All Partners Access Network Keeps Communication Strong During Rim of the Pacific 2016

Photo By Chief Petty Officer Katarzyna Kobiljak | 160719-N-YW024-064 JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM (July 19, 2016) Military members from Chile and Australia participate in exercise planning at the Pacific Warfighting Center on Ford Island, during Rim of the Pacific 2016. Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 30 to Aug. 4, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationship that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Katarzyna Kobiljak)  

UNITED STATES

08.04.2016

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jeffrey Troutman 

Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet           

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM (Aug 3, 2016) – The All Partners Access Network, a United States Department of Defense social networking website used for information sharing and collaboration, played a pivotal role in keeping the lines of communication open between the participating nations of Rim of the Pacific 2016.

Communication for this year’s RIMPAC, the 25 th in the series, was especially important as the exercise had involvement from more nations and more personnel than any previous year.

"The main focus of RIMPAC 2016 was Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, and that obviously calls for a heavy amount of communication amongst all participating nations,” said Jerry Giles, APAN’s
technical director of communications. “APAN provides services to aid in that communication, be it online chat rooms, live blogs, phone lines, or any other form of communication necessary to carry out the mission successfully. We help train the participating nations on how to properly use APAN’s capabilities, and ensure they have a communication plan moving forward for every evolution of RIMPAC they’re participating in."

Giles said an exercise like RIMPAC poses its fair share of challenges, but it was also an opportunity for APAN to gauge what works in such a large multi-level scenario-based training environment, and what can be improved on for future exercises.

“Obviously, when you’re dealing with this many countries in one setting, there are going to be language challenges,” said Giles. “We encourage each nation to come to an exercise like RIMPAC with a knowledge management plan already in place, to anticipate the language barriers or different military customs they’ll encounter. Whether its translating or communication training, APAN works to assist all of the participating nations in keeping an ongoing dialogue and effectively communicating with one another.”

The heavy emphasis on HADR during RIMPAC 2016 meant that APAN was as busy and as in demand as ever, according to Arlana DeLeo, APAN’s Lead Knowledge Manager.

“APAN was used by a much wider audience and there were more concurrent participants on the APAN website compared to prior RIMPAC exercises,” said Deleo. “The most notable challenge we faced was
dealing with bandwidth constraints on some of the networks, along with a few compatibility view issues for some computes with older browsers. But we were able to assist users with workarounds and provide direct links to help alleviate those problems. The vast majority of issues were resolved with on-site support and training.”

DeLeo stated that the easy usability of APAN’s services helped play a part in RIMPAC’s participating nations maintaining direct, succinct communication with one another.

“APAN is the only DOD enterprise solution that enables HADR mission partners around the world to effectively share non-classified information on multiple platforms and devices,” said DeLeo. “It's user friendly and accessible to anyone around the world who has access to the Internet. In that regard, I feel that APAN was crucial in the successful execution of RIMPAC 2016.”

RIMPAC 2016’s theme of “capable, adaptive partners” shows participating nations demonstrating the flexibility of maritime forces to meet regional and global challenges for mutual benefit. The world’s largest international
maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.

RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971.

For more information about RIMPAC 2016, visit: http://www.cpf.navy.mil/rimpac/

• Date Taken: 08.04.2016
• Date Posted: 08.04.2016 18:29
• Story ID: 206135
• Location: US