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ULM, Germany - From now on, coffee lovers get their money’s worth at the recently opened Café Einstein at the Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC). On 26 January, JSEC’s Chief of Staff, Major General Richard Laurijssen, gathered his staff at the newly decorated venue in the Wilhelmsburg Barracks in Ulm, for the official opening.

Close coordination and a constant exchange of ideas is essential for JSEC to achieve its goals

“Open communication creates better cooperation among staff members which then further strengthens the capability of JSEC. Close coordination and a constant exchange of ideas is essential for us to achieve our goals. Café Einstein is a great spot to get together and to interact with fellow staff members. I encourage everyone to use this opportunity,” highlights Laurijssen during his address to the staff.

During a meeting of JSEC’s Senior National Representatives a few months back, the idea of a community space, where staff could meet in a casual atmosphere, was born and swiftly implemented.

Joint Support and Enabling Command’s Chief of Staff, Major General Richard Laurijssen, gathered his staff at the new Café Einstein during his opening address in the Wilhelmsburg Barracks in Ulm on 26 January 
(Photo: OF-D Tino Tiefenbacher)

Joint Support and Enabling Command’s staff members explored the new Café Einstein during its official opening in the Wilhelmsburg Barracks in Ulm on 26 January 
(Photo: OF-D Tino Tiefenbacher)

During the opening on 26 January, Joint Support and Enabling Command’s staff got a first impression of the community space and got to taste the coffee in the new Café Einstein in the Wilhelmsburg Barracks 
(Photo: OF-D Tino Tiefenbacher)

JSEC’s Vision Explained with the Help of the Garrison City’s Well-Known Son

The eponym of the café, Ulm-born physicist Albert Einstein, and his famous relativity theory formula already serve as model for JSEC‘s E³ trademark: Effective – Efficient – Enablement or E³ = JSEC.

Complex explained simply: The Joint Support and Enabling Command's Reinforcement and Sustainment Network and trademark E³ sketched on a coaster front (on the left). The garrison city’s most famous son and physicist Albert Einstein’s formula E=mc² serves as model for the explanation of the Joint Support and Enabling Command’s slogan E³ = JSEC (on the right)

The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and the Joint Force Commands (JFC) in Brunssum, Naples and Norfolk have a high interest in JSEC working effectively, namely doing the right things. In crisis and conflict, JSEC is to coordinate the way in which personnel and materiel is deployed to where it is needed and to also ensure sustainment.

JSEC also needs to be efficient, hence to do things right. The military headquarters therefore laid out three core virtues as guiding principle:

1. Solidarity: approaching other people, and nations, without prejudices

2. Trust: being open-minded and honest towards others

3. Empowerment: instead of constantly hovering over staff members, giving them the free space they need to do their work and fulfill their mission

And for the last “E”: Enablement is JSEC’s unique selling proposition.

JSEC receives information via the Reinforcement and Sustainment Network and evaluates these details from a Reinforcement by Forces and Sustainment standpoint.  It then informs nations, for example on the infrastructural requirements that need to be met in order to ensure smooth force flow in case of crisis or conflict. JSEC assesses the information and thus enables nations to take the proper measures necessary for a guided deployment of troops into the area of operations for the deterrence and defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area.

The slogan “Effective - Efficient - Enablement” therefore embodies JSEC’s vision. The three components are mutually dependent and create a high level of synergy, which, mathematically speaking and inspired by Ulm’s most famous son and his formula E=mc², can best be described using the third power, namely E x E x E= E³.