Cobra Gold 24 a golden opportunity for Army multi-component training

UNITED STATES

03.07.2024

Story by Staff Sgt. Andrew Goedl  

122nd Theater Public Affairs Support Element

RAYONG PROVINCE, Thailand– During exercises like Cobra Gold, all three U.S. Army components, active duty, guard and reserve, have the opportunity to interact with each other, creating a functional, robust, and complete collective of units, closely simulating an actual deployment supporting the national defense strategy.

Cobra Gold is a multinational exercise including over 30 participating nations led by Thailand and the United States. Now in its 43rd iteration, this exercise demonstrates the long-standing commitment of these nations to train and cooperate in the event of a natural disaster that could require humanitarian assistance.

“Operations like these (Cobra Gold 24) allow the Army to train, experience, and deploy skills that are challenging to replicate with only the active duty Army. The incorporation of joint and multinational partners is invaluable because this is how we must learn to fight for future conflicts,” said U.S. Army Col. Andrew Knight, commanding officer of the 17th Field Artillery Brigade stationed out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Col. Knight is an active duty officer who is also participating in the Cobra Gold 24 exercise.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is the unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region and the Cobra Gold exercise. This exercise is one of the many similar events in the Indo-Pacific theater that promotes inter-component, coordination and execution such as, Yama Sakura in Japan and Keris Strike in Malaysia. To successfully execute these multi component exercises takes great skill and expertise.

“I liaise between active, guard and reserve components requesting assets for exercises (like Cobra Gold) with the intent to include all three components,” said U.S. Army Col. Patrick Blankenship, I Corps assistant chief of staff for civil affairs.

It may not be obvious to most people, but the three Army components are quite different. Active duty soldiers; soldier 365 days-a-year, training with other active duty units regularly, to support the national defense mission. Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers have a minimum duty commitment of one weekend a month and two weeks a year in their respective fields of expertise. While the Reserve component trains to support federal missions, the National Guard trains to support the needs of their state as well as federal missions. Both Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers typically also have civilian careers.

“The other components of the Army (guard, and reserve) add a width and depth of capabilities that can rarely be seen in pure active duty training as many psychological operations, civil affairs, and Air National Guard units have capabilities that the regular Army does not,” said Knight. “All critical enablers help generate effects that the active army struggles to do at the scale that is required for large scale combat operations.”

“The Army has made it a priority to train as we fight, and that includes the integration of all three components,” said Blankenship. The Cobra Gold 24 exercise is co-sponsored by the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States and also features full participation from the Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Republic of Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia, as well as other limited participants, planners, and observers from more than 20 additional nations.

This year’s iteration of Cobra Gold features multinational participation in a command and control planning exercise, humanitarian aid/disaster relief training, a simulated noncombatant evacuation operation, humanitarian civic action projects, and field training exercises with a variety of realistic training events to enhance interoperability and strengthen regional relationships.

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• Date Taken: 03.07.2024
• Date Posted: 03.12.2024 16:03
• Story ID: 465880
• Location: US