Course Director LtCdr (FIN N) Juha Lehtinen introduced the students to SWEDINT’s overall activities and presented the details of the course to the training audience. The PfPJSOC is conducted under the umbrella of NORDCAPS, twice a year. Students come from Armenia, Finland, Montenegro, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine with ranks varying from 2nd lieutenant to major. They are divided in three syndicates to study staff duties. The syndicate leaders (a.k.a. instructors) are from Finland, Denmark and Sweden.
The aim of the course is to give the students a working knowledge of the NATO/PfP staff working procedures in order to function as an operational staff officer at an entry level in a battalion level HQ in a Peace Support Operation. The main effort during the course will be focused on understanding current NATO policy and doctrine for PSO, introduction to and practice in a NATO operational planning process (OPP), including development of orders and plans. Also co-operation between a military staff and different civilian components (GOs, NGOs), together with the various parties involved in a conflict is exercised.
The course is conducted by lectures for the course as a whole as well as in syndicates, case studies, map exercises (MAPEX) and a final Command Post Exercise (CPX) where the students man the different branches in a Nordic Battalion headquarters.
The very first week of the three weeks course is now ongoing and more challenges will be met during next two weeks on the exercise phases of the course. Then students will have more “hands-on-job” –training.
The students will experience some Swedish hospitality during the welfare weekends when visiting the Wasa-ship and Army museum in Stockholm.