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Wednesday, April 23, 2003
US-RP exercises in Luzon to start Friday
By Dante M. Fabian and Chris Navarro
CLARK ECOZONE -- Participants to the Exercise Balikatan 2003 from the United States military have started arriving in the Clark Special Economic Zone in time for trainings scheduled to start Friday with their Philippine counterparts.
A total of 1,200 men of the US Armed Forces are expected in the zone for the different phases of the exercises to be held in Nueva Ecija, Cavite and Batangas.
Philippine Army Major Vicente Batac, Balikatan public affairs officer, said the joint training exercises between Philippine and US military forces will start on Friday, April 25, and continue until May 9.
The exercises, Batac explained, are intended to improve the interoperability of the Philippine military and US forces through combined planning and combat-readiness drills.
These will be supervised by Col. Ricardo T. Brillantes of the Philippine Army as co-director together with Col. Lee W. Freund of the US Marine Corps, exercise co-director for the US side.
According to Batac, joining in this year's joint exercises are 1,200 US Army and Marine Corps officers and personnel and 2,500 from the Philippine Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
He added that some 800 men from the US Armed Forces, including those who arrived Monday morning, are now in Clark undertaking preparations for the exercises, which will be totally different from the Balikatan 03-1.
Phase I of the training exercises will involve combined/joint task force (CJTF) seminar/command post exercises to train headquarters staff and augmentation personnel on crisis action planning and course of action execution.
Under Phase II, there will be cross training and field training intended to enhance the interoperability of the US and RP military forces. This stage will also include humanitarian civil assistance exercises that will improve the cooperation between the two in military civic action while training civil military operators to work together in a CJTF structure focused on civil assistance.
US Marine Capt. Burrel Parmer, spokesman of the combined RP-US Balikatan combined/joint information bureau (CJIB), said the exercises in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija will include military cross-trainings, artillery live fire, reconnaissance and night time patrolling techniques.
Parmer said that one company of the US Marine Corps would proceed to Ternate, Cavite for trainings in boat operations.
He added that participants would also train in Batangas on humanitarian and civic assistance to include the construction of school buildings and other infrastructure projects in remote barangays.
Civil military operations will include trainings in humanitarian assistance, such as medical, dental and veterinary services.
Maj. Allan Ballesteros said all arriving US military personnel have been checked for the deadly Severe, Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) disease at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).
Dr. Cesnando Saudalo, acting quarantine officer of the Department of Health (DOH) at DMIA, said none of the US military personnel was found positive for the Sars virus.
Sandalo, who inspected the plane that flew in the US soldiers from Okinawa, Japan, said he and his staff are on alert to prevent the entry of Sars virus through the DMIA.
Parmer said the US Armed Forces contingent brought in six CH-46E helicopters, four CH-53E helicopters, several 105 mm Howitzer artillery cannons, armored personnel carriers. Sun.Star Pampanga
(April 23, 2003 issue)
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