ROK, U.S. PHIBRONS Collaborate on Foal Eagle Combined Amphibious Landing
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS070331-03
Release Date: 3/31/2007 11:26:00 PM
By Lt. j.g. Katharine Cerezo, Amphibious Squadron 11 Public Affairs
USS ESSEX, At Sea (NNS) -- Working side by side, Sailors and Marines from Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON) 11 and their Republic of Korea (ROK) counterparts of PHIBRON 53 collaborated to plan and execute the March 29 combined amphibious landing on ROK’s Manripo Beach as part of Foal Eagle 2007 (FE 07).
The two forces worked out of a combined command and control space, or flag plot, aboard USS Essex (LHD 2) to create a landing plan and then bring that plan to life at the culmination of FE 07.
U.S. and ROK personnel set in motion a number of air and amphibious assets of the Foal Eagle Amphibious Task Force (FE-ATF), including assault amphibious vehicles (AAVs), landing craft air cushions (LCACs), and landing craft utilities (LCUs), while also directing ships of the ATF to assigned sea echelon positions.
“This exercise clearly demonstrates the ability of our two forces to work together and achieve mission accomplishment,” said Capt. Eric C. Young, chief staff officer for PHIBRON 11. “The ROK sailors and marines are a thoroughly professional and impressive team. We grew very close to our counterparts during the exercise, and we were saddened to see them debark the ship.”
On a normal day during Foal Eagle, the combined flag plot had roughly a dozen U.S. and ROK watch standers coordinating with a combined amphibious task force of eight ships and working in conjunction with a squadron of ROK Navy fire support assets. However, the number of personnel in flag plot on landing day more than doubled, with each person sitting either in front of a logbook, a communication circuit, or a monitoring screen.
The amphibious landing was a reflection of the bilateral nature of Foal Eagle in that the primary control ship (PCS) directing the combined U.S. and ROK AAV waves to the beach was the ROKS Sunginbong (LST 683). USS Tortuga (LSD 46) served as the LCAC Control Ship (LCS) and directed the movements of the three U.S. surface crafts.
Collaboration to achieve this final result began at the initial planning conference held last December in Seoul and was followed by two additional planning conferences in Chinhae, ROK. Continual communication between the two staffs during the planning and execution phases is what made the highlight of the exercise, the amphibious assault, possible, said leaders of both navies.
Coordination hundreds of miles away suddenly was reduced to one small space once Foal Eagle began.
“It is great to have PHIBRON 53 operating literally two feet away from us,” said Lt. j.g Bradford C. Tonder, assistant action officer during the exercise. “It makes for a centralized and truly combined command. Their proximity also guarantees that we are both operating on the same page and with the same understanding.”
Foal Eagle is unique from the other Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) exercises within the 7th Fleet area of responsibility in that the ROK command element established a 24-hour fully manned watch in the same physical space as the PHIBRON command staff.
Members of the ROK PHIBRON 53 said they were appreciative of the hospitality of PHIBRON 11 members and enjoyed the day-to-day interactions with their counterparts.
“This is my first time operating with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps,” said, ROK Lt. Dae Gil Kim, air operations officer for PHIBRON 53, through a translator. “Language is a problem, but the PHIBRON 11 staff is kind and cooperative and willing to help when we have questions. We are able to get the answers we need together.”
Working closely made for easier solutions, said Kim.
“The informal daily interactions between watch standers are equally, if not more so, effective than official meetings when it comes to gaining a clear command picture,” he said.
Operational meetings were held in the PHIBRON 11 War Room twice daily for the commanders to review the day’s events and to discuss scheduled evolutions. In addition to the two scheduled meetings, planners from both the ROK and U.S. were regularly found in the War Room looking over Manripo beach charts and further refining plans for the assault.
“It is a dynamic environment that can get busy very quickly. It’s interesting to hear two languages in flagplot,” said Operations Specialist 3rd Class Andrew Steiner of PHIBRON 11.
When the ROK command element arrived, Steiner distributed a list of basic Korean phrases for the PHIBRON 11 staff so that the watch standers would have the ability to exchange minor pleasantries with their PHIBRON 53 counterparts.
Despite the language barrier, the two commands agree that the arrangement was a success.
“We relied on each other a lot. It’s interesting to note the evolution and see watch standers increasingly able to communicate with each other directly vice relying exclusively on the translator,” said Tonder.
Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 7 / Task Force (CTF) 76 is the Navy’s only forward-deployed amphibious force. Task Force 76 is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with an operating detachment in Sasebo, Japan.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
