Page 53 - The Cormorant Issue 14

CJEX at the Fürungsakadamie Bundeswehr – Hamburg 2011
Lt Cdr Jon Milsom RN
Having heard the horror stories of previous years where, legend has it, students spent two weeks under canvas, worked hard all day with no runs ashore being selected to go to Hamburg for the Combined Joint European Exercise (CJEX) meant that you were either a hardcore campaigning sadist or it meant that you had dipped out on the other 3 options. How wrong we were!
Arriving at Hamburg airport, the 2 Directing Staff, Wg Cdr Steve Hayler and Lt Col Warren Gould, and 17 British and 2 Australian students (Maj Ben Pronk and Sqn Ldr Ruth Elsley having made the weekend transition from ‘International Student’ to ‘Honorary Brits’ to fill two late gaps), joined the Italian contingent on a bus to make our way to the accommodation. We soon arrived at the plush Radisson hotel in the centre of Hamburg, but had to watch glumly as the Italians departed to join the Spanish contingent in their 4-star hotel whilst we stayed on board wondering what joys awaited us at our accommodation in the Clausewitz-Kasserne Barracks at the Fürungsakadamie Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces Command and Staff College). To our relief the accom- modation at the barracks, named after JSCSC’s favourite Prus- sian, was surprisingly well equipped (except for irons and ironing boards that were swiftly sourced). It was also shared with the French contingent, allowing us to strengthen the recent bi-lateral agreement between our two nations.
The Fürungsakadamie, whose natty acronym is FüAkBw, is situ- ated about 5km outside Hamburg city centre in the leafy and affluent suburb of Blankensee on the banks of the river Elbe. The local area provided plenty of pleasant running routes, and a good choice of bars and restaurants, with a metro station pro- viding 24-hour access to central Hamburg close by.
Our German hosts were very welcoming and stunningly efficient throughout. They were however somewhat bemused by our adoration of Clausewitz, who does not appear to be studied in anything like the depth that he is at JSCSC. The opening brief for the CJEX, led by the Commandant of the FüAkBw, Major General Robert Bergmann, set the scene for the exercise. From there we split into our five Joint Operational Planning Group (JOPG) syn- dicates hoping that at least one other nation would understand the NATO Guidelines for Operational Planning (GOP) campaign- ing system better than us. Luckily, the Spanish contingent was
Lt Col Lucas tries to conceal the fact that he has inadvertently invaded the wrong country
very well prepared and arrived with both an understanding of the GOP process, and a set of PowerPoint slides to get us under- way. Using English as a common language, the teams soon gelled, proving how well NATO colleagues can swiftly build good working and social relationships. The scenario, set in the ficti- tious country of Alambara, contained a complex mix of problems and crises, with just about everything that could go wrong to a state happening concurrently. To tackle this and stabilise the situation, we were tasked to form the key HQ staff of a European Union Force Headquarters (FHQ), tasked to undertake a Peace Support Operation (PSO), under a United Nations (UN) mandate. Instead of the expected beasting and working to all hours, we were pleasantly surprised to find the pace quite steady. We were given great support from the German college Directing Staff to ensure that we understood the GOP process and were able to draw on the experience and wisdom of retired German military officers, who joined us as senior mentors for the week. One such mentor was Lt Gen (Retired) Reichmann who was able to guide us with his extensive knowledge of the Balkans campaign that had a number of similarities to the scenario.
At the end of the first day an inter-JOPG football match was held. Kicking off at the stroke of 1700 the matches were competitive,
Representatives from four nations in a briefing
Brits and Australians master the GOP process
51