Thread: TEN NATIONS, ONE OPERATION

TEN NATIONS, ONE OPERATION

Annual training exercise in New Zealand includes S.D. Marines and sailors

By Tristan Nichols12:01 A.M.DEC. 29, 2013

Towns, ports and even farms in New Zealand were transformed into realistic military training scenes during a huge exercise last month involving 10 countries.

Dozens of San Diego-based U.S. Marines and sailors have returned from the three-week Exercise Southern Katipo, which aimed to enhance combat skills, readiness and multinational operability.

The annual exercise brought together 2,200 servicemen and servicewomen from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, France, Britain, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Tonga and the United States.

About 80 Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton and Miramar took part in the exercise, which featured simulated military scenarios aimed at preparing them for future crisis-response operations.

During the exercise, which was staged in South Canterbury towns, ports and farms, Marine Maj. Daniel Atkinson was the deputy logistics officer on the New Zealand Defense Force Deployable Joint Task Force Headquarters.

Atkinson, 38, who normally is with Camp Pendleton’s Combat Logistics Regiment 15, 1st Marine Logistics Group, said the servicemen and women got valuable experience.

“Marines were able to deploy to the Pacific, serve alongside coalition partners, and observe their processes and procedures at the tactical level,” Atkinson said.

“This gained invaluable experience for the Marines; many were deploying to the Pacific for the first time.

“As we share our experiences through the after-action process and interaction with other Marines, it will build a common understanding of New Zealand’s capabilities, making future engagements more beneficial.”

The San Diego-based Marines and sailors were joined on the exercise by about 80 Army soldiers from 2nd Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

Southern Katipo was a scenario in which the lower half of New Zealand’s South Island was turned into a made-up Pacific nation called “Mainlandia.”

Military leaders described it as being a realistic and challenging Joint Inter-Agency Task Force exercise that strengthened relationships between nations and improved their ability to work bilaterally and multilaterally.

During the exercise, which was staged from Nov. 9-25, training included jungle operations — including offensive and defense maneuvers — navigation, field skills and patrolling; air tactical movement; and force-on-force tactical exercises.

There were also shipboard familiarization drills, rehearsals with timing and ship-to-shore connectors, rapid response planning, an amphibious offload, seizure of multiple objectives ashore and reconstitution.

U.S. training exercises in New Zealand are staged annually.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 2nd Marine Division practicing beach landings at Mahia on New Zealand’s North Island.

These practice landings were deemed to be hugely significant as the U.S. Marine forces trained in New Zealand in preparation for their island-hopping campaign across the Pacific that led to the eventual defeat of Japanese forces in World War II.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/...one-operation/

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