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PHIBLEX 06 Closing Ceremony Held at Marine Base

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS051101-01
Release Date: 11/1/2005 8:25:00 AM

From Task Force 76 Public Affairs

MARINE BASE TERNATE, Republic of the Philippines (NNS) -- Sailors and Marines together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) held a closing ceremony after successfully completing Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) 06 Oct. 29 at Marine Base Ternate.

The annual bilateral Republic of the Philippines and United States exercise is designed to improve interoperability, increase readiness and continue professional relationships between the United States and Philippine Armed Forces.

“Talon Vision and now PHIBLEX 06 has been a tremendous success for both the U.S. and Philippine Armed Forces," said Capt. Mark E. Donahue, commodore, Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON) 11. “The success of this bilateral exercise speaks volumes about the quality of Sailors and Marines on both sides that safely conducted this amphibious exercise.”

The final operation of PHIBLEX 06 exercise was a bilateral amphibious landing on Ternate beach. U.S. Navy, Marine, and AFP Marine forces conducted a successful ship-to-shore simultaneous sea and air landing at four beaches at Ternate as the final test of the participating force’s interoperability and readiness.

Following the succesful amphibious landing, a ceremony was held at Marine Base Ternate to officially celebrate the successful conclusion of the bilateral exercise. Guest speaker for the closing ceremony Vice Adm. Ernesto De Leon, Phillippine navy flag officer in command spoke of the importance and shared values of the bilaterail exercise.

“This amphibious landing exercise has been designated to train, evaluate and validate the doctrine and principles of joint and combined operations, tactics by our two forces but equally important in this fine exercise is the company of brotherhood and friendship between two nations that have been bonded particularly in the protection of their common interest and inner concerns in the promotion of their shared value of freedom and democracy”, said De Leon.

After the official PHIBLEX 06 ceremony concluded, Sailors and Marines from both nations celebrated the occasion with a traditional Philippine military lunch called a “boodle fight."

In a boodle fight, traditional Filipino foods are served on top of banna leaves laid out on a series of long tables. The participants then line up on both sides of the table and “attack” the food together with their bare hands, enjoing the comraderie and trust built during the exercise.

31st MEU Marines felt the exercise was a great two-way learning process for all concerned.

“Overall, I think the training was a great success. I learned a lot from my brother Philippine marines and in turn, I shared my training from the U.S. Marines Corps," said Marine Sgt. Daniel Paige, 1st Platoon, Fox company and a native of Schenectady, N.Y.

Amphibious Squadron 11 and Forward Deployed Amphibious Ready Group with embarked Okinawa based 31st MEU are currently on their Fall deployment conducting bilateral exercises, Talon Vision and PHIBLEX 06, with the AFP.

The three-ship Sasebo based Amphibious Ready Group consists of USS Essex (LHD 2), USS Juneau (LPD 10) and USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43). Approximately 5,000 U.S. and Philippine military personnel participated in the exercises.

Marine aircraft used to support the movement are from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 262 (Reinforced), the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). Aircraft flown by the squadron include CH-46E Sea Knight, CH-53D Sea Stallion, AH-1W Cobra, UH-1N Huey and AV-8B Harrier II.

Amphibious landing craft used during the landing included Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs), Landing Craft Utilities (LCUs), Landing Craft Air Cushioned (LCACs) and Combat Rubber Raiding Craft (CRRC).

Task Force 76 is the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious force and is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with an operating detachment in Sasebo, Japan.