This effort includes identifying deficiencies and developing corrective measures. PCC draws on this input to assist in developing exercise specifications for newly approved partner nation programs. PCC also assists in training leading up to the exercise. Gen. Lange describes the 1997 exercise program as diverse and balanced. About 14 exercises are distributed geographically on both sides of the Atlantic and in the North and South of Europe.
Efforts encompass land, maritime, air and joint forces.
The general notes that a cooperative guard exercise taking place this month includes about 2,000 staff officers working in a combined joint task force headquarters structure. An exercise also is planned for Iceland, a NATO member outside the military command. This effort is being run by the civilian Icelandic disaster relief organization, which will receive parts of NATO's command and control structure. It also will have military assets under its control, which is a first for an Icelandic civil agency. With partnership nations defining what they want to acquire from their participation in the program, many nations use it to achieve force interoperability to prepare for eventual alliance membership, Gen. Lange allows.