The training not only brings navies together as a military force, but also as a force to respond to disasters and humanitarian relief situations?
That’s what a new part of this exercise is actually about. We sent our naval expeditionary adaptive response force package to take the lead in this HADR [humanitarian assistance and disaster relief] evolution as they would if they were called on to fill that same role in a real-world event. For us to be able to form a coalition of 22 nations, all with a common goal, to learn the processes that are going to be required when that next crisis or natural disaster hits, you can’t put a price on that. Adm. Fumiyuki Kitagawa was my vice commander. He’s a flotilla commander with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, and he got up in front of everybody and thanked them and told them that because of the experience that he had at past RIMPACs, when Operation Tomadachi [the response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami] came down, they knew exactly what to expect and how to react with their coalition brethren. And so, for us to expand that to now 22 nations, you can’t put a price on it.
The Russian navy Udaloy-class destroyer Admiral Panteleyev (BPK 548) rounds Hospital Point at Pearl Harbor following the at-sea phase of the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2012 was the 23rd exercise in the series that began in 1971. U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Brian Brannon
How do you communicate with all of those different entities to operate effectively together?
We used Centrix throughout the exercise, and we were extremely proud of the fact that we had connectivity with everybody, to include our newest participant, the Russians, for the entire exercise.
And so to be connected across the spectrum of the capability of the ships involved – 40 ships, plus six submarines and 46 total ships – that was a true feather in the cap of the N6 world.
The 18 months of planning was more than just planning the script – it was all the groundwork that had to be done to secure the equipment that would both be installed on certain ships of certain countries as well as flyaway equipment. So there was a lot of behind-the-scenes work that was done, but it all worked. We never once lost connectivity for any appreciable time. We considered that a huge victory.
Having proven this capability, I feel confident we can establish coalition task groups for any purpose and be able to communicate effectively.
What kind of feedback have you received from the participating forces?
Every one of the other 21 countries debriefed me. They thanked us for inviting them this year and told us they would definitely be back in 2014. And they said “we want more.” We have a responsibility now to put boundaries as to where this exercise really needs to go next. So that’s what the leadership team and I are in the process of doing, is formulating those recommendations to the Pacific Fleet commander as to where we go with 2014. I don’t envision it being any smaller. I know for a fact there are other nations that are going to want to come and play. The ground rule for RIMPAC is you have to observe one before you can participate and bring resources and assets. We only had really a few nations that actively participated in the HADR part of RIMPAC; but we had several that watched every evolution of it and at the debrief they all raised their hand and said, “we want to play in that.”
So you would call RIMPAC 2012 a success?
We brought 25,000 additional people to the Pearl Harbor area just for RIMPAC. Although some of us had been together at these planning conferences and formed relationships, we hadn’t yet formed relationships with the ships and the crews. We had very spirited athletic competitions. If you’ve seen the movie Battleship, the opening scene says “RIMPAC 2012.” We saw the premiere in Hollywood earlier in the year, and it was like, “Wait a minute … that’s us! That hasn’t happened yet!” It was actually filmed during RIMPAC 2010, but it was about RIMPAC 2012. In the movie, there is a very spirited soccer competition between Japan and the United States, which Japan ends up winning. The captain of the Japanese ship and a Navy lieutenant get into a scuffle and trade black eyes and bloody noses, and then they become best friends, and then they save the world. So, I mean, it was believable – surface warriors at their finest. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Leading Seaman Chris Gonzalez (goal keeper) of HMAS Darwin punches clear the ball during an attack from USS Chosin (CG 65) in the international soccer competition, held as part of the harbour phase of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, July 5, 2012. Australian Defence Force photo by Cpl. Chris Dickson
At the leadership level, our message was that our success or our failure in RIMPAC will not be measured by our performance at sea. It will most likely be measured by our performance – our conduct and behavior – ashore. And those of us that have been in leadership positions, you know it’s up to each one of our sailors and Marines individually to actually carry out that order, if you will. So, for us to have 25,000 sailors, soldiers, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen that were visitors to the island of Hawaii, and come away with zero liberty incidents, it was a real testament not only to the leaders of those individual countries but, more importantly to me, it was a testament to the professionalism of the sailors themselves, and I couldn’t be more proud of that fact.
The Navy has shown a real interest in developing alternative fuels for both remote locations ashore and ships and aircraft at sea. A major goal of RIMPAC 2012 was the Great Green Fleet demonstration. How did that go?
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, came out to see USS Nimitz, Chafee, Princeton, Chung Hoon, and the oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser take part in this demonstration. This demonstration proved the point that we can continue to fly on biofuel – so we can fly aircraft and steam our ships with no degradation of performance or lasting effects to or impacts to the fuel tanks on the ships. We’ve been testing this for three years now. And so from a pure demonstration, it was a huge success. We had an Australian helicopter land on the deck, and we pumped it full of this biofuel. But the main message in this whole demonstration was to signify to the American people and to the rest of the world that, once again, the U.S. Navy is out in front, leading technology. So what we’ve done as our part [is] shown that it works, we can burn it, and we don’t lose a thing. The Navy’s portion of the cost today has really been minimal. And now we’ve proven the concept. So now it’s up to industry to get the price down to where we can use it.
See: SINKEX Live-fire Exercises Deliver Realistic Training
This interview was first published in Defense: Winter 2013 Edition.