Balikatan: Pinoy soldiers teach US troops how to survive in PH environment

Amid the ongoing Balikatan joint military exercise between the Philippines and the United States, Filipino soldiers are also teaching American soldiers how to fight and survive in the country's harsh environment.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday, PA spokesperson Colonel Louie Dema-ala said that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) provides a complement in the “gaps” of US forces when it comes to their capabilities.

“Not only doon sa modern equipment, but also ‘yung basic skills, lalong lalo na sa environment—’yung survivability nung individual soldiers dito sa environment natin. ‘Yun ang tinuturo sa mga Amerikano na kalahok sa Balikatan,” Dema-ala said.

(We also teach them the basic skills, especially how to adapt to the environment—the survivability of individual soldiers here in our environment. That's what we teach the US soldiers who participate in Balikatan.)

Aside from their jungle survival skills, the Army official noted that Filipino soldiers could stand alongside US forces in the largest iteration of the joint military exercise between the two nations as they themselves are also updated in terms of training.

“Kayang-kaya nating sumabay with other countries kasi tinitignan naman natin dito not necessarily the capabilities, but also ‘yung skills and how we effectively employ itong capabilities,” he said. 

(We could keep up with other countries because what we are looking at here are not necessarily the capabilities, but also the skills and how we effectively employ these capabilities.)

This year’s Balikatan commenced on April 22, and will run until May 10.

The AFP deployed 5,000 personnel, mainly from Northern Luzon Command and Western Command to take part in the exercise.

From the US, around 11,000 personnel participated, including 3,700 US marines, 1,200 soldiers, 4,000 US Navy personnel, 400 airmen and Air National Guardsmen, as well as 750 members of the US Special Operations forces.

Among other allies, the Australians also sent a contingent from 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment while France for the first time took part and was represented by the frigate Vendemiaire.

For the first time since its inception, military forces of the Philippines, the US and France conducted exercises outside the territorial waters of the country—beyond 12 nautical miles or 22.22 kilometers off the west coast of Palawan.—RF, GMA Integrated News