KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The 21st Theater Sustainment Command, in support of United States Army Europe and Africa and allied and partner nations, conducted a Command Post Exercise June 5 to the 14, on Panzer Kaserne, Germany.
The CPX was a part of DEFENDER 23, a USAREUR-AF led exercise focused on the strategic deployment of continental United States-based forces, employment of Army prepositioned stocks, and the interoperability with allies and partners. DEFENDER 23 demonstrates USAREUR-AF’s ability to aggregate U.S.-based combat power quickly in Eastern Europe, increase lethality of the NATO Alliance through long-distance fires, build unit readiness in a complex joint, multi-national environment and leverage host nation capabilities to increase USAREUR-AF’s operational reach.
The CPX used large-scale ground combat operations and mission essential tasks to increase the scale, capability, and interoperability of Allied and partner forces, and strengthen the alliance in USAREUR-AF’s areas of operation.
“The command post exercise was a multi-domain, multi-corps, multi-nation exercise where we simulated a wartime scenario in order to practice with our NATO partners as well as other Army units to refine our operations process and exercise our wartime battle rhythm,” said Maj. Matthew Mosteiko, G3 current operations battle major, 21st TSC.
The CPX utilized real-world operational environments that provided critical Army capabilities and mission command to United States Europe Command by executing current operations while also building a future force posture to employ Army forces that contribute to regional security and protects vital U.S. interests.
“We worked the mission from the simulation side," said Joseph Baker, deputy chief of G3 training and exercise, 21st TSC. Representatives were assigned to fill positions within the Command Exercise Control Group to ensure the scenarios within the simulation stayed realistic. The process involved creation and submission of ‘injects' throughout the event to create series of actions and counter actions that would enable the leaders and planners on the operational side to react, make decisions, and exercise staff processes.”
The 21st TSC was the secondary training audience and played the role of senior sustainment command in theater, as well as managed the joint security command cell. The 21st TSC worked in conjunction with various units such as V Corps, 7th Mission Support Command, and reserve units such as 4th Expeditionary Sustainment Command to build interoperability amongst the units to ensure the successful mission completion.
“The [start of the exercise] was where we saw the most friction," said Mosteiko. "We learned to archive our products so we can start with a solid base for the next mission. We got great feedback and [after action report] comments from the [observers, controllers, and teachers] that assisted us during the training exercise. Every section came away with ways to improve our processes and procedures."
Mosteiko said the exercise gave them the opportunity to practice their wartime mission while working with major subordinate commands to improve the overall readiness of the 21st TSC and USAREUR-AF.
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