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National scene: TNI holds joint exercise with USPACOM
The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) are holding a week-long joint exercise in Jakarta
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he Indonesian Military (TNI) and the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) are holding a week-long joint exercise in Jakarta. The exercise, codenamed Gema Bhakti 2016, will be held until Tuesday next week.
“The joint exercise this time is meant to increase cooperation between the TNI and USPACOM in handling national disasters. This exercise is also meant for information and experience sharing between the two countries,” assistant to the TNI chief for military operations, Maj. Gen. Agung Risdhianto said in a speech written for the opening ceremony of the joint exercise at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Central Jakarta. The speech was delivered by his deputy Commodore Harjo Susmoro.
Agung expressed hope that the joint exercise could be used as a forum to increase mutual trust between the two countries and the two institutions, while maintaining mutual respect.
“At the end, hopefully we can achieve the shared goal of close coordination between both our countries and institutions,” Agung said. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. John Hillyer of USPACOM said Gema Bhakti 2016 was a joint military exercise at the operational level that was not focused on details, but had been constructed to translate strategic guidelines into operational guidelines so that they could be used in the efforts to produce effective responses.
Hillyer said further that participants in the joint exercise came from various backgrounds so that the organizers needed to draw up general guidelines for its implementation.
“The general guidelines include the procedures, called Multinational Force Standing Operating Procedures, which function as the general guidelines for all countries in planning and organizing joint operations in multinational contingencies worldwide,” he said,
In all 136 participants are involved in this year’s Gema Bhakti joint exercise, including 79 personnel from the TNI, 54 participants from USPACOM and three Indonesian civilians from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI). the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
