- continued -

Mauritius Brig. Reesaul comments on the UN Civil police actions during the after action review for PEACE SUPPORT.

The battalions received their operation orders on the evening of the third day. They had two days to formulate their deployment plans and issue their concept of operations and executive orders to their troops (represented by the response cell). The respective country response cell officers, using the simulation software, would then translate these to place troops at given locations.

For exercise purposes, participants followed a 3:1 time ratio that compressed a 24-hour cycle of activity into an eight-hour period. The CPX followed an innovative format using modern methods of communication that would normally be available to UN troops in any mission area today. These included, voice, facsimile, e-mail, and video conferencing. The CPX STARTEX day was D-Day (the day UN troops began arriving in the mission area) plus 8 days.

The various role players took an active part in giving realism to the CPX, such as the initial speech by the exercise UN Special Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG) and visits to the force and various battalion HQs by the CPX Force Commander, UN Civil Police (CIVPOL) Commissioner, and the Chief Military Observer.

Activities on the first day centered on feeding tactical situations to each of the four infantry battalion HQ staffs, the U.S. logistics battalion staff, and other players, such as the Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG), Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and UN CIVPOL. Exercise planners developed all situations based on each of the participants identified training objectives for the CPX.

The primary themes were Force Protection, Politico-Military, and Humanitarian activities. The players received situations from the White Cell when the activity involved a politico-military or humanitarian theme and from the Response Cell when situations involved force protection.