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Joint Vision '03 Begins in Newport, R.I.

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS031010-07

Release Date: 10/10/2003 9:49:00 AM

By Commander, 2nd Fleet Public Affairs

NEWPORT, R.I. (NNS) -- Nearly 200 senior officers from various NATO headquarters in the U.S. and Europe came together today to hone their abilities to respond to world conflicts and crises. The group kicked off Joint Vision '03, which runs through Oct. 15, at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

"Times are changing. The expectation of NATO is changing. What we must be able to do in the future is different than what we did a few years ago. This exercise is going to allow us to think through and to work on some of those changes that we are going to have to deal with," said Vice Adm. Gary Roughead, commander, 2nd Fleet/NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic during opening ceremony remarks.

Joint Vision '03 is the first of two annual Joint Vision exercises. This first Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) nucleus staff training exercise will focus on the NATO Operational Planning Process (OPP), functional training and related lectures.

"This exercise is an initial building block for our responsibilities with regard to the NATO Response Force rotation. It is important that we take this opportunity as a staff to prepare ourselves to think about longer term issues, as they apply to where we are going as an alliance and as a military component of that," said Roughead.

Taking benefit from the presence of external participants, from 12 of 19 NATO nations, the exercise will also promote the sea-based CJTF concept and enhance interaction, exchange of skills, experience and expertise. Additionally, it will focus on the new NATO challenges, including the NATO Response Force, asymmetric warfare and operations beyond an area of responsibility.

The series of Joint Vision exercises is geared toward preparing CJTF and NATO leaders for the next major operational exercise, Allied Action '05, scheduled for April/May 2005.

"The will to win is not important, it is the will to prepare to win that is important," said Roughead, quoting college basketball coach Bobby Knight. "And that is what these Joint Vision '03 events are for; they're our preparation. So we need to invest the time, the intellectual effort and the energy into this preparation."