From 21 to 25 November 2011, Comprehensive Operation Planning Directive (COPD) Introductory Course took place in Baltic Barracks in Szczecin to deepen planners’ knowledge about Comprehensive Approach.
COPD Introductory Course was organized at Multinational Corps Northeast by Training and Exercise G-7 Division and led, guided and assessed by syndicate leaders from the Royal Danish Defence College (RDDC). It was the first course organized by RDDC outside of Denmark. In the Course prepared on HQ MNC NE’s request, not only did participate the personnel from Multinational Corps Northeast, but also from its sister Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), 2nd Polish Mechanized Corps, Baltic Defence College, Estonian General Staff and Crisis Establishment personnel from Denmark and Germany who support MNC NE during exercises.
Based on an imagined scenario which included an invasion of a country conducted by two countries, course participants divided into three sub groups did the mixture of plenary and syndicate work but main effort was put on practice. According to COPD, there is the will and need to cooperate with civilian actors like for example authorities, International Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations and to include them into the planning. In order to make sure that the military side was represented comprehensively, officers from different functional areas were members of each team.
“This course was focused on an operational level, while MNC NE experience is connected with a tactical level when they exercised and were deployed twice to Afghanistan in International Security Assistance Force in 2007 and 2010. So the aim of this event was to familiarize what kind of orders are delivered from above and how they are created,”- said Major Allan S. Rasmussen, the Instructor Joint Operations in RDDC as well as the Chief Instructor during the Course. “And it is very important to understand what the superiors are doing on the operational level. It can influence the planning from a tactical perspective. The tactical level will be included into planning. Following this, the MNC NE personnel will be included in the planning process,” – he added.
Among the other courses conducted in Denmark for specific personnel there is also a course called COPD as a new model and new process to analyze Joint Operations, in which a couple of officers working in MNC NE will participate as well in January 2012.
