James J. Lee, AFJ staff Lt. Gen. John “Bob” Wood is deputy commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command.

Cutting the time that it takes to establish a Joint Task Force (JTF) and expanding the capacity of forces to deal with issues worldwide are key reasons why jointness is critical, the U.S. Joint Forces Command deputy commander said June 1.

In his keynote address June 1 at the Armed Forces Journal annual conference, Power & Limits of Jointness, in Washington D.C., Lt. Gen. John “Bob” Wood pointed out that it took 86 days from the warning order to deploy to establish a JTF for the Horn of Africa.

“I can guarantee they needed it sooner,” Wood said. “Apply that to human disaster relief operations like the tsunami and Katrina and you don’t get 86 days to integrate. We have to close the gap between 86 days and something more reasonable. These delays are costing us.”

Wood said much progress had been made towards jointness, but there is still work to be done. As an example, he said radar coverage over Iraq looks complete until you ask how many of the individual radar footprints can talk to one another. Also, when it comes to trying to find out how many Army CH-47 helicopters are available for a JTF mission, it can take two weeks and 85 man hours to get the information.

“The gaps are open so the threats are real,” Wood said. Operationally, jointness has become integral, but at the program level, jointness is often additive, he added. The ‘joint’ is added to systems, often in the form of bridges and gateways across databases that otherwise cannot talk to one another. “They need to talk to each other, but you have a whole host of different formats and each has to have a translator. Gateways are a great opportunity for industry, but why wasn’t it born joint?”

Wood said there also needed to be greater visibility of data for coalition partners so they also could access the information they need to work together.

“From its earliest conception, it has to be joint — a joint that means something more than putting a “J” in front of it,” Wood said.

But progress is being made, he stressed. An entire generation has been through the “crucible of jointness” and they understand why it’s critical on the battlefield. The culture is spreading.

“Capacity is the key question when it comes to joint,” Wood said. “It’s about expanding our capacity to execute and to deal with the problems we face worldwide.

With this type of complex, adaptive and brutal enemy, attrition-based warfare is not something we can sustain so joint operations increase the warfighter’s capacity. We cannot afford the alternative.”

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