Photo By Tech. Sgt. Micaiah Anthony | U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin Thompson, left, 25th Infantry Division force protection...... read more read more
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Jets roar overhead as a sea of troops storm out of armored vehicles. The order to move forward is echoed in a variety of languages as each nation’s forces advance toward their objectives. Several miles away in a room filled with a mixture of uniforms, maps and laptops, the multi-lingual chatter continues. Information from the frontlines pour in as joint teams work towards the next step of the mission from the command post.
Forces from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S. worked together in the command post during Exercise Cobra Gold 2018 to organize, plan and conduct peace enforcement operations at U-Tapao International Airport, Ban Chang district, Rayong province, Thailand, Feb. 13 - 23, 2018.
“In the command post our job is to coordinate all of the efforts of the Marines, Navy, Air Force, Army and special forces,” said U.S. Army Col. Michael Weitzel, Cobra Gold 18 director of staff for U.S. Forces participating in the command post exercise, assigned to the 144th Digital Liaison Detachment, Geiger Field, Wash. “We also track the battle and make sure the overall mission of expelling the [opposition forces] are being accomplished using joint assets.”
Everything from supplies to keep troops equipped with the resources needed to accomplish the mission to intelligence where information is gathered to plan out the next step of the mission takes place here.
During the exercise military personnel in the command post also managed noncombatant evacuation, forcible entry, and United Nations peacekeeping operations.
“We make the plans that trickle down to the Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines on the ground who have to execute the mission,” Weitzel added. “The focus this year was on building coalition task forces comprised of the seven participating nations.”
To accomplish this task the Washington National Guard deployed Soldiers and Airmen to help with the exercise.
“Working with the Navy, Marines, Thais, Singaporeans and Japanese has been a great learning experience for the 56 Washington guardsmen that are here,” Weitzel said. “For us learning how to work in a joint coalition environment is a great opportunity for building partnerships.”
The exercise also challenged military forces in the command post to solve the complex issues associated with humanitarian assistance in a complex emergency.
“The whole purpose of the humanitarian injects is that in a real-world scenario you will have civilians on the battlefield,” said Nelson Chang, humanitarian advisor for the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. “So organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees really provided training value for this overall scenario.”
Complications such as civilians in the area of operation and detainees were just some of the issues multinational forces in the command post had to address. Fortunately for them, members of the UNCR and ICRC along with other humanitarian organizations were there to help address issues and aide command post personnel through realistic scenarios.
“It has been a very valuable exercise from a UNCR perspective to comparatively spend two or three days embedded and heavily involved to see how military operations would play out in a live scenario,” said Edward Benson, UNHCR Regional Office for Southeast Asia senior liaison officer from London, England.
“By playing it through realistically it opens up conversations and better understanding between organizations,” added Paul Baker, ICRC delegate for military and armed groups in Southeast Asia. “It’s important that forces understand the role of the ICRC in conflict. It was great of the planners to include us in this exercise.”
With communication flowing through the command channels to and from the area of operation via the command post, the seven nations pulled together and strengthened ties to ultimately enhance security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region during this, the 37th iteration of Exercise Cobra Gold.
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2018 09:10 |
| Story ID: | 266909 |
| Location: | TH |
| Web Views: | 358 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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