US 'Balikatan' director sees exercises reaching multi-lateral level

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 13): US 'Balikatan' director sees exercises reaching multi-lateral level

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga -- US exercise director for "Balikatan 2013" Brig. Richard Simcock III Saturday saw the annual military and humanitarian maneuvers growing bigger and more nations participating in the coming years.

In an interview, the US official said he saw more nations participating in "Balikatan" -- thanks to the useful military and humanitarian and disaster response techniques learned by Filipino and American forces.

In particular, Simcock saw most of Southeast Asia and Australia participating in "Balikatan."

He added this practice will greatly improve security and stability in the region.

Incidentally, Australia has recently concluded a "status of visiting force agreement" with the Philippines, allowing the former to conduct military and engagement with the Filipino defense establishments.

Earlier, an observation team from the Australian Defense Force visited the Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force and Combined Joint Civil Military Operations Task Force (CJCMOTF) last April 6.

“The Australian Defense Force sent a small observer team to exercise Balikatan to look for future opportunities of involvement,” Australian Army Lt. Col. Michael Scott, the head engineer planner of Headquarters Company, 6th Brigade, said.

“We’re looking for opportunities to potentially integrate into future exercises.”

The team received an exercise overview briefing at the JCMOTF headquarters by the JCMOTF Operations officer Lt. Cmdr. Joe Harder.

“They are visiting exercise 'Balikatan 2013' to look for opportunities to participate with partner nations in the years to come,” Harder stated.

“The US is supporting the Australian visit by giving them an overview of how the execution is being conducted and to help identify gaps and capabilities that can expand the effectiveness of the mission vice just coming and doing the same thing which would just add more redundancy to the mission," he added.

Scott said "Balikatan" is a great exercise to observe due to the long-standing relationship between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US military.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=516094