GAF begins exercise to strengthen joint security preparedness
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has commenced a three-day tabletop exercise, dubbed “Exercise Resolute Synergy,” to strengthen joint operational preparedness, institutional cohesion and coordination among the various services and national security stakeholders.
The exercise, being held under the theme: ‘Enhancing Preparedness through Joint Training,’ provides commanders, staff and key stakeholders with a controlled environment to test assumptions, assess decision-making processes and identify gaps in preparedness.
Speaking at the opening ceremony in Accra yesterday, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Lieutenant General William Agyapong, described the exercise as an important training activity to prepare the GAF for the increasingly complex demands of national defence and security.
He said Exercise Resolute Synergy was a practical expression of his vision of maintaining a cohesive and professional Armed Forces made up of highly skilled officers, dedicated soldiers and committed defence civilian staff.
Lieutenant General Agyapong said the exercise was also historically significant, describing it as the first tabletop exercise of its kind to be organised at the General Headquarters since he was commissioned into the GAF 36 years ago.
He said the exercise had come at a critical time for Ghana and the West African sub-region, where the security environment had become increasingly volatile, particularly as violent extremist activities continued to spread southwards.
The CDS said the exercise would provide an opportunity for the GAF to consolidate lessons learnt from decades of internal security operations, peace support operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
He urged commanders and participants to demonstrate initiative, engage in critical thinking and maintain honest professional dialogue throughout the exercise.
Lieutenant General Agyapong stressed that the objective was not simply to demonstrate the perfection of existing plans, but to identify weaknesses, expose capability gaps and develop practical solutions.
He commended the Director-General responsible for Training, his staff, exercise planners and evaluators for their professionalism and commitment to organising the exercise.
He expressed confidence that Exercise Resolute Synergy would enhance operational readiness, strengthen institutional cohesion and deepen cooperation among the various services and participating agencies.
He also called for lessons identified during the exercise to be properly documented and incorporated into future planning, doctrine and training.
In his welcome address, the Director-General responsible for Training, Brigadier General William Kwabiah, said the exercise had become necessary because of the increasingly complex, dynamic and unpredictable security environment.
He said contemporary security challenges could not be addressed by a single service or institution, stressing the need for coordinated action, timely decision-making and effective collaboration among the Armed Forces and other national stakeholders.
Brigadier General Kwabiah explained that the tabletop exercise would enable participants to examine different scenarios, develop courses of action and evaluate command and control, information-sharing and inter-service coordination.
He said jointness went beyond simply bringing personnel from different services together, as it required a shared understanding of missions, procedures, capabilities and limitations, as well as trust and effective communication.
He urged participants to approach the exercise with open minds and see identified gaps not as failures but as opportunities to improve preparedness.
According to him, the true measure of the exercise would be the quality of lessons derived from it and how effectively those lessons were incorporated into training, doctrine, plans and future operations.
BY STEPHANIE BIRIKORANG
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