Alaska Guard trains with Mongolian armed forces

By Pfc. Karina Paraoan
Alaska Army National Guard

FIVE HILLS TRAINING AREA, Mongolia (8/19/10) - Alaska Army National Guard Soldiers and Mongolian Armed Forces members sharpened their command and operations skills during a command post exercise at Five Hills Training Area, Mongolia, this week.

The command post exercise (CPX) is part of Khaan Quest 2010, a bilateral peacekeeping operations training exercise held at the Five Hills Training Area just outside the city of Ulaanbaatar.

Khaan Quest is designed to focus on developing participating military forces' ability to contribute to U.N. peacekeeping operations, particularly multinational efforts involving peacekeeping challenges like insurgency, terrorism, crime and ethnic conflict. The exercise aims to cultivate the readiness, interoperability and interpersonal relationships that translate into success in such contexts.

Alaska Army National Guard Lt. Col. Simon Brown, commander of the 761st Military Police Battalion, based in Juneau, Alaska, served as one of the U.S. battalion commanders during the exercise.

Brown explained that while the U.S. participants offered insight on battalion staff planning and operations, their Mongolian counterparts shared expertise in peacekeeping operations.

"The CPX is a command and control operation that takes young officers from America and Mongolia and teaches them the finer points of command, control and planning," Brown said. "This training is extremely important because the United States is able to offer insight on battalion staff planning and operations, and the Mongolian counterparts can share their expertise in peacekeeping operations; by sharing this knowledge, soldiers from both countries become more well-rounded and are better able to work together in real-world situations."

This is the eighth year for the Alaska National Guard's involvement in the exercise and is driven by the National Guard Bureau's State Partnership Program, which pairs the Alaska National Guard with Mongolian forces.

Training in battalion staff level operations during the command post exercise supports the Mongolian defense reform program's goal to establish and globally deploy battalion assets in peacekeeping operations in accordance with NATO standards. As the Mongolian and U.S.

participants work together side-by-side, they develop cohesive battalion-level mission plans.

Capt. Rentsen Enkhbold, brigade operations officer of the 150th Peace Security Battalion, Mongolian Armed Forces, said the training was beneficial because he learned more about the way the American Soldiers solved problems and conducted training.

"This is my second year in Khaan Quest," Enkhbold said. "It is a very good exercise and we hope to collect enough experience from this to establish one more battalion for a peacekeeping brigade by 2015."

Scenarios were based on U.N. peace support missions such as convoy operations, cordon and search operations, and establishing checkpoints and food distribution sites. United States and Mongolian battalion staff officers and non-commissioned officers would respond to scenarios by developing and writing mission operations orders.

"Each side brings their different experiences to the table," Brown said.

"The Mongolians' extensive history in peacekeeping operations and our multiple experiences in combat operations combine to build a really great training venue."