Part II: Playing Tennis With a Fooball Bat
"The scenario was built around a 7.0 earthquake in a southern Kyrgyzstan city that leaves tens of thousands dead, the airport unable to support fixed wing aircraft, and the major road network impassable.
The primary focus of the exercise was to facilitate communication and cooperation through a specific flow of information. The Exercise Control Group (ECG) acted as the Crisis Response Center (CRC) for the affected nation, which supplied the game play events to act on in the form of Request(s) For Assistance. The Regional Coordination Center (RCC) Executive Group took those RFAs and submitted them to the RCC. The RCC consisted of Plans, Current Operations, Logistics, Intelligence, and Humanitarian Assistance cells. The RFA was then staffed by representatives of those cells in Operational Planning Teams (OPT) and submitted to National Operations Centers (NOC) from each country who would return the RFA in the form of an Offer of Assistance (OOA) to the RCC. The RCC would then analyze the OOA and either recommend to the executive committee on holding it for a later time, turn it down, or accept it as an Acceptance Of Offer. An International Response Team consisting of USAID, UNOCHA, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent added an additional communication and coordination challenges because they were not collocated with the RCC.
The initial challenges of the regional response efforts were evident in the three languages required for coordination; Russian (the primary language of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan), Dari, and English as every action in the process needed to be submitted in each language.For example, a simple Request for Information (RFI) to locate humanitarian relief supplies took ninety minutes to produce."
From my official, unclassified report:
"The scenario was built around a 7.0 earthquake in a southern Kyrgyzstan city that leaves tens of thousands dead, the airport unable to support fixed wing aircraft, and the major road network impassable. 
The primary focus of the exercise was to facilitate communication and cooperation through a specific flow of information. The Exercise Control Group (ECG) acted as the Crisis Response Center (CRC) for the affected nation, which supplied the game play events to act on in the form of Request(s) For Assistance. The Regional Coordination Center (RCC) Executive Group took those RFAs and submitted them to the RCC. The RCC consisted of Plans, Current Operations, Logistics, Intelligence, and Humanitarian Assistance cells. The RFA was then staffed by representatives of those cells in Operational Planning Teams (OPT) and submitted to National Operations Centers (NOC) from each country who would return the RFA in the form of an Offer of Assistance (OOA) to the RCC. The RCC would then analyze the OOA and either recommend to the executive committee on holding it for a later time, turn it down, or accept it as an Acceptance Of Offer. An International Response Team consisting of USAID, UNOCHA, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent added an additional communication and coordination challenges because they were not collocated with the RCC.The initial challenges of the regional response efforts were evident in the three languages required for coordination; Russian (the primary language of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan), Dari, and English as every action in the process needed to be submitted in each language.For example, a simple Request for Information (RFI) to locate humanitarian relief supplies took ninety minutes to produce."
In other words, the exercise created an environment of cooperation by putting all the players in the same room in order to solve routine logistic issues that could easily be resolved in a unilateral setting but mandated cross talk and group work.
Still too complicated? Try this - imagine sixty people from five nations speaking in three languages all in the same room trying to solve time sensitive problems. It is not realistic and at times made very little sense; a lot like playing tennis with a football bat.
The scenario is made much like a Dungeon Master in Dungeons and Dragons; a game I played for all of fifteen minutes when I was a kid. In D&D (as it was, and still is referred to) a group of gamers set out on a mission - a quest. The gamers have make believe roles and the game itself is designed by another gamer who does not play but rather guides the game along. The quest is as complicated as the Dungeon Master makes it and the players have to work together through dangerous and treacherous challenges towards the common goal. Everything is make believe.
Regional Cooperation is very much like D&D. Someone made up the scenario (the quest) and then guided us (the gamers) through various challenges. The game acted and we reacted and when reacted - and based on what that reaction was - the game responded by moving us forward. In the end we didn't slay the dragon.
Do not infer that we were not successful. Success in this in not measured by the number of imaginary relief supplies we delivered (slaying the dragon) but by the fact that we did in fact work together across five military cultures and three languages.
And, in fact, that did happen. I learned that soldiers, no matter what the country, do want to accomplish the mission and will work with others with a similar goal.
In the end, we all "loved on" one another and basked in the glory of our efforts. Gifts were exchanged. Big plaques and certificates were handed out to all the highest ranking delegates - and each recipient had to speak. But even the minor players exchanges gifts. I brought small US flag lapel pins. I received a Kyrgy coffee cup, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan fridge magnets, plus a nice set of Tajikistan post cards.
Some emails were passed back and forth. Some man hugs were exchanged. We all shook hands. We all went home.
Its optimistic to think that in the event of a real crisis some of these same people will be able to reach out to their neighbors for their cooperation.
Part III: Pavel's Party Pavilion
Still too complicated? Try this - imagine sixty people from five nations speaking in three languages all in the same room trying to solve time sensitive problems. It is not realistic and at times made very little sense; a lot like playing tennis with a football bat.
The scenario is made much like a Dungeon Master in Dungeons and Dragons; a game I played for all of fifteen minutes when I was a kid. In D&D (as it was, and still is referred to) a group of gamers set out on a mission - a quest. The gamers have make believe roles and the game itself is designed by another gamer who does not play but rather guides the game along. The quest is as complicated as the Dungeon Master makes it and the players have to work together through dangerous and treacherous challenges towards the common goal. Everything is make believe.
Regional Cooperation is very much like D&D. Someone made up the scenario (the quest) and then guided us (the gamers) through various challenges. The game acted and we reacted and when reacted - and based on what that reaction was - the game responded by moving us forward. In the end we didn't slay the dragon.
Do not infer that we were not successful. Success in this in not measured by the number of imaginary relief supplies we delivered (slaying the dragon) but by the fact that we did in fact work together across five military cultures and three languages.
And, in fact, that did happen. I learned that soldiers, no matter what the country, do want to accomplish the mission and will work with others with a similar goal.
In the end, we all "loved on" one another and basked in the glory of our efforts. Gifts were exchanged. Big plaques and certificates were handed out to all the highest ranking delegates - and each recipient had to speak. But even the minor players exchanges gifts. I brought small US flag lapel pins. I received a Kyrgy coffee cup, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan fridge magnets, plus a nice set of Tajikistan post cards.
Some emails were passed back and forth. Some man hugs were exchanged. We all shook hands. We all went home.
Its optimistic to think that in the event of a real crisis some of these same people will be able to reach out to their neighbors for their cooperation.
Part III: Pavel's Party Pavilion
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