U.S. Africa Command's Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ) members participated in a Joint Enabling Capabilities Planners Course (JECPC) June 14-30, 2010, at the Warrior Preparation Center on Einsiedlerhof Air Station, Kaiserslautern Germany, to support command operational planning training requirements.

The Standing Joint Headquarters - the command's center for providing an immediate deployable force in response to crises or emergency situations, was established in 2009 and is training to stay on scheduled to reach full operational capacity in 2011.

"Joint Enabling Capabilities Command's ability to present the JECPC overseas undoubtedly will contribute to SJFHQ's ability to attain capacity on time and substantially enhance our ability to produce real-world mission analysis and courses of actions for the commander," said Lieutenant Commander Jeff Melody, SJFHQ operations chief.

U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) has supported AFRICOM's training requirements since its inception in 2008, enabling the command to become very familiar with USJFCOM's Joint Warfighting Center's services and capabilities, particularly their joint operational planning expertise.

USJFCOM's support to U.S. Africa Command's numerous operations and exercises solidified their commitment to improving U.S. Africa Command's readiness through joint training.

"…JECC's responsiveness, professional facilitators, and overall course content was simply superb and we are extremely appreciative of U.S. Joint Forces Command's, and specifically JECC's, continued outstanding support to our team," said Captain Peter Miller, Operations and Logistics Directorate (OPLOG) chief of staff. "Not only did our SJFHQ benefit, the JECPC academics and practical application exercises provided key elements to honing the joint operational planning process within our staff as a whole."

Knowing the expedient timeline in getting a core SJFHQ qualified and operational, OPLOG leadership readily endorsed the recommendation for a JECPC abroad that would allow for maximum participation from command staff and component commands.

Although JECC had only once before conducted the course outside of Suffolk, it knew the importance of U.S. AFRICOM's operational planning requirements and was more than willing to assist provided certain criteria were met relative to class size and participation.

"JECPC is an organic and essential training requirement for deployable JECC staff officers, conducted quarterly at the Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk, Va.," said Commander Geoff Gage, JECC Training and Exercise chief and senior JECPC abroad facilitator. "We benefit from the enriching perspectives brought from other combatant commands and agencies that send staff officers to our course. Conducting JECPC abroad for a single combatant command was an exceptional case. We are honored to have been requested and proud of the results."

One alteration for the JECPC abroad was that Major General Kenneth Glueck and Brigadier General Kevin Wendel, OPLOG senior leadership, participated as Joint Task Force commanders for the scenario. Additionally, the U.S. Agency for International Development - Office of U.S, Foregn Disaster Assistance senior representative for U.S. Africa Command participated alongside OPLOG leadership during mission analysis and course of action decision briefs. In addition to participants benefiting from several classroom-style engagements with their leadership, this alteration served to reinforce the importance of senior leader involvement throughout the planning process.

"We're especially appreciative of the JECC Team's efforts to transport the course overseas during a high op-tempo time," said Melody. "The course has been deemed a large success, and U.S. AFRICOM's planning teams are going to reap immediate benefits from its JECPC-trained members."