Photo By 1st Lt. Jordan Balzano | U.S. Army Spc. John Bixler, assigned to A Co., 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment,...... read more read more
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CAMP DELA CRUZ, Philippines – An essential principle of international operations is interoperability. Operating alongside Allies and Partners requires coordination and learning from each other to execute combined operations. Over five days, Philippine and U.S. Army soldiers taught, coordinated, and planned air assault operations at Camp Dela Cruz, Philippines as a part of Salaknib 2024.
Salaknib is an annual Philippine Army-led, U.S. Army Pacific-sponsored bilateral exercise designed to enhance the U.S. and Philippine Army's capacity and interoperability across the spectrum of military operations while strengthening the ties between the two long-standing Partners.
A significant portion of Salaknib is the subject matter expert exchanges (SMEE) that allow Philippine and U.S. forces to cross-load information and gain a shared understanding of each country's tactics, techniques, and procedures.
Creating points of instruction (POIs) and leading the air assault SMEE was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. 1st. Lt Issac Ford, assigned to Alpha Company, was the lead officer in charge of the SMEE.
"This was one of the best experiences I have had in the military," said Ford. It was an excellent opportunity to coordinate with Partner forces and lend information that would help their future operations. It's pretty sick that our classes are leading directly into Alpha Company 77th Philippines Infantry Battalion's first Air Assault mission and that we are the Partner force they are doing it with."
Elements of the 77th Philippine Infantry Battalion attended the SMEE. The trainers divided the training audience into six groups with one U.S. Army instructor assigned to each. Over five days, the SMEE discussed planning, enemy analysis, a friendly maneuver and fire planning scheme, aircraft coordination and planning, and the air mission brief. The course ended with a cold load of UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
Sgt. Zanderly Sistoso, one of the SMEE instructors, acted as translator for the course. "My unique takeaway comes a lot from my role as the translator," said Sistoso. "Communicating with a foreign Partner effectively gives me a sense of pride. Helping them understand the information we were bringing to the table was very fulfilling. I had the opportunity to combine my role as a Soldier in the U.S. Army with the culture I grew up in and care deeply about."
While the air assault SMEE was initially nested with the first part of Exercise Salaknib 2024, lessons learned were directly utilized in the subsequent exercise, Exercise Balikatan 2024.
Balikatan 24 is the largest annual bilateral exercise conducted between the Philippines and the U.S., designed to strengthen bilateral interoperability, capabilities, trust, and cooperation built over decades of shared experiences.
Balikatan incorporates the U.S. Army and the United States Marines Corps alongside the Philippine Army. Essential to this exercise is the air assault operation onto the island of Batan. Bravo Company is the U.S. Army’s lead element for this air assault and will conduct it alongside the 77th Philippine Infantry Battalion.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2024 19:56 |
| Story ID: | 474218 |
| Location: | CAMP DELACRUZ, PH |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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