USS MOUNT WHITNEY, At Sea (NNS) -- Exercise Strong Resolve '02, one of the largest NATO exercises since the end of the cold war, began March 1 in Poland, Norway and the Baltic Sea. More than 26,000 military personnel from NATO and Partnership for Peace (PfP) nations are participating in the exercise, which encompasses two simultaneous crises in separate geographical regions. Forces will encounter two types of NATO missions: an Article 5 collective defense operation and a crisis response operation (CRO).
Striking Fleet Atlantic (CSFL), commanded by Vice Adm. Cutler Dawson, is leading the CRO portion. That portion is being conducted in the Baltic Sea and Poland, and involves a NATO-led Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) operating in and off the coast of the fictional nations of "Treeland" and "Woodland." CSFL is embarked aboard USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), homeported in Norfolk, Va., operating as a sea-based CJTF headquarters platform.
"This is a great opportunity to train with our NATO and partner allies in a realistic environment," Dawson said. "The support from all of the nations involved has been outstanding, and I'm looking forward to a productive exercise that will provide beneficial training for all participants."
For this exercise, the CSFL staff has been augmented by more than 450 personnel from all 19 NATO nations and 10 PfP nations, including Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. PfP integration for Strong Resolve '02 is at the highest level for any exercise ever.
Mount Whitney received the additional personnel while in port in Kiel, Germany, over the past several days, and CSFL personnel provided them with a shipboard orientation and training on NATO operations and all facets of the upcoming exercise. Mount Whitney got underway from Kiel Feb. 28.
CSFL provides a sea-based CJTF capability for NATO, and provides a rapid, mobile and politically flexible platform for the command and control of multi-national forces.
In addition to USS Mount Whitney, other Norfolk-based units participating in the exercise include Destroyer Squadron 22, USS Donald Cook (DDG 75), USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79), USS Briscoe (DD 977), USS Hawes (FFG 53), and USS Tortuga (LSD 46). The experimental vessel HSV (high speed vessel) Joint Venture, also based in Norfolk, are participating in the exercise as well.
Strong Resolve exercises are held every four years and constitute the capstone in NATO's four-year training cycle.
