The Philippine Army (PA) and the United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) commenced this year’s Exercise Salaknib in an opening ceremony graced by Commanding General, Philippine Army (CGPA) Lt. Gen. Romeo S. Brawner, Jr., and U.S. Army I Corps Commanding General Lt. Gen. Xavier T. Brunson in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija on March 13, 2023.
Salaknib, which will conclude on April 4, 2023, is an Army-to-Army training between the PA and USARPAC. It will include around 3,000 troops from USARPAC's 25th Infantry Division and PA's 5th Infantry Division, 7th Infantry Division and 1st Brigade Combat Team training side-by-side in a spectrum of military operations.
Lt. Gen. Brawner, in his keynote speech, emphasized the value of bilateral training activities such as Salaknib in bolstering the Army’s thrust to shift from internal security to territorial defense. “Indeed, there is much more we can learn from each other, and much more that we can do together, in the interest of Indo-Pacific security and wider security regional connectivity,” Lt. Gen. Brawner remarked.
The training audience will conduct bilateral exercises in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija and other venues in Central Luzon and Northern Luzon. Salaknib’s first phase will precede Exercise Balikatan slated on April 2023 while its second phase is scheduled for the third quarter of 2023. Salaknib (shield in Ilocano) is an annual Army-to-Army exercise geared at strengthening the interoperability of Filipino and American soldiers in a spectrum of military operations.
Photos by Staff Sergeant Cesar P. Lopez PA/ OACPA