On 18 June 2018, NRDC-ITA Operations’ Division Chief visited the 9th German Armoured Brigade in Letzlingen, in the vicinity of Magdeburg, during one of the major training events while achieving its NATO certification to cover the role of Very High Joint Task Force (VJTF). Brigadier General Andrea BERTOCCHI was welcomed by Brigadier General Ulrich SPANNUTH, Brigade Commander, and also had the opportunity of showing the NRDC-ITA and the Italian Army appreciation for the job conducted by its unit.
The 9th German Armoured Brigade has been selected to be affiliated to the NRDC-ITA with the Stand-Up Role for the NATO Response Force (NRF) Stand-by period and it is one of the most trained Units of Bundeswehr, with a previous deployment experience to Mali, Afghanistan, Egypt and Guinea. The NRDC-ITA has been closely monitoring training of assigned units and fostering its relationships with them so improving the overall interoperability along the NRF chain of Command.
The training event was hosted by the German Army Combat Training Centre, a moderntrainingarea able to provide units with all the operational facilities to accomplish tasks related to a real deployment, to verify assets interoperability, real-life communication and logistic support. Following the principle of joining forces and working together towards common goals, playing as NRF Land Component Command, NRDC-ITA is constantly monitoring training levels of its affiliated units with the aim of pushing forward efficiency while including new elements thus enhancing a continual revision of its Command Post concept to be more and more agile, flexible, responsive and well balanced between survivability and effectiveness.
Both the preparation for NRF18 and maintaining of the required skills and capabilities for the entire stand-by period have represented a challenging period for NRDC-ITA that has been tackled with a great degree of anticipation throughout multiple discrete exercises, conferences on dedicated training eventsso to develop procedures to be realistically able to face threats a 360 degrees, from crisis response operations up to collective defence, disaster relief and humanitarian aid distribution.
Through the standardization of procedures and via the solid human networking built within the NRF military community and together with its affiliated units, NRDC-ITA is demonstrating its attitude of a multinational headquarters able to cope with security challenges and emerging threats, in the role of Land Component Command, Joint Task Force HQ and Army Corps.
NRDC-ITA Operations’ Division Chief also had the opportunity to meet with:
Ltg. Gen Carsten JACOBSON (Germany), Commander, Field Army and Deputy Chief of Staff
Maj. Gen Stephan THOMAS (Germany), Deputy Commander 1(German/Netherlands) Corps
B. Gen. Jürgen-Joachim von SANDRART (Germany), Commander 1st Armoured Division.