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Exercise Balikatan 2004 A Success

Marine Corps News

Release Date: 3/15/2004

Story by Capt. Burrell Parmer and Staff Sgt. Nathan Hanks

MANILA, Republic of the Philippines (March 12, 2004) -- Now that Exercise Balikatan 2004 has ended, the Marines and Sailors of the 3d Marine Expeditionary Brigade reflects upon another successful deployment.

Selected to be the Combined Task Force Headquarters by Marine Forces Pacific, the MEB began planning for Balikatan in late September 2004, while still deployed for Exercise Crocodile in Australia.

Preparation for such an extensive exercise takes up to approximately 12 months. However, the MEB did not have that luxury. From the Initial and Final Planning Conferences to the actual execution of the exercise, the MEB was given less than five months to fully plan the combined bilateral exercise with their Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) counterparts.

"When I first saw the scope of the exercise, it was breathtaking," said Col Michael Dana, chief of staff, 3d MEB. "However, by the end of the Final Planning Conference, it all came together."

According to Dana, clear strategic vision and mission-oriented guidance from the Co-Exercise Director Brig. Gen. Kenneth Glueck, commanding general, 3d MEB, allowed the staff to devise and execute a plan that fully employed the MEB's expeditionary capabilities.

The MEB along with the AFP joint staff faced many challenges throughout the exercise. One of those was deployment of personnel into theater.

"We had military and civilian personnel deploy from different 10 states in CONUS- and as far away as Alaska and overseas locations such as Guam, Hawaii and Japan," Dana said. "Upon arrival to the Philippines, we positioned our forces in seven different locations in a geographical area the size of the U.S. eastern seaboard between New York City to Jacksonville, Florida. This was all accomplished through a unique command and control structure."

The deployment of personnel and equipment to the Philippines was accomplished through various means of transportation that included commercial shipping and aircraft, military aircraft and the WestPac Express, a leased high speed vessel.

A command and control challenge for the MEB was that this year's Balikatan was not held in one central location; it was spread throughout the Philippines.

The CTF staff operated out of two locations that were approximately 400 miles apart. The CTF headquarters was located at AFP's Western Command in Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan where civil-military operations projects and the Staff Seminar/Command Post Exercise were conducted. The CTF Forward was located in Central Luzon where amphibious training, live fire training and air operations occurred.

"On the two islands, we simultaneously conducted combined training at seven locations all with overlapping and high operational tempo. With the combined effort from the AFP, pulling it all together speaks volumes of the MEB's strength and its staff," Dana said.

According to Lt. Col. Gregory Bond, operations officer, 3d MEB, this exercise captures the spirit of the MEB.

"The MEB had to be flexible and expeditionary to compensate for the distance between the CTF Headquarters and CTF Forward. Usually we do not establish such a structure. Normally, the Forward is something one could send out to reestablish communication, but the distance was so great, we wanted to have the capability to control action in Central Luzon," Bond said.

Command and Control was not the only success for the MEB and Balikatan. The Civil-Military Operations were successful also.

The U.S.-AFP Civil-Military Operations Task Force conducted 12 Civic Action Projects and provided more than 24,000 residents with medical, dental, and veterinary care. Engineering Civic Action Projects were also conducted to include the construction of a water well and water tank, refurbishing of the Puerto Princesa City Health Office and building of five school classrooms. Also, for the first time, Civil-Military operators were able to provided medical services to more than 2,100 residents of Basco, Batanes, which the U.S. military uses as an aircraft refueling location.

Dana reflected on the good things that the MEB was able to do for the people of Philippines.

"As a Marine, it is good to be involved in the great training Balikatan offered; but we also helped the Philippine people. We did this by fostering positive relationships with our host country and by providing care to the Philippine people. We are trained to go to combat, however providing quality care and assistance is rewarding," Dana said.

Dana also said Balikatan had the most moving parts that he had seen in any operation and that command and control of such a exercise was key to its success.

"This is the most complex operation that I have ever been involved with," Dana said. "Providing command and control for operations including twelve civil-military operations, two amphibious landing, numerous live fire exercise, fixed and rotary wing operations, combined arms exercise, and air delivery was challenging. "

Dana attributes the success of the Exercise Balikatan to the MEB staff.

"If we receive the order to deploy, I have full confidence in the ability of the MEB staff due to their hard work and experience during the past two exercises (Balikatan and Crocodile)," Dana said.

"As far as teamwork, this is the best exercise I've seen in my 21 years in the Marine Corps. This has been the most rewarding and complex I've participated in. We had many moving parts and we were able to bring them all together."

Dana went on to say that this was more than just another training exercise; it was realistic training for any future contingency.

"We had real world events going on here," he said. "Two months ago, there were people in need of our assistance. Today, thanks to the combined efforts of U.S. and AFP Civil-Military Operations, there are more than 24,000 Filipinos who are better off than they were two months ago."

Dana considers this exercise a graduation exercise for the MEB staff. He also said that the exercise was a resounding success and attributed that success to the combined U.S. and AFP team, standing "shoulder to shoulder" in bilateral military to military cooperation.

"The Marine Expeditionary Brigade is what it is all about," Dana said. "This exercise epitomizes 21st century expeditionary warfare because we commanded and controlled simultaneous operations in a very large area of responsibility."