USJFCOMLive

Today was a big day for our partners in industry no matter what way you cut it.

MC2(AW) Nikki Carter gave us a preview of an upcoming industry day at the Joint Warfighting Center. This will go down June 13 and was the event Maj. Gen Kamiya was discussing in The New Triad article last week.

We also announced the new multiple award contract winners today. These four companies will be supporting our joint concept development and experimentation work. These multiple award contracts represent a new way for us to do business and helps us get the best value for the command and the American taxpayer.

We’ll have a big announcement tomorrow so be sure to stay tuned.

Good night for now!

MC2(AW) Nikki Carter just finished a story about a wargame which will look at how the joint force will fight the wars of the future as outlined in the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Capstone Concept for Joint Operations.

This is especially exciting given some of the types of people who are participating. From the story…

“We have some very significant participation at the three- and four-star level, policy makers, former National Security Council members, former assistants to the president for homeland security, political and interagency participation. A very august crowd for a week-long wargame.” – Navy Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward, USJFCOM deputy commander.

I talked to USJFCOM’s Command Surgeon Navy Rear Adm. Michael H. Mittelman and his staff about the 15th annual Joint Task Force (JTF) Senior Medical Leader Seminar (SMLS).  The SMLS will be held at the Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis & Simulation Center from July 28 – 31 2009.

The seminar will focus on irregular and hybrid warfare and the implications for future JTF medical leaders. 

“This is the course where we bring in senior medical leaders basically from all the services and literally all over the world so we can train them to act in the capacity of a JTF surgeon and deal with the complexities of current and future joint operational environments,” Mittelman said.  

The four day seminar will have presentations from senior medical personnel and will include the Joint Operational Environment (JOE) and Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO), an overview of each service’s medical support to the joint force and operational perspectives from the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the Joint Staff.

If you’re interested in attending please apply through your service or organization.

Read more on the USJFCOM site.

In our booth at the Joint Warfighting Conference, Wilson talks to how the CCJO describes the joint operations for policy makers.

Wilson said the CCJO provides one means for the chairman to “tell the story of the military’s role as an instrument of national power.”

He went on to say that the CCJO describes the joint force as an instrument of policy, discussing what the joint force brings to national efforts, its fundamental purpose to deter and wage war.

“The joint force must provide options, competencies for political leaders,” Wilson said.

Wilson said the central tenant of the CCJO is that the joint force can generate integrated and adaptive joint operations through interrelated needs.

“Understanding each situation on its own terms, not redefining to conform to some pre-doctrinal solution,” Wilson said. “Integrating and applying some combination of combat, security, relief and reconstruction and engagement to meet the circumstances presented and assessing and modifying as needed.”

During the acquisition panel, Chief, Technology and Requirements Integrated Division Joint Improvised Explosion Device Defeat Organization Capt. Frank Morneau talked about the importance of defeating the strategic influence of improvised explosive devices (IED).

The IED has become the weapon of choice for our enemies. Morneau stressed the need to defeat the IED as a weapon of strategic influence.

“We can’t defeat the bullet or the ambush; it will always be out there. Whether the enemy can influence military strategy is something that what we can alter.”

Morneau said we need to push technology out to the field to do just that, to focus on this weapon and defeat it. Rapid acquisition, affective and direct oversight, direct access to all services and undersecretaries are needed to move initiatives through the program.

During a speech at the Joint Warfighting Conference, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command discussed how balanced warfare reflects how many U.S. special operations forces operate alongside other forces.

“We need to be responsive enough to adjust rapidly to what the enemy throws at us and we need to have the agility to transcend the spectrum of conflict; the ability to do so proactively requires a holistic approach to warfare.”

Read more.

I’m back!  J  One of the ideas of the CCJO, according to Joe Purser, who works in the U.S. Joint Forces Command’s (USJFCOM) Strategy and Policy Directorate, Joint Futures Group, he said that “we have to talk in terms of how we integrate and adapt our joint operations.” 

“We have to address each individual circumstance by its own terms,” Purser said.  “We have to be able to conduct multiple activities at one time.  Assess operations and take immediate action.”

Purser said any operation in the future will fall under a combination of four categories of military activity.

1. combat

2. security

3. engagement

4. relief and reconstruction

He highlighted the focus towards unity of effort with other government and multinational partners. 

“We will always require a need to be a part of a bigger entity,” Purser said.

Purser said the implications of the CCJO is the overarching document out of which joint concepts will flow —“we have to build a balanced and versatile force.”

He said we need to develop leaders who think about warfare, who are masters at the operational art, take history and be able to draw the right sort of lessons.

Purser offered a lot of good information on the JOE and the CCJO, where we are today and a look at how we are moving towards are future. 

It was good information to hear about and to get an overall understanding of what USJFCOM and her partners are doing to understand and shape the joint operating environment.  Look for the JOE 2009 to come out within the next 30 to 35 days!  

I’m listening to Joe Purser give a brief overview of the Joint Operating Environment (JOE) and the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO). Purser said the JOE provides context for the future joint force – “the demand signals.”

Purser said the JOE is the problem statement, our understanding of the military in the future.

“It establishes this conceptual framework that we can we go forward … to that place of development and experimentation,” Purser said.

Purser said the 2009 version [JOE] will reflect the new dynamics in the world today, the economic downturn and the global economic situation. The 2009 JOE will be available for download on an open source website within the next 30 to 35 days.

As Purser turned the focus to the CCJO, he said the [CCJO] is the solution for the challenges the JOE …. for the joint force.

He said the CCJO talks in terms of 5 broad national security challenges.

1. win the nation’s wars

2. deter aggression

3. develop cooperative security

4. defend the homeland

5. respond to civil crisis

Gotta run. For more on the implications of the CCJO see you in the next blog!

In our booth, Joint Irregular Warfare Center (JIWC) Director James O’Connell spoke on his views about the military’s future in a joint operating environment. He said it was important to understand critical shortfalls, solving those shortfalls, and executing DOD’s directive on irregular warfare (IW).

“We believe irregular warfare is likely to be the most persistent form of conflict in the next two decades. We must be able to counter propaganda with fact, and that takes streamlined policies and increased authority.”

O’Connell said the foundation of all this is policy, education, and incentives.

IW matters should be handled with urgency, diligence, and transparency. Collaboration should be opened with multinational and interagency partners.

As part of the Joint Concept Development and Experimentation (JDCE) Program, new concepts and capabilities should be explored so that the U.S. Armed Forces are as effective in IW as they are in traditional warfare.

I’m sitting in ballroom 3 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center waiting for the panel on “Hybrid Warfare: What are the implications for future joint force commanders?”  The panel looks promising.  Navy Vice Adm. Harward, Army Col. McMaster and Netherlands Marine Corps Maj. Gen. van der Til.  The panel will be moderated by retired Marine Lt. Col.  Frank Hoffman. 

Talk to you in a bit.