Some three and a half years after the President introduced the whole-of-government focus on the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) is balanced and furthering U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) strategic objectives while building and sustaining Army readiness.
Among the investment in forces and resources the Army has made in this theater, the establishment of a Theater Joint Force Land Component Command (TJFLCC) and assignment of the I Corps and 25th Infantry Division are key, yielding strategic and readiness dividends today. When joined with existing full combined arms maneuver capabilities under Eighth Army on the Korean Peninsula; the forward-positioned ground-based air and missile defenses on continuous alert; and, the continuously committed Theater Enabling Commands of the Pacific -- the Army presence is robust and operating now, providing a wide array of options to the Commander of USPCOM. With these capabilities, the leaders, Soldiers and Civilians in USARPAC capitalize upon the complexity of Area of Operation (AOR) and leverage joint and combined opportunities making this theater the world's largest "innovation" laboratory -- where creativity, military innovations and experimentation are embraced.
On an average day, approximately 5,000 USARPAC Soldiers are deployed away from home bases, engaging and operating in more than 10 of the 34 nations in the theater and on global missions like the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. USARPAC's 106,000 personnel operate in an area that spans across 9,000 miles and 16 time zones. They operate in tailored, task organized teams alongside partners and allies building interoperability, trust and increasing readiness in new ways. While principally stationed in the central and northern Pacific, key work must be done west of the International Date Line in the Southeast Asia region, thus, the forte of US Army Pacific is the projection of forces from our home stations and bases to areas where we deter, reassure, and engage countries of the region.
USARPAC is actively employing the Army Operating Concept through innovations like Pacific Pathways and building readiness at several echelons of organization, simultaneously -- from the theater and joint level of four-star headquarters through the Corps, Division, Brigade Combat Team levels and their subordinates.
Pacific Pathways provides the U.S. with an extended presence increasing the number of land forces in the region, simultaneously building readiness across multiple echelons throughout each exercise and deepening relationships in the region. Pacific Pathways also serves as an engine driving the way we operate with land forces opening new opportunities for changing relationships among countries.
BUILDING JOINT INTEROPERABILITY
USPACOM's establishment of the Theater Joint Force Land Component Command (TJFLCC), led by USARPAC, provides the Combatant Commander not only a means to synchronize land-force activities during persistent engagement and contingency operations, but, an accurate, timely, persistent Common Operating Picture (COP) of all land-force activities occurring throughout the theater. This COP capability provides Commanders necessary information on disparate land-components' activities. Fusing the data systems like the Global Command and Control Systems, both Joint and Army (GCCS-J & GCCS-A), the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A), and the Combined Information Data Network Exchange (CIDNE) into a common picture has been a major achievement over the past year.
I CORPS & 25TH INFANTRY DIVISION
The assignment of I Corps to USARPAC provides a 3-star Joint Task Force (JTF) capable headquarters able to execute mission command over tailorable, scalable, and regionally aligned conventional forces, fully integrating other service components to conduct unified land operations for the USPACOM AOR.
As the only Corps headquarters that resides in the continental U.S. but is continuously operating as an assigned force within a Combatant Command, America's Corps generates readiness in all of the combat and combat support brigades of the Army of the Pacific, less those committed on the Korean Peninsula, and is the operational headquarters continuously planning and executing Pacific Pathways operations.
The 25th Infantry Division, as the primary tactical mission command headquarters for operations outside of Korea and Japan, is charged with conducting numerous operations west of the International Date Line. The brisk pace of their operations and their routine application of the Early Entry Command Post forward into the region, exercises and stresses their reach-back concept with their Main Command Post (MCP). The MCP then generates forces into readiness and deploys them into the region for use. The 25th Infantry Division "Tropic Lighting" is the partner of choice among many nations in the region and is one of the Army's busiest divisions.
PACIFIC THEATER INNOVATION
In USARPAC we actively seek opportunities and creative ways to ways to build our readiness to respond in a time of need; shape the region for greater security and economic prosperity; and, achieve better posturing of our forces, our equipment, and our relationships. In these ways we are in a better position to meet future challenges.
Over the past year we have seen an increase in land force participation in joint events extending beyond the land domain, like the 2014 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime exercise where unique land force capabilities were added to the joint team. Sharing resources, jointly, makes those resources go further and builds a collective readiness to respond, jointly, to unforeseen requirements.
Established in 2014 in conjunction with Army Materiel Command, the USARPAC Emerging Capabilities Coordination Cell (EC3) links the U.S. Army in the Pacific with industry partners across the globe. In USARPAC we are look at two principle ways to engage industry as a force multiplier and critical enabler: using existing technology in different ways (innovations), and, finding and employing technologies that show promise to fill capability gaps in the theater (initiatives).
TOTAL ARMY FORCE
USARPAC is inherently a multi-component command and draws great strength from the USARPAC/PACOM-assigned Reserve Forces and aligned Army National Guard commands of the Pacific. Leveraging the extensive capabilities resident in the Reserve Components is another key aspect of how we operate. Moreover, in concert with the Chief of the Army Reserve, USARPAC established the U.S. Army's first Army Reserve Engagement Cell, led by a Brigadier General to provide greater access to units of the U.S. Army Reserve Command who further apply their unique capabilities to enhance and broaden our Total Force reach in the region.
SECURITY COOPERATION PROGRAM
The work we do has merit because of people -- the people we lead in our land forces and the people with whom we interact in the countries of the region. The human domain is where we do our business. In a region that contains more than 50% of the world's population, we are seeing an increase of multilateral events where before only bilateral events might have been possible. Military-to-military engagements, among land forces of the Pacific, are being acknowledged as foundational to national level country-to-country relationships, opening doors that were previously closed and guarded. This is the true impact of land forces in the human domain.
CHINA
A strong China-U.S. relationship is vital to both our nations. This relationship includes a healthy, stable, reliable and continuous military-to-military relationship, fostered by our numerous bilateral and multilateral contacts that offer a broad foundation for increasing cooperation. Trust is being built slowly and steadily as U.S. Army Soldiers and People's Liberation Army Soldiers are increasing face-to-face and on-the-ground interactions as counterparts. Most notably, in the last year, were two field events -- one, a Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response exchange (bilateral US and China) in China, and, the other, a field survival event (trilateral with Australia, US, and China) in the harsh environment of the Australian Outback. These cooperative, confidence-building exchanges are strategically important in light of currently contested air and maritime domains within the region.
INDIA
India is a contributor of stability and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific and, we observe, increasing its leadership role in the region. The recent interaction between Prime Minister Modi and President Obama signals a positive trend in our two countries' relationship. As democratic nations, both with volunteer Armies, we share many common values. As our national relationship strengthen, we continue to enhance our Army-to-Army one. There is reasonable cause for optimism in the Army-to-Army engagements as we see increasing interest from Indian Army counterparts in conducting robust exercises, and developing agreements that will enhance military cooperation around the region.
OTHER INSTITUTIONS
Finally, an important aspect of the U.S. strategic rebalance to the Indo-Asia-Pacific is the strengthening of regional institutions. USARPAC engages with such existing regional institutions as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit, and the Pacific Islands Forum, to promote regional rules and norms and facilitate cooperation in addressing shared economic and security challenges. The professional example of our Soldiers and leaders provides a powerful currency in these international engagements as we seek to impart similar patterns of professionalism in other militaries and impacting, positively, the relationships within their governments and societies. This contributes to regional stability and prosperity.
It takes a team to do the work we do, work that is best done with partners. And that is what we are leveraging across the region: more cooperation that prevents miscalculation; more professional militaries emerging from difficult days of internal violence toward credible external defenses that contribute to regional security and prosperity; and more countries and land forces working multilaterally to expand the fabric of those who can respond. In these ways, the U.S. Army, as part of the joint team, protects our nation while building trust and capabilities in innovative and exciting ways with our allies and partners.
One Team!
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