As the date for the 2010 Land Forces Symposium quickly approaches, senior leaders from 14 countries in the U.S. Central Command and Third Army area of responsibility met in Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 22-26 to develop a theme, speakers and panels for the annual event.
Col. Brian Cavanaugh, Third Army Information Operations Chief, outlined the purpose of the concept development conference in planning LFS which will be held in Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 2-5, 2010.
"The Land Forces Symposium is in line with Third Army's mission of shaping the future through its theater security cooperation events," Cavanaugh said.
Over the past two years, Third Army held more than 200 TSC exchanges. These TSC events set the stage for symposiums like LFS by building relationships with partner nations.
LFS is in its fifth year and has been held in Atlanta, Ga., Islamabad, Pakistan, and Mombasa, Kenya.
Brig. Gen. Zahid Mirza of the Pakistan Military attended the CDC and explained how the LFS has grown over the years and the important role it plays.
"Since we started with these a couple years back one can find with each passing year this forum is getting on a more solid foundation, therefore it needs to continue," Mirza said. "Primarily we are here to develop a theme for LFS and the theme must reflect the commonality of interest of regional countries and the U.S."
The CDC is important because it gives regional countries a place to discuss common interests, Mirza said.
"The conference has been going well," he said. "This conference and the LFS provide a good opportunity to foster relationships between militaries and friendly countries represented. Forums of this nature are also vital to grasp an understanding on conceptual dimensions of national security issues of different countries."
Cavanaugh agreed, as he described the impact the CDC and LFS has on increasing interoperability between countries.
"I think this is one of the more important things we do to keep access to partner nations," Cavanaugh said. "We talk about distribution routes, sharing doctrine and confronting adversaries. It all starts with this type of activity."
Third Army Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Stephen M. Twitty touched on this when he spoke to participants during a visit to the CDC.
"I appreciate you coming to this conference," Twitty said as he thanked them for their attendance. "We have a view of doing things and you all bring your views here as well. It's great to come together to share ideas. It is important that we use the Land Forces Symposium to get out critical issues that are common to all of us."
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