By Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist (SW/AW) Dave Nagle, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command Public Affairs
PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- As Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) units prepare for the tactical portion of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2008 exercise, its' headquarters staff is gearing up to coordinate the expeditionary forces' efforts for the first time during the biennial exercise.
An expeditionary adaptive force package (AFP) staff, manned primarily by personnel from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group (EODGRU) 1 in San Diego, stood up July 18 to provide command and control for all NECC forces participating in RIMPAC.
The AFP staff, designated Commander, Task Force 171 (CTF 171), oversees various task groups of expeditionary capabilities, including explosive ordnance disposal, expeditionary construction, expeditionary logistics, maritime civil affairs, maritime expeditionary security and expeditionary diving and salvage.
While some of these capabilities have participated in RIMPAC in the past, the AFP staff element is a new addition, providing unity of command and unity of effort for the expeditionary forces.
"What the AFP staff element brings to a warfighting commander, whether Navy or joint, is a single point that can synchronize a broad spectrum of expeditionary capabilities, many of which are geographically dispersed," said Capt. Barry Coceano, Commander, CTF 171.
During RIMPAC, in addition to the units on Oahu, the AFP staff is overseeing distributed operations by Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 in Guam.
To aid in the ability of the AFP staff to manage these diverse expeditionary assets, many of which have not operated together in the past, liaison officers (LNOs) from the various task groups are integrated into the AFP staff.
"These LNOs bring subject matter expertise from each of the task groups, which gives us the ability to speak the same language as the various task groups," said Lt. Cmdr. Chad Houllis, operations officer for CTF 171. "We have officers from Maritime Civil Affairs, Maritime Expeditionary Security, Expeditionary Logistics and the Seabees integrated into our battle rhythm."
EODGRU 1 exercised the AFP concept during a command post exercise as part of a Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) in January. Houllis said that many of the lessons learned in that initial exercise are being applied at RIMPAC.
"During the JTFEX in January, it was just the AFP staff and we pretty much started from scratch as a command staff," Houllise said. "We developed and refined the processes and products at the staff level and have taken it to the next level during RIMPAC, where we've got actual forces in the field. Those lessons learned enhanced our ability to provide command and control during RIMPAC."
Another factor that has enhanced the AFP staff's effectiveness is that the LNOs on the staff at RIMPAC are the same people that participated in January's JTFEX.
"That's given the staff continuity and provided a seamless transition from JTFEX to RIMPAC.
Riverine Group 1 is also exercising a similar AFP with NECC forces as part of JTFEX "Operation Brimstone" in North Carolina and off the U.S. east coast.
