Tuesday August 6, 2013
What is it?
The Regionally Aligned Force Training Environment-Africa (RAFTE-Africa) provides the Army’s training community and commanders with an understanding of and tools for the complex conditions of an African operational environment. The RAFTE-Africa complements the Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE).
The RAFTE identifies conditions present in an African operational environment that are not already present in the DATE, and notes conditions in the DATE that are not applicable to an African operational environment. The RAFTE-Africa is flexible, scalable and adaptable to a commander’s partnering and training objectives and the U.S. Army’s support to bilateral and multinational military exercises in Africa.
What has the Army done?
The Army is responsive to theater security cooperation and contingency response requirements. Regional missions will require understanding of cultures, geography, languages and militaries of countries where the Army is most likely to be employed, and expertise in how to impart military knowledge and skills to others. Regionally aligned forces are drawn from the total force, which includes active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve capabilities.
The RAFTE-Africa is a common source for operational environment conditions for Army training events and provides a hybrid threat complexity that can include regular forces, irregular forces, criminals and terrorists. The RAFTE-Africa is a readiness tool that can be employed at combat training centers, home station training and educational venues to help create challenging training objectives in offensive, defensive and stability land operations.
What does the Army have planned for the future?
As the Army aligns units to support combatant commander’s theater requirements, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command will continue to incorporate contemporary conditions into the DATE in producing RAFTEs. RAFTEs provide baseline conditions for continuity across the training and education communities in live, constructive, virtual and gaming simulations. These conditions accent leader development in understanding the dynamic nature of variables that include political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment and time.
Why is this important to the Army?
The Army is a regionally engaged, globally responsive and indispensable partner for a full range of capabilities. Regional alignment synchronizes the Army’s strategic framework of prevent, shape and win. Regionally aligned force training environments will provide realistic and challenging training conditions to the Soldiers and leaders who will execute this strategy.
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