- This is a fantastic opportunity to practice my personal skills in what is, for me, a new function, meet colleagues from both Sweden and other countries and also to share my knowledge and experience with younger colleagues, says Jonas Lotsne, taking the role of Chief of Staff at the Joint Logistic Support Group (JLSG) at the multinational force headquarters.
Instruct and Advise
Jonas has extensive leadership experience from both actual international operations as well as exercises.
- I’m switching between the role of leader where I set clear requirements and that of a supervisor and mentor, where I listen and offer support. The challenge is to find a working style within the staff that helps us to make steady progress during the exercise and effectively solve problems and achieve our objectives. We will succeed in the end!
Håkan Kindlund is an aspiring warrant officer currently attending the Advanced Specialist Officer Course (HSOU) at the Military Academy in Halmstad, Sweden. Participating in CJSE is part of the training and following two weeks of basic training at the Staff Management Battle School, he and a dozen fellow students are taking part in this year’s exercise. Håkan has taken a role as a JLSG staff member.
- It will be great to utilize this experience of practical staff work in my daily working life. I have worked with logistics at platoon and company level before, but staff work at this level is completely new to me. It's easy to feel a little confused at first, but this is a very forgiving environment where I can learn from professional and competent colleagues.
Håkan is training alongside, among others, Michael Hecht from the Swiss Armed Forces, who is participating in CJSE for the first time.
- It's a great experience working together in an international environment, says Michael. The challenge of working in this function is to be flexible and receptive so as to be able to find solutions to the problems that arise.
Challenges Await
Within the exercise scenario, there are a number of storm clouds gathering, all of which can impact the preconditions required to offer the multinational force the necessary logistics support. There is unrest in the immediate area.
- Logistics is especially dependent upon long-term planning because the solutions, including large-scale troop transports, take longer to develop, explains Jonas Lotsne. One of the challenges within logistics is reacting to fast-paced developments, but I am confident that we will find a good way of solving any problems.