The initial planning conference (IPC) for the exercise “Decisive Strike” was held in the period from 15.09 to 19.09.2018 at the TC “Pepelishte” and the Military Academy “General Mihailo Apostolski” – Skopje. The exercise is part of a wider context of exercises in the Balkan and Black Sea region, led by the United States Army Europe.
This activity is continuation of the planning process for the exercise which will be realized in the period May-June, 2019 at several training areas. The aim of the IPC was to define and verify the specification for the exercise and provide the necessary information about the participation of the partner countries besides the Pennsylvania National Guard, Lithuania, the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Albania that will be part of this activity.
At the beginning of the initial planning conference, the Chief of J-7/GS of ARM, Colonel Zoran Dodevski greeted the participants and then, the director of the exercise, Lieutenant Colonel Igor Manasovski pointed out the importance of the exercise regarding the number of the participants from the mentioned countries. During the day, they presented the initial instructions for the upcoming tasks and activities.
During the stay at the TA “Krivolak”, they checked all working points and accommodation capacities necessary to complete the exercise activities.
The planning process for this and the exercises in the Balkan and Black Sea region will continue at the end of this month with the main planning conference in Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria, and the workshop for preparing the plan for the exercise “Decisive Strike” will be held at TC “Pepelishte” in November, 2018. The realization of these activities will provide the documents necessary for free continuation of the planning process for the biggest exercise in the Republic of Macedonia in 2019.
