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PORT DICKSON, Malaysia - Women have proven to be an asset for platoons conducting field training in Malaysia as part of the largest multinational peacekeeping training event this year.
Exercise Keris Aman 2015 co-hosted by the Malaysian Armed Forces and U.S. Pacific Command involves 29 participating nations with women serving within the ranks of seven of the 10 platoons tasked to perform a series of missions in various peacekeeping scenarios.
“Female peacekeepers bring with them many potent capabilities,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Puneet Talwar, Bureau of Political Military Affairs, during the opening ceremony of the exercise. “They broaden the tools available within a mission, particularly by improving access and support for women in societies struggling to rebuild.”
Platoons with women incorporated into their ranks experienced advantages when interacting with female role players at the training lanes. Some scenarios during the exercise had female role players unable to interact with male soldiers because of preference or culture.
“If there are role players who are women, women peacekeepers should be addressing to their needs as much as possible,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines Staff Sgt. Gina Garcia. “I am helping the mission by doing my job as a female peacekeeper. In a situation where I see women in need, I know my help is immediately needed.”
Australian Army Lt. Col. Darleen Young, Women Peace and Security Gender and Child Protection and Gender Advisor Army Operations, witnessed the role women serve to provide care and aid with less incident and also ease difficult situations.
“Most of the events that the platoons come up against involve both men and women. I saw one platoon in particular really engage positively and not just in detaining or searching females,” Young said. “A number of females in the platoon were able to settle a situation down by establishing positive relationships with the females and then those females were able to settle the aggressive males in a particular situation.”
According to the United Nations Peacekeeping official website there are many advantages a female peacekeeper brings to the mission including; helping to reduce conflict and confrontation, improving access and support for local women, provide role models for women in the community, provide a greater sense of security to women and children in the local population, and broaden the skill set available within a peacekeeping mission.
“I think it’s very positive, particularly from a number of our militaries that GPOI and PACOM are training,” Young said. “Having women in the force is quite a cultural shift and the fact that they’ve included very capable women in leadership and responsibility roles in their platoons clearly demonstrates their willingness to support the areas of armed conflict. I think that’s something that’s quite significant.”
Women have demonstrated that they can operate in the same roles as their male counterparts under the same conditions that was evident in the training.
“I believe that even if other role players are men we can also communicate with them, it depends on the situation,” Garcia said. “In our group we have six women and three of us are medics but the other three are also on call when there are casualties so they’ll help us. Aside from being medics, we are also a part of the [squad] so we also do what men do.”
Keris Aman 2015 is the latest in a continuing series of training events in the Asia-Pacific region designed to promote regional peace and security and enhance the peacekeeping capabilities and capacity of nations participating in the U.S. State Dept. sponsored Global Peace Operations Initiative program.
Through a long-term commitment to assist with training, facilities and equipment, the GPOI program works to meet increasing peace support operations requirements by helping to develop the level of indigenous peacekeeping capacity within the program’s participating nations.
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2015 09:32 |
| Story ID: | 173998 |
| Location: | PORT DICKSON, MY |
| Web Views: | 370 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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