The involvement of external specialists in the Exercise Collaborative Effort III

BALTDEFCOL is honoured to be hosting a number of external specialists who are supporting the exercise Collaborative Effort III. These respectable guests include: retired Danish LtGen J.Scharling, a German MOD Naval Staff officer Commander A.Muller, representatives of the Response Forces Operations Command RFOC HQ in Ulm, Germany, LtCol V.Wiorek and LtCol M.Wrobel, Canadian Defence College directive staff member LTC A. Quirion, Joint Force Command Brunsum staff officer MAJ H.Alesmaa and UN representative Mr. Sergio Da Silva.

The involvement of external specialists is the key component of BALTDEFCOL teaching. It increases the level of teaching quality and supports greatly Baltic Defence College Directing Staff.
Visiting experts share their valuable personal experience in the operational planning process; observe and participate in students’ decision making process and assess and evaluate the exercise.

LTC A.Quirion said: “It was a pleasure to have been invited to participate in this exercise. More specifically, it was refreshing to observe the level of intelligence, energy and cooperation with which the students attacked this particular scenario. The BALTDEFCOL represents the future of NATO with its focus on bringing officers from a wide range of background and nations to work together in a joint alliance-type environment. I intend to bring back to the Canadian Forces College some of the key lessons from their application of the Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive. I truly believe that these exchanges are of key importance to the professional development of operational and strategic thinking of senior officers.”

Mr. Sergio Da Silva remarked: "Most of the students at the BALTDEFCOL will sooner or later be deployed in peace support operations or be involved in the planning process. In order to work with a comprehensive approach, it is essential for them to have a good understanding of the mandates and roles of all actors involved as well as the coordination mechanisms and structures in place at the civilian level. This type of exercise is also a perfect opportunity for these officers to get experienced feedback from a humanitarian perspective."

The presence of the officers working at the operational level headquarters and the civilian specialists with operational level field experience creates a real world operational dimension to the exercise and greatly enhances its value to the BALTDEFCOL.