JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSITS, Va. –
A team of U.S. Air Force security forces Airmen prepare for an upcoming mission, on the list of items needed to accomplish this assignment is a U.S. Army High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. There can be difficulties communicating with members of another service because of differences in terminology and communications systems. The Airmen's commander took the course at the Joint Deployment Training Center at Fort Eustis to learn exactly how to handle such circumstances.
The Joint Deployment Training Center at Fort Eustis, Virginia, is a joint-functional schoolhouse which serves as the Department of Defense's primary Joint Command and Control functional training institution.
"The JDTC provides resident courses, mobile training teams and online courses for more than 5,000 students each year," said U.S. Army Col. Douglas Pietrowski, JDTC director. "We also provide exercise support during major joint exercises."
The JDTC provides individual Service members with an understanding of the tools designed to plan and execute joint operations. A graduate certificate from JDTC acknowledges an individual Service member's understanding of tools to deploy and operate jointly.
The current joint processes and communications systems covered by JDTC include deployment, with emphasis on the Joint Operation Planning and Execution System, global force management with emphasis on the Joint Capabilities Requirements Manager, and situational awareness with emphasis on both the Common Operational Picture and Integrated Imagery and Intelligence applications.
Students are taught how to utilize computer-based programs, to plan deployments, manage forces and assets, and maintain situational awareness in a joint environment.
"Teaching these programs help the services all talk the same language," said Pietrowski. "It will also help them see the same overall picture."
Veterans from each military branch act as instructors and subject-matter-experts on systems and the doctrinal processes. The center provide in-resident classes or deploys their cadre as a mobile training team to remote training facilities worldwide. The courses can lead to possible promotion points for their respective services. Some courses also offer Joint Qualified Officer points.
As a result of preparing for working in a joint command, Department of Defense and other U.S. Government Agency personnel may take a course at JDTC in hopes for lifelong knowledge.
"No matter their location or organization, JDTC serves as a lifelong knowledge center for our graduates," added Pietrowski. "[Students can] reach back and access resources to refresh their memory of these evolving systems and doctrinal processes."
These courses are required for some, but open to all who are interested in learning strategic-level command and control systems.
"Although much of the force operates at the tactical level," said Pietrowski. "Our courses give our students a strategic perspective."
The ability to work jointly, could be the difference between the security forces Airmen retrieving the HUMVEE they need and possibly failing that mission.
"Each Service has unique capabilities," Pietrowski said. "We are most potent when we work together."
For more information, visit JDTC's website at
www.jdtc.eustis.army.mil.