NATO training exercise aims to promote interoperability, readiness

“We try to have as many realistic scenarios as possible,” says Maj. Christian Lepage, exercise director with the Canadian Armed Forces. “The more challenging they are, the easier it is for the nation to respond if worse comes to worse.”

The scenarios provide soldiers with an opportunity to practice tactic, technique and procedures (TTP) in a controlled environment. Terror attacks and other CRBN incidents from recent years can provide the basis for the simulations.

“It could be chem- bio – or radiological situations,” Lepage said. “It could a meth lab, a chem lab, legit or non-legit. It could be a car accident that has a radiological device because somebody was moving it from point A to point B, a good guy but an accident happened.”

The more difficult and complex the training situation the better, according to the major.

“It’s going to be easier for them to react to it, to mitigate the bad effects of that CBRN and make it safe.”

“… you can learn from each other and develop further.” _{– Maj. Gerald Bauer}

CFB Suffield is the only Canadian Armed Forces base capable of hosting the training because of its space and research centre. Scientists at the base create scenarios based on training outcomes selected by the alliance.

Working with the research centre creates a beneficial loop. The centre provides science and technology input and brings relevance to military operations, while the military operations provide context to the research centre.

“It provides an opportunity for the scientific side to garner a lot of operational information from the different nations,” said Scott Holowachuk, a civilian biologist with the Biothreat Defence Section at CFB Suffield. “We get to see how they operate, how they use the different technologies in their hands.”

Since its inception, Exercise Precise Response has developed and matured in its scenarios and has enabled participating nations to refine their CRBN response procedures.

“We learned completely new operating procedures here and developed our own CBRN sampling procedures from the ground up by coming here,” says Maj. Gerald Bauer, head of the Austrian delegation and task force commander. “It’s a great experience to see the other nations, how they approach the same target with different methods so you can learn from each other and develop further. “

The ability to work together with soldiers from other nations is another focus of the three-week training. Nations are given some time to familiarize themselves with the scenarios before being broken up into international task forces.

“You could have an Austrian commander with many sub capabilities underneath him – French decontamination unit, U.S. mobile lab, etc.,” says Maj. Lepage. “Those commanders do business like they would in a real-life situation, interacting with different stakeholders. We stress that here to ease the process later.”

The importance of being able to work together is stressed by each participating nation. The training environment allows nations to figure out how to break down language and process barriers.

“Interoperability is very important for CRBN services because international tasks are always groups coming together and in a military context,” Maj. Bauer says. “So, they need to know and trust each other, and trust is best built when exercising together.”

“We are facing a war…” _{– Col. Stephen Saalow}

This year’s training exercise seems more relevant than ever with the current situation in Ukraine. Fewer soldiers attended this year because of Russia’s invasion, needing to stay in Europe and assist in the conflict.

“We are facing a war and a lot of Germans and Europeans are scared about the war scenario,” says Col. Stephen Saalow, head of the German delegation. “We have Russians threatening us with nuclear threats, so that brings us more to the realistic scenarios we hopefully never have but might face.”

All participating nations agree that every soldier who participates in Exercise Precise Response leaves the training with increased confidence. Completing the simulations shows them their skills have been put to the test and they are ready for real-life situations.

“For the soldier, he knows that everything works,” says Maj. Lepage. “He knows he could face something for real and he knows that he has the confidence either as an individual, small team, or multinational construct.”

According to Col. Saalow, strength and confidence as a multinational construct is something the alliance wants to promote.

“As a community, as a NATO community, we are standing together.”

by Meghan Cobb

NATO training exercise aims to promote interoperability, readiness

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