Photo By Staff Sgt. Taylor Crul | Peruvian Air Force Medical Personnel assigned to Air Group 4 and U.S. Air Force Airmen...... read more read more
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Resolute Sentinel 2024, a multinational military exercise led by the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), has successfully concluded after three weeks of extensive training and cooperation among participating nations, June 14, 2024.
Held primarily in Peru, the exercise saw the involvement of over 1,500 personnel from all branches across the armed forces, with participation from Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, France, and the United States. This year's exercise focused on enhancing regional security and interoperability through various training scenarios, including disaster response, medical readiness, cyber defense and more.
With interoperability being at the forefront, partnership has been pivotal.
“The biggest things we have been doing across the board is building an integrated multinational force that is inoperable and one of the most important things that we have done is build trusting relationships and partnerships with our partner nations so that we are postured and ready to support anything in the Western Hemisphere,” said Combined Joint Task Force – RS24 commander, U.S. Air Force Col. Barton Kenerson.
Col. Maya, CJTF-RS24 deputy commander on behalf of the Colombian Air Force echoed Kenerson’s sentiment.
“As I always say, maybe the most important thing is the opportunity to improve, create and consolidate our friendship and our relationship,” he said, “... the opportunity to improve together, the opportunity to be better together.”
The concept of partnership extended beyond the task force as the exercise provided communities with crucial support for various needs.
During the exercise medical teams provided care to over 1,200 patients, performed nearly 80 surgeries and embedded themselves in local hospitals across Peru, while Civil Affairs teams distributed 2,380 boxes of school supplies to five schools across Iquitos, Peru.
“The power of our people and the relationships that have been formed are probably the most important. We have to focus on establishing relationships that will be enduring for years and years to come, so when we are called upon, we can integrate together, we can operate together, and we can execute together,” Kenerson said. “I'll tell you that from a standpoint of where we sit today, our teams are extremely better for all the engagements we've done.”
While the exercise focused heavily on humanitarian support, it also served as an opportunity to build on preexisting tactics and training concepts while experiencing realistic interoperability training as allied countries implementing agile combat employment.
Spanning over just shy of a dozen locations to include three different countries, RS24 enabled extensive air and maritime operations, significantly enhancing the operational capabilities of the participating nations.
On the air operations side, over 326 flight hours were logged across 299 air tasking order sorties. On the maritime operations side, the U.S. Coast Guard conducted an estimated 10 boat boardings and 22 boat sorties to include boat boardings for law enforcement training purposes, focusing on counter-narcotics and illegal fishing in addition to Ecuador, Peru and the U.S. engaging in shore-side subject matter exchanges emphasizing first aid and pollution response – crucial for enhancing local pollution response capabilities, ensuring preparedness to respond to coastal disasters and improve search and rescue operations – not to mention the cyber team thwarting nearly 64,000 real-world attacks on the communications infrastructure – all further proving the worth of interoperability, trust and solidarity.
“It was just incredible to sit back and watch how the teams solved significant challenges and integrated across all of our partner nations. They were advancing agile combat employment, solving significant logistics problems ... you name it, the team was just absolutely incredible,” Kenerson reflected. “Whether it was Peru, Columbia, Brazil, it doesn't really matter ... no one saw what country you were from in this organization, they just broke down barriers and made it a huge success; probably one of the best integrations I've seen in my 29 years in the Air Force.”
With so many challenges, moving factors, personnel and supplies, logistics played a crucial role ensuring operational effectiveness.
Over the course of the exercise, more than 194,200 tons of cargo were transported across 10 line hauls, facilitated by over 1,200 ground transportation movements. This logistical effort included the delivery of personnel and 91,000 pounds of fuel. These impressive figures underscore the vital importance of logistics in supporting military operations, ensuring all necessary resources and personnel were in place to achieve the exercise's objectives, Kenerson explained.
Exercise RS 24 delivered valuable training that personnel are often unable to receive at home station due to the complex nature of executing an out-of-country deployment.
“You know whether it's been SOF integration, whether it's been close air support integration, medical engagements, cyber space or Coast Guard integration ... we have fully exploited learning from each other and developing our tactics, techniques and procedures across the board,” Kenerson said.
Although the exercise had a wealth of successes and learning opportunities for all participants, one thing in particular stands out to Kenerson, circling back to the importance of partnership.
“My biggest take away is probably overstated, but it’s so true – that the strength in relationships and the strength in partnerships will always win the day; winning through unity is critically important,” he said. “Seeing it firsthand just shows you how much other nations value the position of trust that we must stand from. Because if we don't have the position of trust in the relationships, there is no way that we can ever ensure peace and prosperity within the region, we can never achieve those things if we have not established that relationship.”
This idea of partnership and solidarity not only underlined the lines of efforts throughout the exercise events, but also resonated throughout for the participating nations, underscoring the profound impact of solid alliances across the board.
“This exercise was an extraordinary experience," Maya expressed at the conclusion brief of RS24. “The friendships and partnerships forged during Resolute Sentinel 24 demonstrate our collective strength and unity. It was inspiring to see so many nations coming together, each contributing their unique capabilities and working seamlessly as one. Remember that the Colombian military forces, and specifically the Colombian Air Force, will always stand ready to fight alongside you whenever and wherever needed.
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2024 17:14 |
| Story ID: | 474204 |
| Location: | LIMA, PE |
| Web Views: | 179 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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