HADR IS WHERE “WE COME TOGETHER, TRAIN TOGETHER AND ACTION TOGETHER”
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Saturday 15 June 2013 – This afternoon a briefing session was held where the respective groups under the Exercise Controller for the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Humanitarian and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine Exercise (HADR & MM Ex) presented reports to the steering committee of the exercise.
The objective of the briefing was to update on the progress and preparation for the multinational exercise. The steering committee comprises of Brunei Darussalam, People’s Republic of China, Japan, Republic Singapore, and Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
At the end of the briefing, the Chairman of the ADMM-Plus multinational exercise, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Tamit, Joint Force Commander Royal Brunei Armed Forces shared his insights on the preparation of the exercise.
He stated that extensive preparations have been undertaken so as to ensure that the planning aspect of the exercise is solid. On infratructure side, the First Admiral stated that the Multi-National Coordination Centre (MNCC) has been completed. The MNCC, he added, is the core of all coordination, planning and execution of commands from various participating nations. These nations have put up their officers as chiefs of staff as well as operators at the command centre to ensure that the exercise is well coordinated, executed and planned properly and safely conducted. He also emphasized that the command-operating picture is important, and hence the MNCC is an essential element of this exercise.
The First Admiral further stated that with the involvement of 18 ADMM-Plus countries, some nations have had the opportunity to work together either bilaterally or trilaterally. But for some, he added, it is their first time to participate in a multilateral setting. In light of this, it is important to first integrate these forces prior to the exercise proper. The Force Integration Training (FIT) was planned for this purpose and to ensure that all components at command levels, such as troops on the ground, medical, air, naval, engineering, and supporting components which is inclusive of logistics support come together, work together to ensure that every player knows and understand the exercise standard operating procedure (SOP) that has been produced by steering committee members. He also added that the SOP has little oversights and can be followed by all troops effectively.
So this integration, he added, will not only allow everyone to work together but also know one another personally from those various countries. So for FIT to be implemented, during the exercise the troops will know their buddies personally, which is a must.
The First Admiral also stated that the feedback received so far has been positive. This, he hopes will be sustained throughout the exercise, as well as beyond the exercise. The First Admiral also went to reflect some points from the steering committee. For example, he stated that china has contributed a lot of use on how things to be conducted during the exercise, while Vietnam contributed on HADR element and in the production of SOP. On military medicine, he added, Singapore and Japan has came up extensive preparation prior to arrival of forces, to ensure all steering committee members and troops are well ahead of other troops and hence prepare for the successful conduct of the exercise.
As chairman of the ADMM-Plus multinational joint exercise, the First Admiral expressed his pleasure and excitement in seeing the results or outcome of the extensive planning, that had taken place since last year from the Initial Planning Conference (IPC), Mid-Planning Conference (MPC), and Final Planning Conference (FPC), taking shape as planned. It is indeed a big endeavour, the First Admiral added, for himself and for the host country Brunei Darussalam to undertake such a big initiative and deliverable, especially as Brunei Darussalam holds the stewardship for the ADMM and ADMM-Plus this year. He also added that, to receive positive feedback from the 18 participating countries in an inaugural exercise is a very good thing from Brunei Darussalam. The First Admiral admitted that, as Chairman of the exercise, he cannot deliver this exercise alone. It is obviously the hardwork of the host country staff, as well as steering committee member staff, who came together and worked together to ensure the planning is put into details so that the exercise can take place.
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2ND ASEAN MILITARIES’ HADR EXERCISE
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sunday 16 June 2013 – The Second ASEAN Militaries’ Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise, dubbed 2nd AHX, was held today at the Warrant Officers’ Mess, Muara Naval Base.
Opening the event was the welcoming remarks of the Co-Chairman of the 2nd AHX, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Tamit, Joint Force Commander Royal Brunei Armed Forces and Brigadier General Ngien Hoon Ping, Singapore Armed Forces’ Director of Operation. The program outline for the event is divided into two separate sessions, namely the Symposium and Professional Exchanges and the tale top exercise based on humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) scenario.
In the symposium and professional exchanges, for the first part, four participating countries conveyed their presentations: Brunei presented on “The role of National Disaster Management Centre in HADR mechanism”; Indonesia presented on “The First ASEAN Regional Forum Disaster Relief Exercise (ARF DiRex) in Manado in 2011”; Malaysia presented on “Insight on Malaysian Armed Forces Humanitarian Assistance and Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Program”; the Philippines presented on “The role of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in HADR Operations and National Coordination”.
In the second part of the symposium and professional exchanges session, three presentation were heard from: Thailand on “National experience in HADR response to the 2011 floods”; Vietnam briefing on “Vietnam’s People Army’s Experience in HADR Operations”; and ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) on “The role of AHA Centre in regional operational coordination on HADR response.”
Prior to the close of the 2nd AHX, there was a video presentation and summary of the conduct of the table top exercise by the Co-Chairs from Brunei Darussalam and Republic of Singapore. This was later followed by the closing remarks from Major General Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin, Commander of Royal Brunei Armed Forces and Major General Ng Chee Meng, Chief of Defence Force Singapore Armed Forces. At the end of the exercise, there was a group photo session and signing of parchments.
The inaugural AHX was held in July 2011, co-hosted by Indonesia and Republic of Singapore. The inaugural exercise had set the foundation for practical cooperation and military-to-military coordination between ASEAN militaries. With the 2nd AHX, the foundation will build upon the positive progress that the region has witnessed since the first exercise, in further promoting the capacity-building, interoperability and interaction between ASEAN militaries.
Participating countries at the 2nd AHX are Brunei Darussalam as host country, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Republic of the Philippines, Republic of Singapore, Kingdom of Thailand and Socialist Republic of Vietnam.