Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Kurtis A Hatcher | U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Anthony Bolser, a transmission system operator with 2nd...... read more read more
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Puslatpur 5, Indonesia — Super Garuda Shield 2024, hosted by the Indonesian National Armed Forces, has members of four U.S. military services integrated into the multinational and joint exercise, including U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy.
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Anthony Bolser, a native of San Angelos, Texas, and a transmission system operator from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, was sent to Indonesia for Super Garuda Shield 2024 as an individual augment for joint communications.
Bolser said “The world is so small. I met someone here from my hometown who knows my brother. He went to the same schools as I did, and we both graduated from Central High School a few years apart.” He explained, “The odds of the two of us meeting is pretty slim.”
While service members often serve with others from different branches, a shared deployment or hardship can create friendships and bonds that will last a lifetime.
Bolser said, “I am just really thankful and feel blessed for the opportunities I have had out here.” Bolser further explained, “The people that I have met, I will continue to keep in contact with after the conclusion of the exercise.”
Joint exercises can create unusual challenges, as service members are knowledgeable of their own branch specific capabilities and technologies but not as knowledgeable of other services capabilities and technologies.
Bolser explained he was hand-selected to facilitate joint communications for the exercise. He said, “There will be some hurdles to overcome, a lot of barriers, but working around that and together we found solutions.”
Bolser said, “The best part was learning from them and being able to share with other Marines while being able to teach others what I knew.” He further explained, “In the future, everyone involved will be able to understand better from the things we learned and shared here.”
Bolser explained he has been deployed with the U.S. Marine Corps four times before. In comparison, Bolser stated, “Previous deployments were Marine Corps driven, while this time around the Marine Corps assets were not available to us this time, and we had to depend on ship-based assets.” Bolser further explained, “This time was just different because there were so many moving parts, bigger scale, and a lot of things could have gone wrong.”
Bolser said, “Meeting all TNI [Indonesian National Armed Forces] guys and other countries' militaries was interesting and building camaraderie across countries.” Bolser further explained, “It has definitely been an experience, tons of pictures, and memories form out here. Things that I would not have had if I had not come out here.”
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.08.2024 15:52 |
| Story ID: | 480352 |
| Location: | ID |
| Hometown: | SAN ANGELO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 428 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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