United States Transportation Command

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SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) --- U.S. Transportation Command concluded a week-long final planning conference for the Joint Staff exercise Positive Force 01 which includes USTRANSCOM's Turbo Challenge 01 and Ultimate Caduceus 01 here today.

The conference, which involved 150 attendees, was held in the Global Reach Planning Center.

Positive Force is an exercise focused on deployment in response to a major theater war.

Turbo Challenge is a training event to assess the readiness of USTRANSCOM and its transportation component commands including Air Mobility Command, Military Sealift Command, and Military Traffic Management Command. During and following the exercise USTRANSCOM will assess its performance in selected Joint Mission Essential Tasks.

"Turbo Challenge is USTRANSCOM's annual capstone exercise designed to train USTRANSCOM and transportation component command staffs and decision makers on key processes required for mobilization and expansion of the defense transportation system in support of a major theater war," said Army Lt. Col. Ted Edwards, training event coordinator at USTRANSCOM.

The training is designed to bolster the capacity to meet the needs of the commanders-in-chief of the unified commands.

"The end-state of the training is an increased awareness of our capability to provide rapid, flexible, and responsive strategic mobility for our global customers in peace and war," said Edwards.

Ultimate Caduceus, which will be conducted simultaneously with Turbo Challenge, will test the whole spectrum of patient movement.

Ultimate Caduceus exercises the processes of global patient evacuation and civil reserve air fleet activation procedures. It includes bed reporting procedures and patient movement tracking.

All of USTRANSCOM's staff directorates and the transportation component commands participate in the exercises in April.

The combined final planning conference centered on completing coordination across staffs and federal agencies scheduled to participate in the exercise.

During the exercise, participants will face a series of notional scenarios which require staff actions similar to those expected in a major military operation.

The exercise will not include actual troop or equipment movement because the focus is on staff responses to the various situations.

"The objectives of the final planning conference included story-line synchronization, event synchronization, and resolution of outstanding issues to finalize the scenario for the training audiences," said Edwards.

The mission of USTRANSCOM is to "provide air, land, and sea transportation for the DOD, both in peace and time of war." The design of the scenarios is to exercise systems and command interactions necessary to get people, equipment, and supplies to military operations.

Turbo Challenge also exercises USTRANSCOM's ability to activate and operate its crisis action team, known as a CAT, in a ten day computer simulation battle scenario. Lessons learned will support future exercise planning.

The CAT focuses on situations which may exceed normal staff capabilities. Representatives from the directorates and reservists compose three complete, eight-hour shifts at USTRANSCOM. The transportation component commands activate similar CATs.

USTRANSCOM is one of nine unified commands within the Department of Defense. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard service members and Department of Defense civilian personnel comprise USTRANSCOM.