Dynamic joint and multinational exercises like Croix du Sud sharpen readiness,
build interoperability and reinforce our ability to fight, win and prevail throughout the
most geographically diverse and consequential region on the planet.
(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brady Ellis) VIEW ORIGINAL
NOUMÉA, New Caledonia—Soldiers from the 962nd Quartermaster Mortuary Affairs Company are being challenged physically and mentally at the commando obstacle courses during Exercise Croix du Sud 25, on April 23, 2025. Exercise Croix du Sud is a joint military training exercise in New Caledonia focusing on disaster relief, crisis events, and enhancing partnership and interoperability, of military personnel from 18 countries.
Adjudant Jordan Goeury, an active duty soldier with approximately 20 years of active duty service including time with the French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC) and with a French Infantry Regiment from Perpignan, France, is the person who ensures these challenges are safe, challenging, and instructive as a training planner and a course instructor.
Goeury emphasizes that all military participants must "fight their fear," as they go through the FANC's two commando obstacle courses one on the water and one in a climbing harness because military personnel must be versatile and ready to take on any obstacle.
Spc. Julie Marie Cruz, who went through each obstacle course on April 23, 2025 with the rest of her unit, the 962nd Quartermaster Mortuary Affairs Company, said this training is mutually beneficial for the FANC and U.S. Army soldiers who participate because they can learn military technical skills from each other.
"It makes us refresh what we were taught in basic training, but then it also shows us how the French Army works and how they implement their soldiering skills," she said. "Along with the water obstacle course, it shows us how fast they are, what they do, how they react in certain situations, and how they can help us react in that way as well."
The climbing course consists of a block of instruction on how to rappel with the proper posture and hand braking technique, so that participants descend in a controlled manner. In a final test of their tenacity and technical skills, participants later descend down a steep rock face overlooking the aquamarine waters of the South Pacific culminating in a 15-foot drop before reaching a shallow lagoon and finally scrambling over wet rocks to terra firma.
The first nautical obstacle course consists of a series of challenges typical for a military obstacle course -- except for being suspended above water -- including walking across a cylindrical structure, climbing over nets and up ropes, and maneuvering over structures of varying shapes as fast as possible.
Soldiers from the 962nd Quartermaster Mortuary Affairs Company are no strangers to challenges -- mortuary affairs specialists act with the utmost compassion to handle the remains and personal effects of Soldiers who have fallen in the line of duty.
Staff Sgt. Taufaanuu El Mechal, a 962nd squad leader who is also attending the 14-day international exercise, explained how her unit would react to a mass casualty incident like a hurricane that resulted in multiple fatalities -- a scenario that the unit trained for before arriving and during the Croix du Sud exercise.
Soldiers arrive and set up a Mobile Integrated Remains Collection System (MIRC), so the mortuary affairs team can travel with ground units. When a team recovers a body, the body is first checked for unexploded ordinances and when it is deemed clear, the personal effects are stored and inventoried and the cadaver is stored until it can be returned to the Joint Personal Effects Depot at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.
19 Soldiers from the 962nd Quartermaster Mortuary Affairs Company who live in either Guam or Hawaii are attending the exercise.
Based on Fort Shafter Flats, these Soldiers are part of the 9th Mission Support Command, the only component in the Pacific region with the capability to support active duty Army Soldiers.
For Cruz, the importance of this training with the French and other partner nations is a clear win-win.
"It's like 50-50 where they help us and we help them."
Croix-du-Sud is the 11th iteration of a biennial joint/multilateral field training exercise organized and led by the FANC, focusing on disaster relief, crisis events, and enhancing partnership and interoperability between the United States and the militaries of Oceania countries with approximately 2,000 participants and using 13 aircraft and five ships.
In addition to the U.S. military, other participating countries include France, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, the United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Japan, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Peru, Singapore, Belgium, and the Philippines.
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