Forty members of the Washington National Guard and their Malaysian Armed Forces counterparts wrapped up a successful first week of the Bersama Warrior 2024 staff exercise with a mission analysis brief on June 8, 2024, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Since arrival in Malaysia, the Washington National Guard has integrated into a joint and combined multinational planning staff including personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines of both the U.S. and Malaysia,” Col. Jim Perrin said, Washington National Guard’s lead planner for Bersama Warrior. “Together, the combined staff completed academic sessions intended to communicate updates on multinational doctrine and immerse participants in the exercise scenario.”
Presented to Brig. Gen Michael Ake, land component commander, Washington Army National Guard, Brig. Gen. Ken Borchers, director of the joint staff, Washington National Guard and Brig. Gen. Brig Jen Datuk Mohd Zaini Hj Hashim, Malaysian Armed Forces, the mission analysis brief concludes with a refined commander’s appreciation and a recommended mission statement. Approval of the mission statement and refined commander’s intent is the final step before the training audience is divided into teams for course of action development.
“As a coalition task force, we were tasked with compelling the withdrawal of enemy forces following a fictional attack,” Perrin said. “The staff completed an operational and intelligence preparation of the environment process designed to assess enemy forces and the geo-political factors to ensure all planners approach the problem with a thorough contextual understanding, after receiving the commander’s guidance, the combined staff completed mission analysis to develop a thorough understanding of the task force’s mission.”
During the second week of the exercise, the staff will be organized into combined planning groups to build courses of action to compel the withdrawal of enemy forces.
“We will continue to refine the plan and build mutual understanding and processes among the participants this next week,” Perrin said.
Since signing their formal partnership through the National Guard Bureau sponsored State Partnership Program in August 2017, the Washington National Guard and the Malaysian Armed Forces have met regularly through exercises like Bersama Warrior to enhance their mutual capabilities, security cooperation and people-to-people connections that extend beyond military cooperation.
