• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Inaugural Civil Affairs Military Operation Exercise Launched in San Diego

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS081003-01
Release Date: 10/3/2008 9:34:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW) Daniel Barker,Fleet Public Affairs Center, Pacific

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Personnel from Maritime Civil Affairs Squadron (MCAS) 1 conducted their first training exercise Sept. 30-Oct. 1 aboard Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and in the surrounding San Diego area.

The exercise was designed to develop the capability to deploy a Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC).

A CMOC is an organization primarily made up of civil affairs personnel to plan and facilitate the coordination of civil-military operations involving U.S. military assets and host nation personnel and institutions in order to achieve unity of effort in support to the joint force commander.

"Being a new command, this exercise is the first opportunity for the staff element and the command element to work together," said Cmdr. Alan Marblestone, commanding officer of MCAS-1. "We will work with nongovernmental organizations, United Nations representatives and multinational partners; and this training enables us to use our military for a positive benefit, to interact with the host nation."

Marblestone said civil affairs commands give the Navy the ability to coordinate efforts between organizations.

For this training exercise, the Sailors enacted a role-playing scenario in which they set up a tent campsite to be a mobile command center in Kenya, and had some Sailors acting as members of nongovernmental organizations or UN representatives.

"We've been working on this since April," said Marblestone. "It's a very important element that we bring to the Navy. For the West Coast this is our first CMOC exercise, and to be part of this is really a privilege."

According to their mission guidelines, the Maritime Civil Affairs Team (MCAT) is the basic tactical unit used to conduct civil affairs operations and consists of five C's: OIC , coxswains, constructionmen, communications and corpsmen. Missions include aid in times of natural or man-made disasters and regional engagement activities intended to build support for the U.S. government.

"The exercise is designed to train our staff and personnel to pack up their gear and go out wherever they are ordered to go and conduct a CMOC operation, a coordinating center between NGOs and other civilians with military to provide humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and other kinds of civil affairs functions," said Chief Hospital Corpsman (FMF) Kevin C. Avila, team chief of MCAT 101. "This physical training is more than what just sitting in a classroom could do."

MCAS-1 is based in Imperial Beach, Calif., and is part of Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), a global force provider of adaptive force packages of expeditionary capabilities to joint war fighting commanders.

For more news from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/necc/.