The two-day meeting between the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (NATO SFA COE) staff and the NATO JFTC team has just finished
The JFTC, located in Bydgoszcz, has a distinct and unique role within NATO, focusing on joint and combined training at tactical level. Additionally, it co-operates with Allied Command Transformation, its sister organizations, national training centres and NATO Centres of Excellence to ensure the application of NATO standards and doctrine and to achieve joint tactical interoperability from Brigade to Corps level.
The event took place in Cesano (Rome), at the Centre’s Headquarters, on the 12th and the 13th of February 2019 and it was aimed at enhancing the cooperation and the interoperability among the two NATO Military Bodies and to explore in depth common topics.
The most significant topic debated was the Pre-Deployment Training in Military Operations, especially in the Resolute Support Mission and in NATO Mission Iraq (NMI).
The first operation is aimed at helping Afghan Security Forces and Institutions develop the capacity to defend Afghanistan and protect its citizens in a sustainable way, the second one will strengthen Iraqi security forces by providing technical advice to relevant Iraqi defense and security officials.
Other interesting topics were:
- the interoperability and mutual support in organization and development of preparation phases in exercises according to the NATO doctrine;
- the specific collaboration in course and training events planned for 2019;
- the sustaining in organizing other events such as workshops, seminars, work groups and conferences;
- the coordination and more interoperability between Lessons Learned Branches of the two Centres, getting in contact with personnel coming from theatres (advisor, staff personnel) to collect current information;
- the standardization of documentation on Security Force Assistance issues;
- the synchronization between doctrine and reality of the operations;
- the opportunities to experiment and test handbooks and guidelines drafted by the NATO SFA COE from JFTC personnel.
This meeting stressed the importance of collaboration, sharing information and keeping up to date; this is the only way to improve the efficiency of NATO nations, partners and other Nations in the field of SFA.
