Soldiers from United states of america Army Pacific, Hawaii Army National Guard and military Corps of Engineers including representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency participated with the People’s Liberation Army in a Disaster Management Exchange, Nov. 12 -14 at Marine Corps Training Area-Bellows, Hawaii.
The 2013 DME is a topic matter expert exchange inquisitive about a global Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operation.
The highlight of the DME was a sensible Field Exchange Nov. 14. There has been also Expert Academic Discussions, in response to a world humanitarian and disaster relief scenario calling for U.S. and Chinese military cooperation to give assistance in a fictional third country.
“The Expert Academic Discussions allowed USARPAC, PLA and others to work through a typical HA/DR scenario to share best practices, lessons-learned and strategy for support to a 3rd nation,” said USARPAC Geographer, Jason Pummell. “We are headed in a favorable direction for future collaboration, to be able to increase effectiveness and efficiency.”
New this year was the PFE caused by comments from the former DME.
One of the after action reports from the ‘US — China DME 2012′ was to feature a field portion with side-by-side training which we did this year, said Lt. Col. Carrie Barhorst, Intel OIC, TJFLCC Coordination Center.
“This particular event, here in Hawaii and hosted by U.S. Army Pacific, includes our first practical, hands-on field event on a ridicule-up rubble pile to practice saving lives in a collapsed building. These techniques we learn from each other’s experiences,” said U.S. Army Pacific, Commanding General, Gen. Vincent Brooks.
“We need to show that we will interact and cooperate on something important to we all here within the Pacific…disaster management.” said Col. John Lee, Strategy & Plans Officer for USARPAC Security, Cooperation and Policy directorate.
“HA/DR exchange…symbolizes a brand new phase of cooperation between the 2 militaries…and it’s of serious significance in bolstering our pragmatic cooperation in non-traditional security areas, fostering our common aspirations and capabilities to cooperate together,” said Minister of National Defense Foreign Affairs Office, RADM Li Ji.
“This event represents a key element of US-China relations. The us remains steadfastly committed to partnering with China and other Asia-Pacific nations for disaster preparedness, response and recovery as it essentially saves lives,” said USARPAC Deputy Commanding General for Army National Guard, Maj. Gen. Gary M. Hara.
During the PFE both US and PLA soldiers demonstrated their HA/DR techniques.
“After each practical field training event we stopped and discussed the procedures we used and why things were done a undeniable way. For each event we [U.S. and China] picked up something,” said Maj. Bill Flynn, Hawaii National Guard, CBRNE Emergency Response Force Package.
“I am very happy with the momentum it is being gained in our US – China military to military relations, especially across the framework of Disaster Response,” said Brooks.
The DME is definitely one of the key security cooperation events america conducts with the PLA annually; the DME has matured from basic visits and briefings and developed into an exchange that uses an educational exchange to focus and facilitate cooperation and interaction amongst both the U.S. Army and PLA.
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