Representatives of the Multinational Corps Northeast, 2nd Mechanized Corps, and Training and Doctrine Centre of the Polish Armed Forces (TRADOC) met at Baltic Barracks on 6 and 7 December 2011 to further coordinate common efforts.
The main idea of cooperation is to exchange experiences and support each other during a number of undertakings, especially exercises. A perfect example of such partnership proved to be the Dragon 2011 exercise whereas the next major common effort will be the Anakonda 2012 exercise. ‘It will be a big exercise and a big challenge for us but we are ready to face it,’ said Major General Jerzy Biziewski, the Commander of the 2nd Mechanized Corps. ‘Common exercises during which both Corps complement each other and exchange experiences are the cultural, linguistic and procedural benefits for them,’ he also said. Mission experiences from Afghanistan appear to be another thing in common for the two Corps. It is not only about exchanging mission experiences and lessons learnt, like for example during the certification exercises codenamed Bagram, but also about supporting – in this case Multinational Corps Northeast by the 2nd Mechanized Corps with its personnel during the deployment to Afghanistan in 2014.
Other spheres of interest discussed during the tripartite meeting included the cross-functional teams concept as well as the Comprehensive Approach. Experiences in those two areas were presented by the two Corps and compared from a national and multinational point of view.
An interesting position within the tripartite group holds TRADOC which is just about to finalize its formation. ‘My aim is to create a platform I could refer to while completing the tasks of the Centre. The mission and tasks of TRADOC aim at improving the existing and contributing to the formation of new capabilities of the Polish Armed Forces. One of the key issues is the jointness of tasks which also refers to interoperability in the multinational context,’ said Brigadier General Franciszek Kochanowski, the Director of TRADOC. ‘It is possible that I will try to offer my officers to participate in the common exercises so that they could analyze the interoperability at the meeting of a national and multinational Corps. Another thing is the innovation issue; I am trying to identify the tasks I will be able to realize based on common undertakings of the two Corps,’ he explained.
‘My personal impression is that our cooperation is getting more and more intensified; it is about our common operational approach to topics we are discussing,’ General Biziewski summarized the tripartite meeting stressing the excellent relations with the MNC NE Commander, Lieutenant General Rainer Korff.
Photo by: SGT Maksymilian Halec, POL A
