After conducting coaching and humanitarian efforts all through the Philippine archipelago final week, U.S. Marines are deploying throughout the area for workout routines in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Marine Rotational Power – Southeast Asia, a forward-deployed contingent of U.S. Marines composed of a command aspect from the thirteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit and supplemented by personnel from the first Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Firm, I Marine Expeditionary Power Info Group and 1st Marine Division, arrived within the Philippines earlier this month to kick off the eighth iteration of KAMANDAG.
Col. Stuart Glenn, the commanding officer of MRF-SEA, highlighted KAMANDAG’s actions and the variety of international locations collaborating in or observing this 12 months’s iteration as a “testomony” to how Philippine Marines have developed the train over time.
“It’s a testomony to the Philippine Marine Corps for placing on a high-quality train that has attracted these like-minded international locations. I used the analogy the opposite day from the outdated film Subject of Desires, they mentioned in case you construct it they may come. So I feel the Filipinos have constructed a fairly sturdy, high-quality amphibious train specializing in Marine maritime exercise and you’ll see that a number of associate and allied nations have come to take part,” Glenn informed USNI Information in a telephone interview.
The week-long train noticed the Marines practice with their Philippine, Japanese, South Korean, Australian and British allies from Northern Luzon to Palawan. Notable actions included a coastal protection train on a seaside going through the South China Sea and a humanitarian help and catastrophe response exercise led by Japanese and Philippine forces.
For Glenn, who was additionally current throughout Marine Aviation Help Exercise 2024, essentially the most spectacular side of this 12 months’s KAMANDAG was the mixed command and management skills of U.S. and Philippine Marines. This coordination allowed for the multinational train to conduct advanced maneuvers and logistical operations. Whereas Glenn acknowledged that these actions weren’t as thrilling as live-fire or coastal protection workout routines, he burdened that these operations mirrored a “skilled, well-organized command and management.”
“A few of it’s simply not very compelling, you wish to see militaries do navy issues. However getting within the tools from the U.S. into the Philippines, getting in tools from Japan right here, that isn’t straightforward. Simply the logistics piece isn’t straightforward, it takes knowledgeable, well-organized command and management to do this and the Filipinos had been ready to do this at scale,” Glenn mentioned.
Regardless of the disparities in power measurement, capabilities and techniques between the 2 marine corps, Glenn recommended his Philippine counterparts.
“They’re a resilient power,” he informed USNI Information. “They do absolutely the highest with what they’ve, and so they have a particularly optimistic perspective about it. One other factor is that they’re extraordinarily adaptable.”
Glenn additionally highlighted the similarities within the outlook of the U.S. and Filipino Marines as the 2 companies modernize.
“The U.S. Marine Corps has shifted by our power design to focus extra on naval campaigning and management of key maritime area, the Philippine Marine Corps is doing the identical. They’ve fought a counterinsurgency for a very long time in southern a part of their nation, and they’re shifting their focus as properly to develop some capabilities that permits them to defend their sovereignty,” mentioned Glenn.
Amid tensions with China within the South China Sea, the Philippine Marine Corps started to shift from its inner operations in Mindanao to maritime disputes within the nation’s unique financial zone. Referred to as the West Philippine Sea by Manila, this space has seen quite a few incidents with Chinese language vessels. In response to a renewed name for territorial protection amid these tensions, Philippine Marines have created new littoral and coastal protection items.
For U.S. Marines, instantly informing their very own Power Design 2030 experimentation are workout routines throughout the area and MRF-SEA’s deployment. This train marked the start of their six-month-long presence within the area, which can see the Marines practice with companions and inform what capabilities and missions the Stand-in Forces idea would require within the Indo-Pacific.
“What do we want it to do? As a result of a story as outdated in time in warfighting is allocating assets appropriately. We’ve got a restricted variety of assets, from I MEF or a Marine Corps perspective,” Glenn mentioned.
“So what are the proper capabilities to placed on a Stand-in Power to perform its mission? Would you like a gold commonplace, full-sized MAGTF, perhaps not. Perhaps you simply need the proper functionality on the proper time, it’s one thing that we’re working by right here with this iteration of MRF-SEA to right-size in order that it’s a good steward of I MEF assets and can also be in a position to accomplish the missions it’s assigned.”
In future iterations of KAMANDAG, and rotational patrols, Glenn desires to see Stand-in Forces like MRF-SEA improve and refine coordination with afloat forces. Utilizing the instance of MRF-SEA and the fifteenth MEU’s cooperation within the Philippines, particularly throughout Storm Krathon reduction efforts, Glenn pointed to the “synergy” that these two formations can convey if correctly built-in. “I feel that’s one thing we must be deliberate about in exercising for subsequent 12 months’s KAMANDAG,” he mentioned.
Among the many many challenges, Glenn talked about was the transportation and maneuvering of MRF-SEA, a difficulty that the service is trying to resolve by the future Medium Touchdown Ship and latest experimentation with stern touchdown vessels. Nevertheless, till these capabilities come on-line, Stand-in Forces like MRF-SEA must get artistic.
Whereas MRF-SEA drew on the USS Boxer (LHD-4) throughout KAMANDAG for aviation and amphibious craft, the Wasp-class touchdown helicopter dock departed following the conclusion of the train in Palawan. In response to Glenn, the Marines will use each contracted civilian and navy property to journey throughout the area.
“All through our patrol, we’re going to make use of all types of transportation. So for this explicit one, it’s going to be air and a ferry, a commercially procured ship, to get us from Batam Island to Singkep Island. We’re going to proceed to work by [U.S. Military Sealift Command] delivery, by contracted delivery and within the air, each navy and contracted,” mentioned Glenn.
The majority of MRF-SEA will head to Indonesia to take part in Keris Marine Train 2024, the place they may be a part of a bolstered rifle firm from the 2nd Battalion, seventh Marines for a significant live-fire train. In the meantime, a smaller contingent certain for Malaysia departed the Philippines over the weekend to take part in a Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Coaching train, a maritime security-focused exercise.
