NORTHERN STAR Magazine for HQ JFC BrunssumJFC – July / August 2014 • Maastricht celebrations 200 years • NATO’s Energy Security Agenda Kingdom of the Netherlands • NATO NCO’s Conduct Training in • Keep the Jets Flying Kazakhstan www.jfcbs.nato.int www.facebook.com/jfcbs WHY BUY A QUALITY CAR? 1) Quality cars are designed and manufactured to last much longer 2) Quality cars transport you and your family in the safest environment. 3) Quality cars have exceptional resale values 4) Quality cars are reliable 5) Quality cars are a pleasure to own WHY BUY BMW or VOLVO? 1) BMW and VOLVO are your Quality cars 2) MASSIVE Military Discounts (Buy Quality for the price of an Average car) 3) FREE Home Shipment to the U.S.A or CANADA when you return home 4) FREE Service and Maintenance for 3 Years (U.S. Volvo models) 5) FREE European Breakdown/Recovery (incl. 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We value and respect our customers! www.MilitaryTaxfreeCars.com / [email protected] direct lines: 0031 646855537 COMMAND GROUP CORNER By Major General Hans van Griensven, Deputy Chief of Staff PLANS at JFC Brunssum commenced work in my current appointment, as the Deputy Chief Iof Staff PLANS, at Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS) at the beginning of April this year, during what is probably one of the most challenging periods within NATO in the last 20 years. My first actual day ‘in office’ was in Tartu (Estonia) during the Baltic Spring exercise, 4 days after I handed over command of the Land Operations Support Command and its 6,000 personnel, the largest brigade size unit in the Netherlands. In Estonia I was confronted with the ‘3 Bs and Poland’ being pretty much our focal area when it comes to Article 5 obligations. Luckily my predecessor, MGen Yakovleff, occupied the ’left seat’ during a challenging start to my assignment. The learning curve has certainly been steep and at times it has felt as though I had ’jumped on a fast-moving train’. As a result there was hardly time to do a proper introduction program. So I met most of you along the road doing business. Sorry for that! It is my first assignment to a NATO HQ. Although I have worked with the NATO command structure in different jobs I never had the pleasure of being part of it. So during the first few weeks it felt a little ‘Alice in Wonderland’, being confronted with new people, subjects, content, procedures, acronyms, systems and of course trying to find out ‘how the system works’. Fortunately for me I have a great team supporting me and maintaining Major General Hans van Griensven the operational tempo. Although it takes time to become fully integrated within an agile and executable. Our actions are of ground to cover on this. So J9 is fully organisation I am feeling ‘comfortable in based on new directives from Brussels and involved in integrating all partners that are my shoes’ and am enjoying this post very Mons, so J5 (PLANS branch) can take its increasing relevant to prevent and solve much. responsibility. In the meantime we have to future conflicts., prepare to deploy and act whenever and Good planning is the center of gravity wherever it is necessary, possibly in a NRF- In short, PLANS plays its roles in the heart for a lot of issues that requires our setting, but also ‘ad hoc’ like we do now of Joint Force Command Brunssum and attention. The priorities are clear: ISAF, on a small scale with our NATO Forward I am looking forward to assuming our the NATO Response Force (NRF) and Integration Teams. This demands not only responsibilities together with my team and Regional Focus. The transition from ISAF planning and preparation, but also training of course all of you. It is all about being to Resolute Support in Afghanistan has and exercising. J7 (training branch) is very agile and always looking for ‘added value’ been planned and is ready for execution. busy in coordinating all of that. Of course as our commander used to say. That is Now we are waiting for the new Afghan we are all working towards the highlight of exactly what we are here for; creating the president to sign the agreements and have next year’s exercise ‘Trident Juncture 15’. It conditions for NATO to be successful when it running. If we are unable to meet the time promises to be huge and we are aiming to we are called upon. schedule we face the challenge of ending impress friends and foes alike. our presence in Afghanistan sooner and we Colleagues in the Netherlands are familiar must be prepared to respond accordingly. Nowadays a crisis cannot be solved by with the slogan that pretty much reflects So let us hope for the best. The latest military force alone. On the contrary I would my mind set. Whatever has to be done, no developments in the Ukraine and Russia say. The Comprehensive Approach is the matter how difficult, if we are responsible, have focused our attention on our core way forward to contribute to solutions for let us do it. Let’s make it happen! I am business. We have to look carefully at our the ‘hybrid threats and warfare’ that we looking forward to accomplish that Contingency Plans and provide assurance are facing in recent crises. Involvement of together with you! to our member states that we are ready to military partners and non-military actors is defend them. The plans have to be more of utmost importance and there is still a lot Command Group Corner Northern Star 3 Colophon About the Cover The NORTHERN STAR is a publication, published with the assistance of ‘t Swarte Schaap, in co-operation with and at no cost to HQ JFC Brunssum. Opinions herein do not necessarily reflect official NATO or HQ JFC Brunssum policy. The appearance of advertisements, including inserts, does not constitute endorsement by NATO or HQ JFC Brunssum of the products or services offered. Deadline for articles, advertisements and photographs is on the Monday at close of business prior to the week of publication. To place an advertisement in the Northern Star, please call ’t Swarte Schaap and ask for Rob Schaap, Sint Franciscusweg 36-3, 6417 BD Heerlen, The Netherlands, telephone: +31 (0)45 571 61 16, or e-mail: [email protected]. Submissions to the Northern Star can be made to room F 1.21, Bldg. H 106 or e-mailed to [email protected]. Articles should be in Microsoft Word format and, whenever possible, should be no longer than 300 words. Photographs should be at least 9x6 centimetres and 300 dpi. The Northern Star is published monthly and is available around the second Friday of each month. For more information, call ext. 2687 or +31 (0)45 526 26 87. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions. Editorial Staff Adazi, Latvia (June 18, 2014) A Norwegian soldier fires off a flare signalling to allies the location of an enemy firing squad during the final battle of the Col Martin Klein, DEU A Chief Public Affairs Office field training exercise for Saber Strike 2014. Saber Strike 2014 is the fourth in Mr. Barry Mellor, GBR Civ a series of annual U.S.-led training exercises conducted in the Baltic States Section Head Internal Communication & Community Relations, Editor and involved a record number of approximately 4,710 participants from 10 Edwin Tromp, NLD A contributing nations. (NATO Photo by U.S. Navy’s MC2 Josh Keim) Contributing Editor Henk van der Velde , NLD N Contributing Editor Contents 3 Command Group Corner 19 NAHEMA: NATO Helicopter D&D Production and 5 Keep the Jets Flying Logistics Management Agency 6 Command of SNMG1 To Transfer from Norway to Joint Force Command Headquarter Brunssum Denmark During Turkey Port Visit monitored Self Evaluation Level 2 in Sweden 8-9 Visits and Activities 20 International Club: A season full of accomplishments 10-11 NATO’s Energy Security Agenda 21 One of Us 12 JFC Naples Team train NCOs from Serbia 22 AFNORTH International School 14 NATO STRATCOM Centre of Excellence! 23 AFNORTH International School’s 47th International 14-15 On the Way to Enhanced Strategic Communication Award Ceremony 16 A long tradition of service to NATO 24 Maastricht celebrations 200 years Kingdom of the 17 Extended Air Defence Task Force Visits JFC Brunssum Netherlands Joint Force Command Headquarters Brunssum 25 Cirkle 100 conducted NATO Evaluation Level 1 in Finland 27 Dutch Cancer Society ‘Relay for Life’ 18 NATO NCOs Conduct Training in Kazakhstan Contents Northern Star 4 Keep the Jets Flying Story and pictures by Christian Timmig, HQ AIRCOM, Public Affairs Office Malbork, Poland 11 June 2014 – Usually it is only the Polish MiG-29 fighter jets that take off from Malbork Air Base in the north of Poland. However, currently a French Air Force detachment is also deployed here in support of NATO’s Air Policing Mission in the Bal- tic States. The French arrived in May 2014 and have flown Rafale and, since mid-May, Mirage 2000 fighter jets.