Multinational partners engage in Indo-Pacific Army training exercise
FORUM Staff
The United States Army’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) conducted its largest Combat Training Center (CTC) rotation October 7-16, 2024, with exercises spanning from Alaska to Hawaii to Palau.
Military personnel from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, New Zealand, Thailand and the United Kingdom joined U.S. forces for collaborative multidomain, live, virtual and constructive training that simulated complex challenges.
“Interoperability is one of the most important things that we can learn from this exercise because we are getting to work with not just one country but a lot of countries,” said Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Capt. Ali Shareef from the Marine Corps Special Operations Group. “So interoperability is going to take its maximum effect in this exercise.”
The JPMRC rotation demonstrated the U.S. Army’s relentless pursuit of excellence and its commitment to ensuring that the U.S. and its Allies and Partners are prepared for any challenge. In past years, the JPMRC’s three annual rotations have deployed multinational troops to Hawaii’s tropical and jungle terrain, Alaska’s arctic mountains, and to allied and partner nations including Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The U.S. Army established the JPMRC in 2022 as the first CTC outside the continental U.S. in 50 years. As the U.S. Army’s premier Indo-Pacific training center, the JPMRC helps ensure military readiness by providing a realistic training environment that mimics the region’s challenging terrain, ranging from jungles to high-altitude volcanic deserts to archipelagos. The training enables the U.S. and its Allies and Partners to demonstrate combat-credible forces in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
“This allows us to keep trained and ready forces available and forward in the region,” Gen. Charles Flynn, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) commander, said in 2022. “It allows us to generate readiness in environments and in conditions that we’re most likely to operate in. … It allows us to rehearse with a number of joint and multinational partners.”
The JPMRC is a key opportunity for forces to train in austere environments, and to develop leaders, systems and processes that enhance regional capabilities.
During the recent rotation, multinational partners and U.S. Army units tackled the simulated environments to ensure they are prepared to operate cohesively in real-world situations.
The JPMRC format confers significant independence to participants training as opposing forces.
“At JPMRC, we are going to operate as independent as possibly can be – so that’s very exciting. That will give us the opportunity to train in a more realistic scenario and environment than in any other exercise,” MNDF’s Shareef said.
They validated combat and peacetime constructs in a real-time, high-pressure environment. Participants incorporated lessons from other rotations and tested technologies and systems to improve warfighting readiness and ability to respond to crisis or conflict.
“Coming out to the field allows us to do a proof of concept,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Nathan Morgan, a maintenance platoon leader. “With the proper planning and training we can execute major mission functions in any environment.”
Operations staff were critical to executing the largest JPMRC rotation in Hawaii. They ensured units were prepared, synchronized and effective by planning, coordinating and supervising operational and training activities across battalions.
“In the JPMRC timeline, we execute the operations order brief to the brigade commander,” said U.S. Army Capt. Christopher Onorato, an operations officer with a light brigade combat team. “It allows all the subordinate units … to synchronize and work together effectively to ultimately achieve our goal of successful operations for JPMRC.”