PHL, US soldiers find "Balikatan" 'fruitful, engaging'

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 13): PHL, US soldiers find "Balikatan" 'fruitful, engaging'

FORT RAMON MAGSAYSAY, Palayan City -- As an American KC-130, the US Armed Forces’ version of C-130, was about to touch down at the aviation runway here, Capt. Michael Smith narrated how the air vessel refuels fighter planes on air during combat operations.

Smith, of the tanker Squadron of the US Marines, heads a team of contingents from his unit based in Okinawa, Japan for this year’s "Balikatan" (shoulder to shoulder) military exercises with their Filipino counterparts at the aviation command inside this vast military reservation.

The “K’ for the KC-130, a Filipino officer explained, indicates that the huge aircraft is used for refueling aircraft in the air.

Smith said That KC-130 was brought for the exercises to further interoperability training for humanitarian and relief operations.

The aircraft touched down the runway 10 times as a Philippine helicopter was being secured by a number of heavily armed soldiers in a scene of relief and humanitarian mission in a disaster-ravaged area.

Cpl. Nick Oiomo of the California-based US Army National Guard, on the other hand, said his team has a remarkable experience in squad live fire maneuver at the Fernandez Hill here with Filipino soldiers from 808th Infantry Battalion of 2nd Infantry Division.

The Filipinos are using M-16 Armalite rifles while his contingents use M-4, basically the same but smaller version of the former, Oiomo said.

Filipino soldiers, he said, are speedy even as their maneuver tactics have slight differences, he said.

“We learned from them, they learned from us,” he added.

He said the exchange of information was vital in their interoperability exercises.

Filipino American Harol Cajucom, 21, who settled in the US since he was 2 years old, described tactical exchanges with local soldiers as “engaging.”

He was born in Quezon City to parents who are native of Cabanatuan City.

“We are learning from them,” he said.

First Lt. Rogecil Labajo, commanding officer of 808th IB, said his unit never had hard time catching up with the training that was facilitated by the US forces.

“Our troops are trained well so whatever difference our strategies had with those of our counterparts are easily patched up, we have the grasp,” Labajo said.

The "Balikatan" military exercises ends on April 19.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=516095