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RAYONG, Thailand - Last year, during Exercise Cobra Gold 2011 Marines and their multinational military partners trained for the non-combatant evacuation operation and a few days later, a disaster struck Japan. The Marines put this training to the test during Operation Tomodachi.
With their knowledge reinforced by training, military families and personnel were safely evacuated during the non-combatant evacuation operation conducted on military bases in mainland Japan. The U.S. military conducted more than 15 non-combatant evacuation operations since 1976 and non-combatant evacuation operations training remains an important military training.
Royal Thai Marines, U.S. Marines, Japan Self-Defense Force personnel, Malaysian and Singaporean forces all participated in the simulated non-combatant evacuation operations here during Exercise Cobra Gold Feb. 12.
Non-combatant evacuation operation is designed to assist the Department of State in evacuating U.S. citizens, Department of Defense civilian personnel, and third country nationals whose lives are in danger in a foreign nation. During a non-combatant evacuation operation, a military force deploys, they temporarily occupy an objective and withdrawal upon completion of the evacuation.
“Because of operations like Operation Tomodachi, this type of training is essential for conducting [NEO] effectively. Cobra Gold enhances our multinational force capabilities in these operations,” said Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Col. Katsuo Tarumi with Japan Self-Defense Force Joint Staff.
Role-playing evacuees were met with several security checkpoints before boarding the aircraft. The role-players were volunteers from local and regional embassies from surrounding nations. They were received, inspected and screened based on their national origin; after screening they were separated into groups and were picked up for transportation in two CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters.
“The cooperation between the services was terrific,” added U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Joseph D. Ross, Combat Logistics Battalion 31 military police chief, “We worked hand-in-hand, almost like we were all one unit.”
Royal Thai Marine Sgt. Chattachi Kiripob believes that even if a real world non-combatant evacuation operation doesn’t require all countries to cooperate, it’s still important for everyone working abroad to know what to do.
“Without this training, we would be unable to blend together well if called upon to do a large-scale NEO,” said Kiripob.
Overall the training was received well by the Marines and soldiers participating. “Our Marines reinforced their [NEO training] by teaching [their skills] to other militaries. Doing so, they actively applied those skills practically,” said U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Zachary Duncan, security force commander for the non-combatant evacuation operations with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The end result of the operation demonstrated the unity and capability of the multilateral force and provided credibility to the military alliances, added Tarumi. “Everyone had their game-face on and if it were the real thing, I’m sure it would have gone smoothly,” said U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Carlos Sahagun with the non-combatant evacuation operation security element, CLB-31, 31st MEU. “I saw a lot of cooperation from all militaries supporting the operation.”
The exercise is an annual multinational combined joint training exercise held throughout the Kingdom of Thailand. It is the largest multilateral exercise in the Asia-Pacific region and offers more than 20 participating countries critical training opportunities improving interoperability in conducting multinational operations.
| Date Taken: | 02.14.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.14.2012 22:42 |
| Story ID: | 83862 |
| Location: | RAYONG, TH |
| Web Views: | 80 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NEO: An essential part of multilateral training, by Cpl Justin Wheeler, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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