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Historically, the Coast Guard has created and maintained partnerships with many agencies, organizations and countries in order to more successfully carry out its missions on an international scale. Some of these date back to not long after World War II, when the Coast Guard sent advisors to help with the creation of the South Korean Navy. Other partnerships were started even earlier and enjoyed a lasting longevity, such as the Coast Guard’s participation in the International Ice Patrol program with many other nations. Both of these partnerships sought to have their participants work together to reach a common goal through communication and collaborative efforts, and the advanced search and rescue exercise, or ASAREX, is no exception.
ASAREX is an exercise that the Coast Guard recently participated in with the Portuguese Air Force, off the coasts of the Azores islands. The United States Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force also conducted advanced search and rescue operations during this exercise.
“Our search and rescue region borders on Portugal’s, so understanding how RCC (Rescue Coordination Center) Lajes Airbase operates on a daily basis and how we can work together in a partnership is extremely beneficial,” said Capt. Nicole Lively, a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force. “It allows for us to have that extra level of understanding,” said Lt. Andrew Grady, a command duty officer in the United States Coast’s Guard Fifth District RCC in Norfolk, Virginia, recognizes the value of the training exercises carried out in terms of support and stewardship. His part in the exercise involves his presence in the communications center, and he shadows and learns from the Portuguese military personnel working at the RCC in Lajes Airbase. “It's all about being good stewards of the international SAR system, and we all support each other.”
Over a period of five days, the crew of a Coast Guard Airstation Elizabeth City C-130J Hercules aircraft participated in a multitude of search and rescue training scenarios, ranging from providing steady communications to any other assets involved in the simulated events to dropping smoke on a designated target to indicate a survivor’s location in the dark waters around the island chain. Portuguese helicopter and naval vessel crews were also trained in the recovery of survivors, and during another scenario a Royal Canadian Air Force C-130 crew deployed parachute jumpers to provide simulated medical assistance.
“Our main mission is search and rescue within a huge area, one of the biggest in the world and the biggest in Europe,'' said Brigadier-General João Pereira, commanding officer of Lajes Air Base, describing the area of operations the training exercises were conducted in. “ASAREX is an opportunity to bring many players from different parts with different experiences to practice together. Altogether we can learn from each other and improve. It gives us the chance to interact, know the procedures and improve them, which will lead to successful missions. This is a great opportunity for all the players involved, especially since it has gotten harder to get many players together for exercises during the pandemic. This training event proves that it is still possible, while maintaining some limitations and some restrictions to protect everybody, to still carry out exercises. The pandemic does not change the fact that we still need to be ready to respond to any disaster as best we can.”
Participants say that ASAREX allowed 5th District Coast Guard aviators to extend their ability to help those in need even further, and to be an ally for search and rescue operations on an international level. In a service where resources are commonly spread thin, it will always be an advantage to have partners to be able to call upon to complete missions, and a privilege to return the favor.
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.03.2021 09:41 |
| Story ID: | 404505 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 275 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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