Hawaii Army Units Help Prepare Philippines in Ongoing Dispute

Hawaii-based Army units are continuing to play a central role in U.S.-Philippine relations as tensions mount between China and the Philippines.

On June 10, soldiers from the Schofield Barracks-based 25th Infantry Division, the Fort Shafter-based 196th Infantry Brigade and the Army Reserve’s 100th Infantry Battalion wrapped up Exercise Salaknib. The Army exercise was held in two parts, one that began in April and one in June—it was put on pause for the larger multinational Exercise Balikatan in May, in which the Hawaii troops also participated.

The latter half was run by soldiers from the 196th as part of the Army’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, a series of training ranges in Hawaii and Alaska to prepare soldiers for Pacific deployments. The training in the Philippines was part of the 196th Infantry’s “exportable ” version called JPRMC-X, which does training annually in a different Pacific country each year.