The Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), Junior Staff Course (JSC) 85, has commenced Exercise OMBUDSMAN at the Junior Division of the College from Friday, 22 May to Friday, 29 May 2026, as part of its Internal Security and Counter Insurgency (IS/COIN) training package.
The week-long exercise is designed to enhance students' operational planning skills, joint staff procedures, and interagency coordination within complex urban security environments.
Exercise OMBUDSMAN is a one-sided telephone battle exercise focused on Internal Security Operations in an urban setting. It exposes students to realistic and evolving security scenarios requiring the application of staff duties, intelligence assessment, crisis response, and joint operational planning at command level. The exercise further reinforces previous academic and practical lessons, with emphasis on the establishment and effective functioning of Joint Headquarters in managing internal security threats.
As part of the exercise framework, students are organised into syndicates representing Southern and Central Commands, with participation from sister security and emergency services including the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, and the Narcotics Control Commission,working in an integrated arrangement to strengthen coordination and unified response to simulated security threats.
A key component of the exercise is media and public engagement training, during which selected students assume command and public information roles in simulated press briefings. In this phase, journalists and media representatives pose questions on unfolding security situations, allowing participants to demonstrate clarity, composure, and professionalism in communicating operational decisions and security developments to the public. Exercise OMBUDSMAN therefore provides practical exposure not only in command and control functions, but also in strategic communication, media relations, and public accountability within contemporary internal security operations.
By LAC Dakudji O Majorie