Articles from ARMY Magazine, Headline News, and AUSA News on the U.S. Army and other U.S. Military forces in the Pacific
The vast expanses of ocean and sky that dominate the Indo-Pacific should not distract from the true strategic terrain in the pivotal region, writes the author of a new Association of the U.S. Army Landpower Essay.
Commanders from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Army Pacific and the Japanese, Philippine and Australian armies are among the leaders scheduled to speak at the Association of the U.S. Army’s LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Hawaii.
An international symposium dedicated to land forces in the Indo-Pacific, the three-day event is May 13–15 at the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu. It is expected to draw military leaders from 26 countries, including at least 11 army chiefs.
It is no secret that there is increased urgency to U.S. Army Pacific’s mission in the Indo-Pacific.
Political and military tensions remain elevated across the expanse of the Indo-Pacific Theater.
The Army’s transformation in contact efforts have been extended to its three multidomain task forces, further broadening joint force enabling capabilities in Europe, Africa and the Indo-Pacific.
In the Indo-Pacific, the 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force, the newest of five planned task forces, is growing and testing new capabilities with the joint and multinational force across the region, Col. Mike Rose, the task force’s commander, said March 14 in a call with the media.
More than 7,000 U.S., Japanese and Australian troops participated in an Indo-Pacific Army warfighter exercise that for the first time in decades was held in Japan.
The warfighter exercise, which is the Army’s premier training event for corps and division headquarters to prepare for mission command in large-scale combat operations, was notable in that it took place at the same time as Yama Sakura, an exercise that has been held annually in Japan since 1982.
If Europe was the consequential theater of the 20th century, the relationship between the United States and China will define the 21st century, said Gen. Charles Flynn, commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific.
Reflecting on his four years at the helm of the largest Army service component command, Flynn said his time as commander of the 25th Infantry Division from 2014 to 2016 was vastly different than it is now.
As tensions mount in the Indo-Pacific and eastern Europe, the Army will have an increasingly important, global role, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said.
“[The Army] obviously always played the role of the guarantor of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific theater,” she said. “We have an incredibly important role to play in terms of logistics and sustainment, getting troops, equipment [and] supplies around the theater.”
As the Army fields autonomous capabilities throughout the force, Hawaii-based soldiers demonstrated that new technologies can be incorporated on the move and while in contact, senior leaders in the Indo-Pacific said.
Just back from a six-month Operation Pathways rotation, having spent most of their time training with their counterparts in the Philippines, soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team were observed “changing their mentality” as they adapted to the new technology, said Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, the division commander.
For the first time, XVIII Airborne Corps is conducting a warfighter exercise that simulates contingency operations in the Indo-Pacific Theater under the command of U.S. Army Pacific.
Launched on Aug. 1, the 10-day warfighter, dubbed a “campaign of learning” by senior leaders, is centered on the responsibilities of corps- and division-level staffs and leaders who will plan, prepare and fight against simulated near-peer forces in large-scale combat operations, said Gen. Andrew Poppas, commander of Army Forces Command.
