Photo By Sgt. Jackson Dukes | U.S. Marines with II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), create a security cooperation...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NC – The Marine Corps Security Cooperation Training Detachment hosted a Security Cooperation Planners Course in support of II Marine Expeditionary Force planners, March 13-17, 2023.
The intent of the course is to train Marine planners on how to organize, plan and then effectively build interoperability with foreign allies and partners while also ensuring U.S. objectives are met. This training took place as II MEF continues along a training continuum towards service as a Joint Task Force or further employment as a Marine Air-Ground Task Force.
Leading the course was a mobile training team from the Security Cooperation Training Detachment, Marine Corps Intelligence Schools based in Fort Story, Virginia. This mobile format provided II MEF and its major subordinate command staffs the flexibility to attend the training in the local Camp Lejeune area while focusing on operational planning.
“This course is important because if you look at the national security strategy that came out in October, it mentions allies 68 times and partners over 120 times,” said U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Hackett, a master instructor with SCTD. “This whole course is about working with allies and partners and how to plan for that.”
Hackett also said the course emphasizes working with U.S. foreign partners and allies compared to past courses which focused mainly on working within the U.S. military.
“The goal, first and foremost, is always to train and prepare those going forward to deploy or to interact with foreign counterparts,” said U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Joseph J. Delisi, a student of the SCPC and a MAGTF intelligence officer with Marine Aircraft Group 26. “It’s also to provide a level of awareness for those that have not yet interacted with that level of planning or with a foreign force to train.”
Lectures, panel discussions, and a series of practical exercises aided participants in understanding the concepts and processes within this type of complex planning. It included ten primary classes focusing on topics ranging from security cooperation policies and legal considerations, to coordinating with the U.S. State Department and security assistance programs.
“The course teaches you a lot about different legal aspects, different programs, different authorities, different planning perspectives and processes to ultimately be utilized when engaging in some type of security cooperation planning or working to train a foreign partner,” said Delisi.
Trainers from SCTD also emphasized the security cooperation planning and execution cycle. Students designed and presented a Security Cooperation Engagement Plan for a fictitious foreign security force in the culminating exercise. These plans included training the foreign security force in U.S. schools and combined exercises as well as applying understanding of resource constraints and foreign military sales of defense equipment. Overall, this was meant to ensure Marine Corps planners could apply the security cooperation planning process in future operations.
Planners learned that cultural understanding is as important as language and partner force military capabilities. Students and staff reflected upon a myriad of case studies from the past three centuries to glean insights.
“I want them to remember that they need to work with people adjacent to them, looking up, looking out, communicating, collaborating, building partnerships, and maintaining partnerships," said Hackett about the attendees of the course. "I think that’s the way we win the future."
| Date Taken: | 03.23.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.23.2023 10:56 |
| Story ID: | 441026 |
| Location: | CAMP JOHNSON, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 196 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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