Exercise Cobra Gold ‘09
As part of the Army Public Affairs blogger roundtable, I had the opportunity to speak with Lieutenant General Benjamin R. Mixon, Commanding General, U. S. Army, Pacific, about the 28th annual Exercise Cobra Gold being conducted in Chiang Mai, Thailand from February 4 – 17.
The multi-lateral exercise, involving the United States, Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan, will consist of a computer-simulated command post exercise, field training, live-fire exercises, humanitarian services, and civic assistance projects. Exercise Cobra Gold will engage over 7,000 service members from Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine units and marks the second occasion that the Army National Guard will participate in tactical training. This year, the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, representing the New York Army National Guard will be participating.
LTG Mixon commended the professionalism of the National Guard, “I think that as we look at the rotations and the extended dwell time that we anticipate our forces getting from the war, we’ll begin to transition to use a mix of active and National Guard. National Guard units have stepped up to the plate. And quite frankly, with the combat experience that most of those units have, we see little to no difference between their participation in these types of exercises and active duty forces.”
Speaking on the importance of the NCO Corps’ contribution to Exercise Cobra Gold, LTG Mixon described NCO’s as “absolutely essential” to the training being conducted. The NCO’s will lead most of the training and will have the greatest tactical interface with the Thai’s, he added.
Pointing out that 2009 is The Year of the Noncommissioned Officer, LTG Mixon emphasized the importance of the NCO Corps to US Army military operations and highlighted that the Senior NCO’s on his staff are “present and visible” to the other participating countries. “The other armies can see that our NCOs not only do tactical training but they’re a valuable part of all of our headquarters’ operations, even one at the level of U.S. Army Pacific.”
I participated in Cobra Gold ’98. It was a great experience and it highlights the importance of NCO’s in operational planning, as well as, tactical execution. I was an Assistant Operations Sergeant in the S-3 shop, who through fate or misfortune, was also certified to ship Hazardous Materials. The U.S. Army trained and then entrusted a Staff Sergeant with this responsibility; few other armies would do that. I also had the opportunity to serve as a Liaison with a Thai Infantry battalion. I saw firsthand how skilled and professional the Thai NCO’s are, but how they had much fewer responsibilities than U.S. Army NCO’s. So, I appreciate LTG Mixon’s accurate assessment of the importance of NCO’s.
For more information on Exercise Cobra Gold, go to:
www.usarpac.army.mil/cobragold.html