FORT IRWIN, Calif. (Army News Service, Sept. 19, 2007) - U.S. Joint Forces Command joined coalition partners to conduct force-on-force operations here to assess combat identification to improve combat effectiveness and reduce fratricide.
The Joint Fires Integration and Interoperability Team, a USJFCOM subordinate command, is part of the 1,850-person team participating in Bold Quest. The event includes representation from all U.S. services, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as representation from NATO.
"Much like today, future conflicts will be fought by a coalition team," said Noel Cumbia, senior joint fires analyst for JFIIT and Bold Quest. "This exercise provides an incredible opportunity for coalition warfighters to come together and improve combat identification in a realistic operational environment."
According Marine Corps Capt. Brad Sanders, the JFIIT project lead at NTC, combat identification is one of the most challenging and critical tasks facing today's warfighters, and Bold Quest is an important step in solving the problem.
"We consider our efforts supporting Bold Quest to be a big success story," said Dan Myers, lead NTC coordinator for JFIIT during Bold Quest. "We've faced many challenges putting together such an important and complex event, but when you bring together a superb team of professionals from the NTC, USJFCOM and industry, and include our coalition partners, we were bound to be successful - our service members fighting and sacrificing today deserve nothing less."
The Army provided key ground forces for Bold Quest, including units from the 4th Infantry Division, at Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Irwin's11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
The exercise continues until Sept. 19th, but shifts focus from the NTC and force-on-force operations to primarily air-to-ground operations near Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.
(Casey Bain works with the JFIIT Public Affairs Office.)
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