The 599th Transportation Brigade, which is stationed at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, participated in Exercise Key Resolve 2015, an annual combined, command post exercise conducted in South Korea with U.S. Forces Korea and the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, from March 1-14.

The 599th depends on its reserve individual mobilization augmentees (IMAs) to man positions for the annual exercise. They stand up and work positions in both the Combined Seaport Coordination Center in Busan, South Korea, and the Joint Seaport Coordination Center in Yokohama North Dock, Japan.

During the exercise, participants are given different sets of scenarios to hone their skills at reacting to unusual conditions.

Lt. Col. Anthony Manetta, a 599th IMA, was the dayshift battle captain for the exercise at the CSCC.

"I was in charge of the day-to-day U.S. side of the operation, the interaction of personnel and managing workloads with U.S. personnel," he said. "I was responsible for briefings on the U.S. side and preparing combined briefings -- eight briefings per day, several outside of the theater as part of the exercise, and I was responsible for preparing the brigade commander's update brief for Korea."

Manetta was no stranger to the workload.

"I've been to Korea for exercises seven times in different positions, and I have had this position for four exercises total," he said.

Col. Anthony Aquino, also an IMA, is the 599th deputy commander for mobilization. He was the new U.S. co-chair for the CSCC during the exercise.

"We had a new O-6, but he wasn't new at all and he didn't really have any catching up to do," said Lt. Col. James Congrove, 599th IMA and nighttime battle captain for the exercise.
"Col. Aquino has been to so many exercises in the past that he is a natural for the position."

"This was Col. Aquino's first time as the U.S. co-chair," said Manetta. "He brought some great ideas into the exercise. It was more challenging since, we were shorter-staffed than we had been in the past. The positive part of that was there was more training. Because our people didn't have as much experience, there was more emphasis on getting them good, solid experiences."

The exercise was also about more than just working scenarios.

"Col. Aquino is a very good fit with the Korean co-chair, Col. Choe, Se Yeong," said Congrove. They built a very solid relationship."

Aquino had high praise for the work performed during the exercise.

"Even though we were short-staffed, everyone proved the maxim of 'quality over quantity,'" he said. "I couldn't be more proud of the team, including the active component, reserve component, Department of the Army civilians and our Republic of Korea counterparts. To an individual, there was not a weak link in the chain."

The 837th and 836th transportation battalions, 599th forward planners in Korea and Japan, and headquarters information technology specialists worked in advance of the exercise to set up the CSCC and JSCC, respectively.

"The support the active-duty battalions provided both during transition and throughout the exercise was the best that I've seen in six years of going to both Busan and Yokohama," Aquino said. "It would always be nice to get more time on the ground to ease transition, but they certainly made the most of the time they did have."

"We are somewhat unique in that the continuity for this exercise relies heavily on reservists," said Manetta. "I would say that the handover from active duty to the reservists for the exercise went smoothly. Of the six reservists, four were experienced. We knew what had to be done, and having planners on hand from the 837th and the 599th helped us. The combination of the reservists' experience in previous exercises, coupled with the planners being there, made the handover as close to seamless as you could get."

Navy Cmdr. Matthew Wills, commander of Naval Reserve Battalion SDDC 320, was the U.S. co-chair for the JSCC. He spoke about the hand off and interaction between the 836th Transportation Battalion, which is stationed at Yokohama North Dock, to the reservists at the center.

"We were there to shadow with the active duty members of the 836th while they were setting up and operating the JSCC. Given this was a training exercise, it afforded us the opportunity of training in this manner. This was something new that we had not done in past exercises. The transition to the reservists was seamless. In a real world scenario, this is exactly as it would occur at it would take some time for the reservist to go through the mobilization process and report to the JSCC for duty." Wills said.

"Each time we go to Yokohama and interact with the 836th, it gets better and better," he added. "And they didn't just hand it off and leave. They maintained interaction with the reservists throughout the entire exercise."

Nefftaly Lugardo, 599th information technology specialist, helped set up computers and communications at the CSCC.

"Before the exercise, we worked the whole time getting things ready and helping with whatever IT issues the 837th was having because of the number of port operations at Pier 8. During the exercise, we set up eight video teleconferences a day and kept things running in the CSCC," Lugardo said.

Not only did the 599th stand up the CSCC and JSCC, the unit also embedded its terminal operations chief, Carlos Tibbetts, with the Joint Movement Coordination Center in Seoul. He acted as the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command liaison between the JMCC and the Consolidated Transport Movement Center with the CSCC and JSCC.

"Because of our role at the CSCC, SDDC was a hub for information at the JMCC during the exercise," said Tibbetts.

"I made sure that all the players were aware of the decisions from Seoul, not only the players in Korea and Japan, but also our command operations center in Hawaii, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, the Marine Corps, and U.S. Pacific Command's Deployment and Distribution Operations Center," he added.

Aquino said the future for Key Resolve exercises continues to look bright at the 599th.

"We continue to increase the relevance of the CSCC for [U.S. Forces Korea]," he said.

The exercise that is now called Key Resolve was called Team Spirit from 1976-1993, and Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration from 1994-2007.