field , ambiguous situation at night , civilians present , lots of chaos , same lieutenant ... cool as the other side of the pillow .”
“ The lessons he learned in training , I believe saved lives in combat ,” he continued . “ Its not just that one officer , you can multiply that by every leader and soldier in that formation that also had to deal with those same situations in their own way during realistic training that then led itself to successful operations in combat .”
With realism and challenge at the forefront , NATO and the ARRC have made sure that the training could meet expectations , bringing in a civilian company to expand the scope of the scenario , giving it even more realism and depth .
“ Looking at the scenario JWC have presented , we ’ ve created a theme , and characters within those themes , trying to get a pattern that the headquarters can start to follow and understand about key personalities in different entities in Estonia ,” said James Cassidy , managing director for OAKAS Ltd ., a company that has worked throughout the NATO force structure to supplement their training events . “ We ’ ve got the white cell representing international organizations , non-government organizations , the Ministry of Interior , Ministry of Defence , and we ’ ve got the Estonian Red Cross .”
“ For me the white cell is the opportunity to discuss the real granularity of the ‘ what ifs ’ within that wider civilian environment that we operate in , so the advantage we have is that we can bring in people like this who you ’ re going to be operating with on a daily and intimate basis in an operational environment ,” he added .
That depth , the presence of civilians , government and non-government organizations , requires the ARRC to think outside their military knowledge and look further than kinetic action or solely military solutions to solve problems .
“ In the case of this exercise , because its so well resourced as an NRF combat readiness evaluation , it gives you the depth to have realistic training and realistic events and injects that stretch the staff and makes us think ,” said Clark . “ It really puts us through the paces of trying to understand our adversary and to take action so that we really drive our adversary into the space where military solutions are not the answer .”
“ In this particular scenario , and with the adversaries we face in the real world , the last option is war ,” he continued . “ That is always the most costly option , because literally lives are at stake and we want to help our coalition leaders find peaceable solutions and use military means to deter ,
8 LAND POWER