I Corps is ready for its deployment to Afghanistan.
"We've studied the history and culture; we've done numerous reconnaissance trips to Kabul," said Col. Jim Danna, the Corps' chief of operations for plans and training, earlier this week.
But the hard work of preparation goes much deeper than academics. "We have a very good understanding of the current situation, and we are prepared to meet the present and look to the future," Danna said.
I Corps soon will assume responsibility for the daily running of combat operations while deployed to Afghanistan.
In a notional exercise dubbed Unified Endeavor (UE), I Corps and its fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are rehearsing their roles through the use of real world intelligence from the Afghan theater.
"This deployment is the biggest and the first time the Army has deployed a corps to a NATO headquarters," Col. Lex Shealy, I Corps chief of exercises, explained during a briefing.
In the past, American commanders and their staffs worked with this country's NATO allies. I Corps' deployment represents an attempt to make the NATO command more efficient.
The exercise - which connects Joint Base Lewis-McChord with six other posts and Servicemembers from 24 NATO countries - is a technologically linked exercise that replicates the challenges I Corps' Soldiers may face.
On hand to supply in-house expertise were exercise controllers, subject matter experts and trainers.
"We've created a wraparound environment," Shealy continued. "These Soldiers think they are inside the fight in Afghanistan. That's the goal."
I Corps will deploy approximately 700 Soldiers, and about 450 of them will serve with the International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) Joint Command (IJC).
A central part of the preparation for the IJC is the Coalition Joint Operations Center, or CJOC. The center is an almost exact replica of the CJOC that I Corps Soldiers will work in while in Afghanistan. "The replication is detailed, right down to the computers and phones to be used," Shealy said.
Both Shealy and Danna explained that the exercise would drive the learning curve down when I Corps integrates with ISAF and its NATO components and begins coordination of daily operations. "There is no time for figuring this out when we get there," Danna said. "And remember, the enemy has a vote in this too."
In seeking to ensure a smooth transition with NATO, Danna is confident that I Corps will hit the ground running. "We will take the gains made and improve," he said. "We do not want to run the risk of losing the momentum we've achieved when we arrive."
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