CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - Service members of U.S. Army Central's contingency command post refined their ready and responsive capabilities at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in support of the Lucky Warrior 16 exercise March 7-18.
The Lucky Warrior 16 exercise required the CCP to deploy to a forward environment and conduct mission command operations just as it would for a real-life contingency situation.
"The fact that we are running the Lucky Warrior series is, in many ways, a success in itself," said Col. Kelly Webster, the USARCENT deputy chief of staff. "You won't find any other Army service component command that can face the kind of challenges on a daily basis that we face here at USARCENT."
The CCP needs to be ready to move into an area and provide mission command for USARCENT operations across the region. As an expeditionary element, the CCP provides a level of mission command support and logistical capabilities that cannot be replicated by staying at the headquarters, said Webster, a Kelso, Washington, native.
"The role of the USARCENT CCP is to conduct limited interventions in contingency operations," said Lt. Col. Larry Bergeron, the deputy protection chief with the USARCENT CCP. "These operations include noncombatant evacuations, foreign humanitarian assistance and any other mission we are called upon to do by the commander of U.S. Central Command."
This training event comes after exercises in late 2015 that improved the CCP's ability to solve problems, coordinate logistical support and work with partner nations in the USARCENT area of responsibility.
"The CCP leaders utilized lessons learned from recent CJTF experience to improve our mission command capabilities. We have revamped the USARCENT's standard operating procedures with an increased focus on expeditionary operations and readiness. We made changes to ensure the command can quickly respond to any crisis," said Maj. Gen. William Hickman, the deputy commanding general - operations for USARCENT. "Lucky Warrior 16 challenged our leaders and our Soldiers to improve as we move forward."
Preparations for this exercise began last year, soon after USARCENT transferred authority of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve to Fort Hood's III Armored Corps.
"I'm very proud of what US Army Central has done during Exercise Lucky Warrior," said Lt. Gen. Michael X. Garrett, the commanding general of USARCENT. "We have learned a lot about our processes and our SOPs over the last two weeks and I'm confident in our ability to perform our mission. But, we're going to continue to refine and improve our organization. That's what leaders do."
"The exercise stressed the staff, both at our main headquarters and forward deployed, across the spectrum of operations," said Webster. "We had to deal with doing mission command within the theater and respond to multiple situations at the same time."
Soldiers already deployed to Kuwait ensured a swift setup of the facility and radio communications within 72-hours of the arrival of the majority of the exercise's participants. This was accomplished by pre-staging equipment, tents and vehicles, said Bergeron, an Independence, Louisiana, native.
The equipment used with the CCP needed to be tested to ensure the proper operation of all assets. The CCP staged all vehicles and equipment at Camp Arifjan and performed convoy operations to Camp Buehring in order to gain confidence in their ability to rapidly move to remote locations, bring the CCP into an operational status and begin mission command operations.
According to Garrett, moving an element of this size took well-trained NCOs and leaders to conduct proper risk analysis and ensure the safety of the personnel during the move.
"Besides the professionalism of our NCO Corps, the other aspect of the Army which makes us the most powerful land force in the history of the world is our willingness to look at ourselves and never settle," said Garrett.
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