By Sgt. Fay Conroy

21st TSC Public Affairs

Set up and construction of the Early Entry Command Post was completed before Thanksgiving, and the second phase of Agile Challenge 09 took place on Panzer Kaserne Dec. 1-5.

The first phase of Agile Challenge, held in Baumholder, focused mainly on the rapid setup of the EECP.

The first phase was about how the command post would look. It was the physical piece.

The second phase is more about staff training and the intellectual piece, said Lt. Col. Lance Burton, the chief of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command material readiness branch.

"We are using this exercise for two purposes - to better support our higher headquarters and to bring our new personnel up to the standard that the commanding general expects," Burton said.

The exercise provides training to staff sections by simulating operating under austere conditions while conducting a humanitarian mission - something many 21st TSC Soldiers are familiar with, having already deployed in support of a humanitarian mission to the Republic of Georgia earlier this year.

"This is a new-look exercise.  We're focusing less on fighting a war, but more on conducting humanitarian missions," Burton said.

A series of connecting tents, the EECP can be set up and fully functional in about 50 hours, said Sgt. Maj. Tomas Gonzales, the sergeant major of the 21st TSC plans and operations division.

It can also be shipped to the theater of operations via train, plane or ship.

In its current configuration, the command post provides more than 10,000 square feet of office space.

Two shifts of 80 people each can be accommodated inside the complex maze of honeycomb-shaped tentage.

Inside the EECP, 8,000 meters of cable connect the forward-deployed command post with the 21st TSC's main command post via Internet, video teleconferencing, phone lines, unsecure and secure e-mail networks, and three large-screen visual projection systems.

"In this theater we do not have an expeditionary sustainment command. This allows the 21st TSC commander to have a deployable component," said Col. George Akin, the 21st TSC chief of plans and operations.

The two phases of Agile Challenge 09 were a buildup to a larger exercise, Austere Challenge 09, a U.S. Army Europe joint task force certification exercise scheduled for the spring.