Everything is moving! Reception, Staging and Onward Movement (RSOM) JOINT DERBY 2016 The German Joint Support Service stages a multinational exercise The situation in itself is merely a means to an end, the basis for practicing appropriate procedures and, if need be, there is a Magic Move; after all, the training time has to be used effectively! Who does not know this exercise philosophy? However, there is a time for everything. Even the route to the line of departure has to be planned and learned. What good is the best strategic transport fleet if there is not enough unloading capacity, the crews do not arrive on time to take charge of the vehicles, the forces are left with no protection against enemy reconnaissance and the inclemency of the weather in the staging area or the march to the employment areas ends in traffic chaos because the coordination with the host nation is inadequate? The Bundeswehr s participation in operations in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, in Mali and many other remote areas has helped it to achieve an enormous degree of professionalism in hauling personnel, materiel and vehicles over long distances. This fundamentally applies to all kinds of traffic, even though the main ones are ship and air traffic. The security-related changes for Europe in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine are again moving land traffic, that is to say, road, rail and inland waterway traffic, to the fore. The security challenges are shifting NATO s focus with respect to the character of possible operations; the assumption is that high-intensity combat operations on a collective defense basis will become more likely again. Consequently, the forces must be capable of maybe going into battle immediately after being deployed to a region where there is a conflict in a strategic lift. NATO denotes this interim phase between the strategic lift, which is coordinated by NATO, but remains a national responsibility, and the NATO-led operation as a Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration operation (RSOM (I)) and it is one of the most important phases at the beginning of an operation. This fact is largely overlooked both in national and multinational exercises, in which the focus is placed on the conduct of operations by the forces already in theatre. The RSOM concept was extensively practiced at multinational level during 1st DEU/NLD Corps Exercise IRON SWORD 2005 and NATO Exercise STEADFAST JAGUAR 2006, in the process of which personnel and materiel were moved to Norway and the Cape Verde Islands respectively. During 1st DEU/NLD Corps Exercise NOBLE LEDGER 2014, primarily Dutch player units were moved to Norway and the elements of the process were practiced. [Figure 1 - Railway loading operation during Exercise NOBLE LEDGER 2014] In this phase, which is still considered to be part of the movement, personnel and materiel are moved to their final destinations from the (air, sea and rail) unloading points, the so-called points of debarkation. This phase, which is completely in the hands of the NATO commander, is planned and executed by a Joint Logistic Support Group Headquarters (JLSG HQ) that is directly subordinate to the Joint Task
Force Commander. The challenge does not lie in the fact that the procedures are special in any way, but in the truly joint and combinedness of the interaction of the forces that are moved to the final destinations, the units that JLSG HQ disposes of as so-called enablers and the military and civil agencies and units of the host nation in the RSOM area that provide support. Vice Admiral Manfred Nielson, the Chief of the German Joint Support Service (JSS) decided to order the JSS to look into this topic closely and to practice the procedures concerned after reading an afteraction report issued by the Army and the Bundeswehr Logistics Command on an ammunition loading and unloading exercise. The changes in the security situation provide almost alarming confirmation of the need for intensive work to be done on this topic at all levels of command. It was clear from the beginning that establishing the exercise framework for such a project was a long-term matter. An opportunity to do so is offered in 2016 due to the preparation cycle of the Multinational Joint Headquarters Ulm (MN JHQ Ulm) for its scheduling as the Joint Headquarters in der NATO Rotation 2018 and Germany s assumption of the lead function in the provision of forces for the European Battle Group 2016-2 (EUBG 2016-2), under the command of the EUROCORPS, as the possible forces that undergo the RSOM process. The German Joint Support Service Headquarters (DEU JSS HQ) and MN JHQ Ulm have been working hard on the preparations for this exercise since February 2015. Under the name JOINT DERBY 2016, this RSOM exercise is scheduled to precede EU Battle Group (EUBG) Exercise EUROPEAN SPIRIT 2016, with use being made of the synergies. The core exercise period is 11 22 April 2016. [Figure 2 - Exercise emblem] Exercise JOINT DERBY 2016 has been added to the German Armed Forces Exercise Directive as a key exercise of the Chief of Defense. This directive lays down the project schedule for DEU JSS HQ, MN JHQ Ulm and the capability coordination commands and centers of the JSS for the first half-year of 2016. The exercise focuses on the strategic lift of forces to an employment area and the execution of the RSOM process as a multinational project that links the appropriate command echelons together in the strategic planning, the operational conduct and tactical implementation so as to enable operational forces to be provided in the employment area efficiently. The Exercise Organization All may be nothing in the RSOM process without logistics, but logistics is not everything. Beyond sustainable support from medical forces, military police forces, conventional and special engineer forces and CIS support forces, it is necessary to ensure substantiated civil-military cooperation, cooperation with the host nation and its military and civil agencies and service providers, media activity and other aspects of Force Protection (RSOM infrastructure security, movement security, CBRN defense measures, etc.). The JSS will therefore contribute a broad range of its capabilities to the exercise. The military forces that support the exercise will be commanded by the JLSG HQ and denoted as JLSG forces or units.
[Figure 3 - Seaport] MN JHQ Ulm is the JSS operations command assigned the mission of planning and conducting the exercise. It is responsible in the exercise for constituting the Joint Task Force Headquarters (JTF HQ). The focus, however, is on the JLSG HQ, which MN JHQ Ulm will establish from the Joint Logistic Support Group Core Staff Element (JLSG CSE), with external support from all the major military organizational elements in the Bundeswehr and international personnel. Command during the exercise will be assumed by the deputy commander of the Bundeswehr Logistics Command, Brigadier General Gerald Funke. The Exercise Concept The exercise begins with a command post exercise (CPX), for which elements of MN JHQ Ulm, reinforced by support personnel from all the services and major military organizational elements in the Bundeswehr and international participants, will move to Garlstedt, where they will set up and operate the JLSG HQ command post with the infrastructure of the Logistics Training Center of the Bundeswehr Logistics School. With the aid of mobile technology from the German Army Warfighting Simulation Center in Wildflecken, the deployment process will be simulated and the situation information required for practicing the staff routines at the JLSG HQ generated. The idea is to achieve a situation in which everyone knows to a maximum degree how to implement the routines in the subsequent LIVEX. In parallel with this first part of Exercise JOINT DERBY 2016, the EUBG 2016-2 units will move to the start positions for the strategic lift in accordance with Multinational Detailed Deployment Plan (MNDDP)) for the LIVEX. The major equipment will be loaded onto rented roll-on roll-off ships in Emden for the sealift. The personnel will move to Wunstorf Airfield, where transport aircraft from the European Air Transport Command (EATC) will be waiting. At the same time, the so-called RSOM installations will be established and prepared for operation by the JLSG units under the command of the JLSG HQ. These are not only the unloading points, the so-called airport and seaport of debarkation (Nordholz/Bremerhaven), but also the Garlstedt staging area and the Convoy Support Center (CSC) in Munster.
[Figure 4 - Exercise JOINT DERBY 2016 exercise area] The CPX will be followed almost without a break by the real-life (strategic) lift of the EUBG 2016-2 forces. Under the command of the JLSG HQ, personnel and materiel will be landed in the fictitious country of COASTLAND (Lower Saxony, Bremen), received by the JLSG forces and taken to the staging area, where the personnel will be again married up with their materiel. Vehicles will be filled up with fuel and ammunition and prepared for the road movement. After a rest has been taken and the movement has been coordinated with the host nation, the onward movement from the staging area to the final destination via the CSC (where the night will be spent, the vehicles filled up again, etc). The responsibility for the various serials will then be transferred to the EUROCORPS (integration), which is responsible for conducting FTX EUROPEAN SPIRIT. Both exercise elements will be followed and analyzed by a 30-man team directed by DEU JSS HQ. This will ensure that the lessons learned will be able to be used not only for the later certification of MN JHQ Ulm, but also generally for further developing the JLSG HQ concept and the RSOM (I) process. Participation in the Exercise In addition to MN JHQ Ulm with its JTF HQ elements, FTX and CPX forces will be provided by the JLSG HQ and its support unit and the EUBG 2016-2 units, the JSS capability coordination commands and centers. The JLSG forces will mostly be provided by the JSS, primarily by the Bundeswehr Logistics Command and the Bundeswehr Territorial Tasks Command (e.g. military police forces). The Army, Air Force, Navy, Joint Medical Service and Federal Office of Bundeswehr Infrastructure, Environmental Protection and Services (BAIUDBw) will provide significant support. The main aspect is that of turning the JLSG HQ Core Element of MN JHQ Ulm into an operational element by reinforcing it procedurally with personnel from all the major military organizational elements. The priority task of the BAIUDBw is to handle the contracts for the support required from civilian service providers. Military compounds will be used for establishing the RSOM installations (the JLSG HQ, staging area und CSC). This will allow not only costs to be minimized, but also high flexibility to be ensured so that real-life exercise incidents can also be provided for and security forces, for instance, can practice their routines. Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia, Rumania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have promised to participate in the exercise. The three Baltic states, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, and the NATO headquarters in Brunssum intend to observe it. These nations are expected to participate with the forces notified for the EUBG 2016-2, but to also contribute smaller units for the JLSG units. The JSS hence believes that the exercise will be highly instrumental in promoting development in the clusters of NATO s Framework Nations Concept and intensifying the established partnerships associated with it.
Summary The exercise is an ambitious undertaking altogether. It is expected to involve over 2,000 soldiers. In Exercises JOINT DERBY 2016 und EUROPEAN SPIRIT 2016, the EUBG 2016-2 forces will be comprehensively commanded, trained and certified in three phases, starting with the strategic lift, continuing with the RSOM process and ending with the integrations phase. This calls for a maximum degree of coordination not only between MN JHQ Ulm and the Eurocorps HQ, the headquarters responsible for the development of the exercise, but also between the troop-contributing nations and the Bundeswehr Logistics Command and its logistics training center in matters concerning the planning of the strategic lift to Germany. Against the backdrop of the current situation in Europe, this aspect is of particular importance as it portrays Germany s position and significance for receiving forces and preparing them for a possible operation in the NATO states in Eastern Europe. The Bundeswehr Territorial Tasks Command will therefore assume the real-life role of the agency responsible for coordinating host nation support in the exercise. [Figure 5 Diagram of the RSOM (I) process] Additional Information on the Joint Logistics Support Group (JLSG) Headquarters (HQ) The JLSG HQ is a Component Command level multinational in-theatre planning and command element. It is tailored to each mission and has command of logistics during the strategic lift phase, the operation phase and the redeployment phase. In addition to logistic expertise, a JLSG HQ also features the staff elements required for a multinational headquarters in the fields of personnel management, military security, contracting, medical support, engineer support and civil-military cooperation. Specialists from the German Air Force and German Navy are earmarked to ensure the availability of appropriate joint expertise. A JLSG HQ fundamentally consists of the so-called Core Staff Element (CSE) in which there are up to 25 posts, a figure that can be augmented to up to 70, depending on the mission at hand. Multinational Joint Headquarters Ulm (MN JHQ Ulm) Ulm already has a permanently and multinationally manned Core Staff Element as an independent division. In the event of activation or in the course of exercises, the number of multinationally manned posts in this Core Staff Element can be augmented to up to 100. The Joint Logistics Support Group, however, which can have a strength of up to 5,000 soldiers, depending on the situation, only becomes operational when the in-theatre logistic forces are placed under its operational control. The Federal Republic of Germany has undertaken to provide up to four JLSG HQs, three of which lie in the area of responsibility of the
Army (1st DEU/NLD Corps, EUROCORPS, MN Corps NE) and one in the area of responsibility of the Joint Support Service (MN JHQ Ulm).