QUANTICO, Va. -- Services across the joint force, government agencies and partner nations participated in the fourth Information Warfighter Exercise at the Marine Corps Information Operations Center, Marine Corps Base Quantico, September 13-23.
IWX is a semi-annual event that focuses on the realistic application and execution of operations in the information environment.
The exercise is comprised of OIE planning which is subsequently executed in a field event and a realistic, immersive war game enabling OIE execution within an operating environment.
“IWX is one of our flagship events. The commandant has given us a vision of where we need to be and what the pacing threat is and this is one effort to get after improving our capacity and capability of operationalizing information now, in competition.” Col. Todd M. Manyx, MCIOC Commanding Officer
The MCIOC conducts IWX to evaluate the training and readiness standards of joint and Marine Corps tasks, force development and foster interoperability between joint and combined forces. The exercise provides the OIE community an opportunity to practice tactical skills, integration of efforts into a supported unit staff, and increase understanding between joint and partner nation’s forces.
“What you are seeing here is still evolving. We’re still trying to evolve IWX and make it better,” said Jim McNeive, Deputy of Operations, MCIOC. “This is not an entry level exercise, it’s designed to test, evaluate and ultimately improves the skillset of participants.”
The MCIOC has been improving IWX during the past eight years. The exercise started in 2013 as the combined unit exercise, and has adapted into the current IWX that includes a matrix-style war game and tactical lanes that require participants to interact with role players.
IWX offers a significant opportunity to bring together OIE practitioners from across the force and abroad with various backgrounds and skillsets. The true value of IWX is learning from each other, looking at different ways to solve complex problems, and the strong relationships formed during the multi-week exercise.
The MCIOC provides operational support to Marine Corps component commands and Marine Air-Ground Task Forces and provides OIE subject matter expertise in support of Marine Corps OIE advocates and proponents to enable the effective integration of OIE into Marine Corps operations. The next iteration of IWX is scheduled for Spring 2022.