VAZIANI TRAINING AREA, Georgia – Allied and partner nations collaborated to conduct a command post exercise during Noble Partner 22 in August and September.
Noble Partner enhances regional partnerships and U.S. force readiness and interoperability in a realistic, multinational training environment. The exercise allows participants to conduct situational training and combined mechanized maneuvers.
A command post exercise is a total force sustainment, support operations-centric, functionally focused training exercise. It can involve units of various staff sections, whether battalion, brigade or division level.
For Noble Partner, the CPX hosted 19 nations as a multinational brigade. The brigade staff’s purpose was to react to training scenarios without the full support of personnel in the field to execute the movements. By the end of the exercise, staff members will be able to put processes in place for real-life situations.
“So far, the biggest challenge was at the beginning and setting the conditions of the exercise to build cohesion in the HICON (higher control),” said Col. Mindaugas Statkus, a deputy commander for the Lithuanian-Poland-Ukraine Brigade. “The chief of staff and other members showed initiative and willingness to support, which helped lead us to success.”
Establishing boundaries, commonalities, and knowledge management systems among nations helps many of the countries work through unexpected issues.
For the Georgia National Guard, the CPX is very familiar. During Agile Spirit 21, the 122nd Tactical Support Detachment and the 110th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion participated in a CPX at Senaki Air Base, Georgia, as part of a multinational brigade.
“As a U.S. service member, you are trained to do certain things, and then you are not open-minded about how there’s more than one way how to do things,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Nikolay, Georgia Army National Guard’s HICON chief of staff for Noble Partner. “This type of exercise will open your eyes to other people presenting ideas that are just as successful and, in some ways, work even better.”
Noble Partner provides vital opportunities, not only for multiple U.S. service members to work together, but also for integrated, total force training with U.S. National Guard units and partner nations’ militaries to ensure interoperability. The CPX continues to serve as an example of a commitment to help ensure security and well-being to the country of Georgia.