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Naval Reservists Play Key Role in European Exercise

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS040414-03

Release Date: 4/14/2004 4:00:00 PM

By Capt. Charles McCleskey, Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet Det. 802 Public Affairs

STUTTGART, Germany (NNS) -- Dozens of Naval Reservists played key roles in a joint military exercise in April that stretched across Europe.

About 90 members of five Naval Reserve units participated in Exercise Agile Response 2004, staffing positions alongside their active-duty counterparts at five sites in Italy, Germany, Greece and at sea. These Reservists joined nearly 500 U.S. and 1,500 Greek military personnel in training for the international cooperative effort to support a safe and secure Olympic Games in 2004.

"We could not have done this without the Naval Reservists," said Marine Col. Dave Beydler, Joint Training Readiness and Exercises director of Headquarters, U.S. European Command (EUCOM). "Their contribution was disproportionate to the number of personnel provided, and they integrated seamlessly with their active-duty counterparts."

The annual, joint staff-directed exercise was designed both to assist the Greek government in their Olympic security preparations, and also to enable forces assigned to EUCOM to meet annual exercise training objectives.

The Naval Reservists represented 26 percent of the Joint Exercise Control Group (JECG), led one-third of all JECG Cells, and provided 1,250 man-days of operational support for the exercise.

The Reserve units involved were Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet (COMSIXTHFLT) Det. 802 from Atlanta; Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe (CNE) Joint Task Force Control Unit (JTFCU) Det. 413 from Detroit; CNE JTFCU Det. 513 from Chicago; CNE JTFCU Det. 330 from London; and CNE JTFCU Det. 118 from Denver.

The Naval Reservists performed duties both in the JECG as exercise controllers, and in the Joint Task Force training audience ashore and afloat.

Operations Specialist 2nd Class Angela Jones, an Atlanta Reservist, performed duties maintaining the Current Operational Picture in the Naval Forces Cell, which simulated the task force's naval ships.

"It was a very different view working as Exercise Control," Jones said. "I'm used to being a member of the training audience. I got to work with some of the latest collaborative planning and operational tools."

The Joint Warfighting Center from U.S. Joint Forces Command led the training events and introduced a Collaborative Information Environment, which facilitated the coordination among the JECG members and among the training audiences.

"These Reservists came in trained, ready and knowledgeable of their active counterparts in the training audience," said Capt. Paul Schmitt, an Atlanta Reservist who served as assistant JECG director. "As a result, they were able to realistically portray subordinate Navy commands and stimulate the staff with realistic role-playing that facilitated achievement of all the learning objectives."

The COMSIXTHFLT and CNE Reserve units provided more than 6,000 days of annual training and an additional 3,000 days of additional duty for training and active duty for special work operational support in Fiscal Year 2003, in addition to many mobilizations for Operation Iraqi Freedom.