SAF COMPLETES MULTILATERAL EXERCISE IN THAILAND

Exercise Cobra Gold, one of the largest multilateral military exercises in the region, ended on 22 Feb with a simple ceremony. The annual exercise, which began on 11 Feb in Chiang Mai, Thailand, saw participants from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF), United States Pacific Command (US PACOM), Japan Self-Defence Force, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, Indonesian National Defence Forces and Malaysian Armed Forces focusing on peace support and stabilisation operations.

The SAF's 48-member contingent was led by Commander 9th Division Brigadier-General Chia Choon Hoong. During the exercise, the SAF personnel assumed the role of staff planners for the Multinational Combined Task Force, alongside their counterparts from the other participating nations.

Besides peace support and stabilisation operations, Exercise Cobra Gold also aimed to promote mutual understanding, friendship and professionalism among the participants.

Throughout the entire exercise, participants from the participating countries had to overcome their cultural differences as well as language barriers so as to conceptualise and develop the best peace support and stabilisation operation plan for the exercise.

"The main challenge at very beginning part of the exercise was to better understand each other's differences... However, after the first few days, we were able to break that barrier and work more efficiently and I did not see any more barriers that stopped my cell from functioning", said Military Expert (ME) 7 Daniel Chua, who headed of the Logistics Cell.

Chief of Staff of the Multinational Combined Task Force, Major-General (MG) Sutat Jarumanee from the RTARF said that Exericse Cobra Gold served as an excellent platform to enhance interoperability among participating countries. He added that it also underscored the importance of gaining a better understanding of each other's cultural as well as working differences before they could embark on the planning phase. "Understanding each other is the key aspect for this exercise... we are socialising on a common platform to develop a well-coordinated plan," said MG Sutat.

On the sidelines of the exercise, an SAF team, together with the US PACOM and the RTARF, constructed a multi-purpose hall and sanitation facilities for the local population under a socio-civic action programme.

Representatives from 10 other countries were also involved in this year's exercise as observers. The SAF has been a full participant of Exercise Cobra Gold since 2000, having sent observers to the exercise from 1993 to 1999.