CLARK AIR BASE, Philippines - Transporting thousands of personnel from different countries to one location in a short amount time is no easy feat. Accordingly, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines work together with the Philippine Air Force at the Joint Reception Center located, at Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Philippines, to integrate more than 2,500 military personnel for the upcoming 2016 Balikatan exercise April 4-14.
“We must be able to track and process the personnel in order for them to be authorized to participate in the exercise,” said Sgt. 1st Class Antwoine Collins, JRC Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, 10th Support Group (Regional). “Establishing the JRC is the first step in getting the exercise starting. Filling out the paperwork to process through Immigrations and Customs is extremely important.”
As the first stop for all military personnel participating in the Balikitan Exercise, each individual is processed through the Reception Station Onward Integration system that allows the JRC to track all personnel throughout the exercise.
“It’s my first time being in the Philippines and being a part of the exercise,” said U.S. Marine Cpl. Michael Horn, JRC Marine Air Ground Task Force planner, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force. “It shows me how important it is to account for each individual and ensure that they are taken care of coming in and going out of the country.”
Being able to see the scale of the exercise is something the JRC personnel find most interesting.
“Here at Clark Air Base, we get to see how important this exercise is to both countries,” said Horn. “I’m very proud to be a part of this and work along side our Pilipino counterparts to share stories, work together and become friends.”
That cooperation is critical to the success of the mission. The JRC’s ability to process military personnel into the country has gotten faster every day.
“We’ve been able to streamline our processes to ensure that they spend very little time waiting,” said Collins. “We are able to process more than 200 personnel in as little as 45 minutes. Most airlines with a full staff and facilities, takes longer than that.”
As most of the military personnel are already arrived and have been processed, the JRC is preparing and planning for the redeployment of military forces from the Philippines once the exercise is complete.