Countries through the Asia-Pacific region are “excited by our increased participation here,” said the military component commander for that area.
“We intend to place into motion a pathway of activity (for the military) into multiple countries for extended periods of time, linking a chain of events and exercises on various topics, said Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander, U.S. Army Pacific, called USARPAC.
Brooks spoke today at a press engagement on the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2013 Annual Meeting and Exposition, on the Washington, D.C., Convention Center.
The activity of which Brooks spoke includes disaster relief, humanitarian and army-to-military training with stays involving months, not days or even weeks as have been the norm.
Units on the way to see duty inside the Pacific region would be a mix of high-readiness brigades in addition small units of craftsmanship and will include some that aren’t on the highest readiness level in the Army Force Generation cycle, he continued.
The vision for that during-depth level of engagement is sensible on this challenging fiscal climate, Brooks said, touching on the tactic of regional alignment.
For decades, the military and its sister services were an enabler for economic growth and prosperity within the region, which include the world’s three largest economies — the U.S., China and Japan — in addition to the highest 10 emerging economies, he said.
“It’s a framework of successful cooperation and collaboration,” he continued, “and there’s room for any country to suit into that framework,” he said, touching on countries that aren’t yet partners.
Brooks was named commander of USARPAC 100 days ago and it’s the primary time that command has had a four-star general since 1974.
“I’m honored” to steer USARPAC, he said, and the elevation of that position to four stars has enabled him to satisfy with higher levels of military and civilian leaders in countries during the area than was otherwise possible to determine personal relationships, which he said are so important.
In those 100 days, Brooks has visited five countries inside the region and said he would have visited more, were it not for the govt shutdown, which threw a wrench into travel plans for every person within the Defense Department.
In the last year, the military was invited, in addition to 26 other countries, to a conference of Asia-Pacific military leaders, hosted by New Zealand. That conference will happen in one other Asia-Pacific country once a year, he said, with the following being in Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, one of the crucial five countries he visited, Brooks said he was impressed by a joint disaster management exercise there, which included a mockup of an urban area that have been turned to rubble by an earthquake. Animals and special equipment were used to find people and tunnel throughout the debris, he said.
Japan, another country he visited, hosted bilateral natural disaster and armed forces-to-military training.
Those sorts of exercises are apropos in a region that experiences such a lot of natural disasters frequently, from typhoons and cyclones to earthquakes and tsunamis. About 83 percent of the world’s natural disasters hit that area, he said, with a resulting comparable percentage in death.
“Natural disasters are a countrywide security concern” for nations inside the region he said.
Also inside the last year, the military and its sister services participated in a high-level exercise with Australia, he said. This sort of exercise shall be typical of future training, he said, mentioning that “the Army operates jointly all around the world today.”
This form of training with joint and multinational forces “excites our troops,” he added. “They’re desperate to join it.”
In the manner ahead, Brooks sees a rise in aviation, both manned in addition to unmanned, within the region, fully integrated with air assets of the alternative services. As an instance, Army helicopters landing on Navy and military watercraft.
Missile defense can be fortified to boot, he said, stating that PACOM must protect its bases and repair members in addition to the U.S. homeland and regional partners. “Adversaries are increasing the diversity and lethality in their surface-to-surface missiles and we’re actively fascinated about addressing that now.”
Although maritime cooperation is occurring with India, Brooks “wants to extend land-force cooperation and interoperability besides, as India is a critically important player within the entire region.”
One of Brooks’ biggest fears is the outbreak of all-out war at the Korean peninsula. The U.S. is doing everything it might to avoid that from happening but “in a worst-case scenario,” he said, U.S. and South Korean troops are ready.
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