BRADSHAW ARMY AIRFIELD, HI — As part of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016, various U.S. Special Forces units teamed up to prepare themselves for top-notch humanitarian response to the next disaster. On July 8-9, specially trained Marines and Airmen worked together to ensure they are ready to respond to the call of duty.
As part of the drill, Marines from other units not participating in the exercise would role-play victims for the task force to rescue. The active marines trekked the hilly landscape of Hawaii, and gathered vital information about the lay of the land and the state of the emergency. All of the recon obtained by the marines was then passed to the team of Special Tactics Airmen. In the morning, the Airmen would use this information to determine the best way of reaching those who required aid.
RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii. It is hosted and administered by the United States Navy’s Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Pearl Harbor, in conjunction with the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and Hawaii National Guard forces under the control of the Governor of Hawaii.
“The speed in which our joint force can answer to the range of military operations is substantial,” U.S. Air Force Capt., mission commander for the task force told Shadowspear. “We’ve been investing into this concept for some time aiming at creating increased contingency response value for our commanders and now we’re using the RIMPAC exercise platform to capture that value and formalize it.”
The full original report on the exercise can be read on Shadowspear’s website here.
(H/T Shadowspear)
July 15th, 2016