Photo By Staff Sgt. Evan Ruchotzke | French Cpt. Arnaud Raedersdorf and U.S. Master Sgt. Brandon Bybee of the French Rapid...... read more read more
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Three nations will come together to execute the largest stateside warfighter exercise in American history at Fort Hood, Texas beginning March 31, 2021. Soldiers from the United States, the United Kingdom and France will cooperate across the course of 15 days.
Interoperability and training with allies and partners is a key theme of the event which will feature, for the first time ever, two foreign divisions. The 3rd Division of the United Kingdom and the 3rd Division of the French Republic will collaborate alongside the United States’ 1st Cavalry Division and III Corps to certify units for deployment around the world.
“A warfighter exercise is designed to grant corps and division commanders a forum to train their staff departments on large scale combat operations,” said Col. Myles Caggins, the chief public affairs officer at III Corps. “This is accomplished in a computer simulated environment, to practice and certify on mission command across geographically dispersed regions.”
“What’s challenging is the size and scale of the warfighter,” said Maj. Adam Akers, the branch chief for plans and exercises at III Corps. “It is the largest in American history, with the United Kingdom bringing about 1300 soldiers, the French bringing 1000 or so. We have another 600 Americans coming from off post to Fort Hood to support as well, aside from the soldiers already here.”
“The key word for the entire exercise is interoperability,” said Akers.
According to Akers, interoperability is the ability to work together with allies seamlessly. Technological differences were a primary consideration for the planning of the Warfighter exercise and presented a key challenge to the ability of the three nations to work together effectively.
“Can you understand me? Can we reach each other? Do our devices work in conversation?” asked Akers in the days leading up to the event.
“It’s vastly more complicated than that though,” said Akers. “This is the opportunity to establish relationships with our foreign counterparts, to really rub shoulders with the people who are in a true coalition.”
Working with allies is a key objective of the Department of Defense across all operations, but particularly a warfighter exercise of this unprecedented magnitude.
“Our allies and partners are a force multiplier and one of the greatest strategic assets we have in protecting our nation,” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III in a release statement to the Department of Defense.
“As we face complex challenges that span across borders, our success will depend on how closely we work with our friends around the world ro secure our common interests and promote our shared values. We cannot meet our responsibilities alone, nor should we try,” said Austin.
“Rather, we will consult with our allies and partners and, when appropriate, we will act together. Where one country may lack the unique capabilities of others will fill that void, making us stronger as a team than the sum of the individual parts.”
Those unique capabilities and interoperational competencies will be on full display as the massive event proceeds across its two week course.
“Our allies have a lot of things that augment our capabilities,” said Akers. “There are unique functions that both foreign divisions bring, both in terms of material and thoughts that do a lot to further our interoperability.”
Key to the theme of interoperability, according to Akers, is the ability to synchronize with the foreign divisions across multiple echelons.
“Of course they have different technological concerns,” said Akers. “That’s a given, three nations, three different operations systems. We need to make sure we can send and receive messages, that’s a certainty.”
“What I think is more important is the human element of interoperability,” said Akers.
“Our allies have, chiefly, different ways of looking at things from a doctrinal perspective,” said Akers. “They have different approaches to problem solving and particularly military decision making.”
According to Akers, the important thing in simulations on this scale is establishing relationships.
“We have our approach and the French and British have theirs. At the end of the day if we walk away with strengthened alliances and an understanding of how each country operates then it was a success,” said Akers
The French Army is fond of working with the U.S. Army because the American military are very professional in terms of warfighting, according to French Col. Richard Vidal, the French lead Warfighter planner with the French Third Division.
“Moreover, French soldiers express sincere interest in this historic bilateral cooperation because French and US partners have an intuitive mutual respect due to their military history and their close operational cooperation in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Sahel. It makes it very natural and efficient to work together.”
Collaborative efforts between the three units are central to the ultimate success of the exercise’s final outcome. The exercise will serve to certify III Corps for future deployment operations. The intended impact will be the direct preservation of life for real American Soldiers in real combat roles.
| Date Taken: | 03.29.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.09.2021 20:53 |
| Story ID: | 393452 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 281 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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