Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/507045
J JOINTEX www.vanguardcanada.com aPRIL/May 2015 13 cess to it and we have to practice. All of that is done through things like JOINTEX." The primary training audience for JOINTEX is 1st Canadian Division, the Canadian Army's high-readiness headquarters in Kingston under the command of Major-General Dean Milner. It was reactivated in 2010 to provide the army and the CAF with, among other things, a deployable joint divisional headquarters capable of serving as a component command or integrating into and leading a multinational operation. While each has subtle differences and affects the decision-making cycle in distinctive ways, Vance notes that no matter "what alliance or coalition of the willing you are in, you never relinquish full com- mand, and therefore you never relinquish national responsibilities. So we need to be able to use these exercises to practice the ability for the CDS (Chief of the Defence Staff) and his subordinate com- manders to retain the necessary functions of full command." At the most basic level, that means having the necessary radios, chat lines, bandwidth and other C4ISR capabilities to enable full command. More importantly, though, it's about building and training relationships between and among headquarters. Bridging the Atlantic If JOINTEX 2013 was ambitious in its effort to exercise the C2 relationships among a coalition headquarters, a Canadian-led Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force and CJOC in Ottawa – all while integrating virtually and in real-time with three live exercises involving the army (Maple Resolve), navy (Trident Fury) and air force (Maple Flag) – then 2015 pushes that to a new level. Rolled out in three phases, this year's exercise will integrate with NATO's fl agship training event, Trident Juncture. For exercise planners, that means not only improving the CAF's operational C2 systems to work with NATO command elements and partners, but also ensuring the connectivity and pipelines for the virtual and simulated aspects of the exercise. In 2013, the C2 challenge was linking multiple sites across Canada. Now Colonel McPherson and his team must "bridge the trans-Atlantic link," connecting with Joint Force Command Brunssum in the Netherlands and with the exercise control at NATO's Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway. "While it is a challenge, it is a great opportunity and it sends a real message to our NATO partners," McPherson says. Although CAF technicians have acquired plenty of experience establishing data networks with ABCA allies (America, Britain, Canada, Australia), meeting NATO interoperability has required a whole new system. "We had to actually build the NATO C2 piece here to allow the division to execute the mission," McPherson ex- plains. "All the elements across the CIS community have jumped in to take on this challenge. For the fi rst time in decades, we enabled T E L F E R S C H O O L O F M A N AG E M E N T U N I V E R S I T Y O F OT TAWA ENHANCE YOUR LEADERSHIP ACUMEN AND PROGRAM SUCCESS We now offer a certicate in Complex Program and Procurement Leadership. A series of 2-day modules starting in Fall 2015 for program leaders in aerospace, defence, marine, IT, business transformation, and infrastructure industries; and designed to bridge across industry and government. Come see us at CANSEC on May 27-28, 2015! telfer.uOttawa.ca/cplc Photo: Sgt Norm McLean