Story by JFC Naples J9
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Subject Matter Experts from Allied Joint Force Command Naples conducted planning training in the United Arab Emirates on Nov. 20.
The four-person J5 team, led by Netherlands Army Lieutenant Colonel Rudy Plug, provided a five-day Comprehensive Operations Planning Process course to a selected Emirates Armed Forces staff.
The intent of this mobile training mission was to introduce NATO Crisis Response Planning and the Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive to Emirati Armed Forces experts in the field. The Mobile Training Team instructed 23 officers on the different phases of NATO’s comprehensive planning, with focus on the operational level planning activities, timings, products, mechanisms and dynamics.
Based on the scenario of an international crisis, students practically identified the crisis in order to describe the operational-level problem and label the potential operational conditions to be achieved. After the development of course of actions, the students also compared the course of actions by assessing the advantages, disadvantages and operational risks. This syndicate work and the given examples allowed the trainees to fully comprehend the work carried out by a Joint Operational Planning Group and the level of decisions taken by an operational level commander during the planning process.
At the end of the course, an official ceremony chaired by the Commander of the UAE Joint Operations Centre, Staff Brigadier General Hamdan Ahmad Al Zeyoudi, was carried out and certificates were presented to all trainees. During his closing remarks, he expressed his gratitude to NATO and the JFC Naples MTT for such committed assistance and mentioned the increasing interest of his country in developing further cooperation with NATO. Lieutenant Colonel Plug, specially emphasized during his speech the importance and role of the newly established NATO Strategic Direction South Hub at JFC Naples.
The UAE is an active NATO partner country, and has been a member of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Framework since 2005. In 2016, the Emirates welcomed the first NATO MTT which was also executed by various directorates from JFC Naples. The UAE currently participates in numerous NATO initiatives including multiple NATO exercises, the NATO Defense College, Senior Executive NATO courses and other Key Leader Engagements. The JFC Naples MTT is a vital part of partnership between NATO and UAE, as it ensures the military partnership is meeting the needs of the Emirati Armed Forces’ and generates partnering activity that is in-line with NATO’s Military Committee’s Direction and Guidance. More broadly it also supports NATO’s broader aims to help build the trust and understanding that will lead to better cooperation in the region while increasing military interoperability for future NATO missions.