Another group of future NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) advisors and staff members is ready for deployment. The NATO Joint Force Training Centre (JFTC) has just completed the first 2025 training event. Between 20 and 31 January, over 100 soldiers and civilians received their final training before the mission.
Strong teams are key to success of every mission, therefore the main goal of every pre-deployment training is to provide the mission commander with cohesive, uniformly trained personnel, able to function effectively from day one of the mission. It was no different this time, and to achieve it, future NMI members attended intensive training that took two weeks in total.
”This is the first NATO Mission Iraq Pre-Deployment Training in 2025, but not the first one for the NATO Joint Force Training Centre. Pre-deployment training is one of key elements in our Programme of Work”, said Major General Bogdan Rycerski addressing the trainees. He also added: “JFTC, as the focal point for the NATO pre-deployment training used its broad experience in this area to provide you with the highest quality preparation for your mission.”
The first week, the virtual phase, was conducted on-line and delivered foundational knowledge on the specifics of the mission and situation in Iraq. The trainees also engaged with key leaders from theatre through live chats. The second week, the residential phase, held at the NATO Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz, Poland, allowed the participants to practise the acquired knowledge. Last but not least, the event at JFTC also promoted team building. Not only did the trainees have a chance to interact with their future counterparts, but they also met with the future mission Commander, Major General Christophe Hintzy, and the designated Director of NATO Mission Iraq Training Development Division, Brigadier General Thomas Braun.
The JFTC Commander thanked both Generals for their participation in the event. “Interaction with future Leaders is of utmost importance for the trainees, they can ask direct questions and to get to know each other better, which is key for smooth cooperation in the future”.
Execution of such comprehensive and demanding training would not have been possible without support of experts with up-to-date experience. Many of subject matters experts who augmented the event, to include Brigadier General Andreas Kühne, Director of NATO Mission Iraq Training Development Division, arrived at JFTC from NMI Headquarters in Baghdad. Their first-hand expertise was invaluable for future NMI members.
The event was planned, prepared and executed in close cooperation between various NATO commands and other bodies that supported the participants. Experts from the NATO Headquarters, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the Joint Force Command Naples, NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence, NATO Communications and Information Agency and the U.S. Navy Reserve shared their experience and greatly augmented the event. Participation of Arabic-speaking role-players and interpreters added realism to the practical advisory training.
“NATO Mission Iraq needs the best and the brightest. We send you”, said Colonel Albert Goldberg, the JFTC Training and Exercise Division Head and the Training Director, encouraging the trainees to fully use the acquired knowledge and skills during their service in Iraq.
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NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) is a non-combat advisory and capacity-building mission that assists Iraq in building more sustainable, transparent, inclusive and effective armed forces and security institutions, so that Iraqis themselves are better able to stabilise their country, fight terrorism and prevent the return of ISIS/Daesh. The mission was launched at the NATO Summit in Brussels in July 2018, following a request from the government of Iraq, and established in October 2018.
Learn more about the NATO Mission Iraq here.
