Skills grow with each UFG for 599th Trans. Bde.

By Mrs. Donna Klapakis (SDDC)September 22, 2015

UFG Cemetery Visit
Individual mobilization augmentees conduct an officers' professional development trip to the United Nations Cemetery in Busan, South Korea, during the Ulchi Freedom Guardian pause on Aug. 22. Lt. Col. Anthony Manetta said, "After a solemn walk throug... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Large-scale exercises in South Korea provide valuable annual training for 599th Transportation Brigade personnel.

The late summer exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian, was conducted Aug. 17-25. Individual mobilization augmentees from the U.S. Army Reserves and the 599th's subordinate Navy Reserve Battalion, SDDC 320, stood up and staffed the Combined Seaport Coordination Center in South Korea and the Joint Seaport Coordination Center in Japan.

Col. James M. Smith, 599th commander, appreciated the opportunity for the brigade to have personnel throughout the Pacific working toward one common exercise goal.

"UFG allowed us an opportunity to exercise our distributed command and control capabilities, the essence of mission command," Smith said.

Army Reserve Col. Anthony Aquino, 599th deputy commander for mobilization, acted as the U.S. co-chair for the exercise at the Combined Seaport Coordination Center in South Korea.

Aquino has fulfilled a number of different leadership roles as he participated during 12 exercises

at both the Joint Seaport Coordination Center in Japan and the Combined Seaport Coordination Center in South Korea. He noted a number of changes from previous exercises.

"We had quite a number of 'firsts' during UFG15," said Aquino. "While we regularly participate in combined briefings with our Republic of Korea counterparts, this year our internal CSCC briefings were all combined. That is, the primary presenters were both U.S. and ROK Soldiers."

"Also, we had a number of liaison officers from both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps that had never participated in the past. This greatly enhanced the training value to the entire CSCC.

The 599th personnel also had frequent opportunities to get to know their ROK counterparts.

"We ate lunch virtually every day with our ROK counterparts, at the invitation of the Republic of Korea Port Operations Group commander, Col. Choe, Sae Young," said Aquino. "Every one of the 599th personnel in the CSSC got the opportunity to visit the ROK Army base and enjoy a truly authentic Korean meal. The positive impact on the combined effort and esprit de corps is immeasurable."

Valerie Van Vleet, 599th information management systems team lead, acted as IT support in the CSCC for the exercise.

"I really appreciated that Col. Aquino arranged for all of us workers to go eat at the ROK base," she said. "We all sat at the head table with Col. Choe. He even had a contest to use the Korean chopsticks. It really made a big difference in our morale, especially when we were working such long days," Van Vleet said.

The 599th IMAs in South Korea were also able to work out as a team during UFG.

"The full contingent of 599th drilling individual mobilization augmentees ran [an Army physical fitness test] together," Aquino said. This is virtually impossible to do given the shift work (resulting in 14-hour days) so everyone 'volunteered' to do it on the one day off, Saturday.

"I could not be prouder of the professionalism of these soldiers who got up early after a 70-hour week to do so," he added.

"The exercise proved extremely beneficial to honing our core competencies and I was also impressed by the partnership efforts between our staff and ROK Port Operations Group. The symbiotic relationship enhanced our overall bilateral capabilities," Smith said.

"Similarly in Japan, I was able to observe the great relationship and partnership efforts we have with Military Sealift Command. Looking forward, we plan to expand on additional training opportunities that incorporate key enablers to our transport mission," he added.

Cmdr. Mark Wills, SDDC-320 Naval Reserve Battalion commander, was co-chair of the Joint Seaport Coordination Center in Japan.

"What we did this time that was different, was that we role-played at a higher level. We took the scenarios that were injected to us from the 599th command operations center as part of our briefing.

"With the last three exercises, we were afraid that it would cause confusion with the real world and between different exercises. This way, I feel like everyone received better training in the analysis and briefing on what would happen in a real-world situation.

"From the CSCC side, Col. Aquino understands what we are doing here and the importance of involving the JSCC as much as he does. We were able to synchronize our briefings, so we were very coordinated, and the delivery as a result of those meetings was much more robust," Wills said.

599th headquarters staff also manned the brigade headquarters command operations center for 18 hours a day in support of UFG. In addition to liaising with 599th personnel in Japan and Korea, they also communicated updates to 8th Theater Sustainment Command.

Capt. Timothy Shelby, command operations center chief, was the nighttime battle captain for the exercise at the headquarters.

"From my level of experience, this was a great exercise opportunity to interact with 8th TSC, Japan and Korea all at the same time," Shelby said. "The most interesting part was being able to interject master scenario events lists into the Japan crew and seeing how they would respond."

Wills said service members at the JSCC also appreciated the role played by 599th headquarters.

"The headquarters was more engaged in the exercise than in previous years. This year they acted like a white cell, which should be more their role. Headquarters this time injected the master scenario events lists, monitored them, and waited to see the outcome of them. The last exercise we injected our own scenarios, so we were never surprised. This time every day was a surprise."

Wills said the people who worked in the JSCC for Ulchi Freedom Guardian appreciated the teamwork and realism of the exercise.

"I have had people from the Military Sealift Command unit tell me that this exercise at the JSCC was the best annual training that they've ever been on. They really enjoyed coming and they want to come back," he said.

Aquino said the willingness of disparate parts to come together for the exercise was impressive.

"The teamwork always impresses me the most. The teamwork among the 599th is not a 'gimmie' -- you have active component, reserve component, Department of the Army civilians, Navy, and Air Force, quite a diverse group -- but they worked together as if they had been doing so for years. Until you experience that positive environment in person, in Korea, you cannot truly appreciate it," he said.

In addition to the coordination centers, Carlos Tibbetts, terminal operations chief, acted as liaison for SDDC to the Combined Forces Command in Seoul.

"From my perspective sitting at the Joint Movements Coordination Center as SDDC liaison, I could truly see the big transportation picture," Tibbetts said. "The JMCC is the interface between strategic inter-theater lift and the Combined Transportation Movement Center, which is made up of ROK military personnel (all services) and U.S. military personnel who were responsible for all cargo and personnel movements on the Korean Peninsula.

"The JMCC was the "glue" that tied together everything that was coming into or going out of the theater and those responsible for moving it within the theater. We also were responsible for reach-back to the Pacific Deployment & Distribution Operations Center at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters to coordinate their activities with ours.

"This was my 13th Korean exercise since 2003 and as in past exercises I was the information hub for all theater transportation information to SDDC as well as Military Sealift Command, III Marine Corps Expeditionary Forces and Marine Forces Korea, 8th Theater Support Command, and senior U.S. Forces Korea, 8th US Army, and Combined Forces Command," Tibbetts added.

"The 599th Transportation Brigade looks forward to participating in future exercises as a means to hone our skill craft, engage with host nation partners, and continue to foster solid relationships throughout the Pacific," said Smith.