BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Monday 17 June 2013 – Participating soldiers in the ADMM Plus HADR & MM Ex shared their thoughts with interviewers from the Ministry of Defence (MinDef) on how the preparations have gone for the exercise, and how they felt going into the exercise itself.
Brigadier General Ngien Hoon Ping, Singapore Armed Forces said “The SAF is looking forward to contribute to the exercise in a meaningful way. The exercise will also foster confidenceand enhance military-to-military relations across all levels.”
Senior Colonel Zhao Bao from China’s Peoples’ Liberation Army shared that the preparations have gone very well, and that the Chinese team has been working with armed forces soldiers from Malaysia and New Zealand to set up bridges. He said that he has learned from this exercise that, “Asean countries are keen to promote their capabilities and the countries have a strong relationship with the other Asean-Plus countries and can work together in a good environment”. “This is what I have learned, that the people here like to work together,” he added.
Colonel Carlos B Cepe, Defence Attache from the Philippines was also interviewed, and said, “The challenges among the participants would be the differences and the doctrine – the practices of the different’ armed forces. “It is nice that everyone comes together, and the most important thing is learning from each other … especially in conducting operations which are non-military in nature.” The important thing he has learned from what he has seen so far is the importance of early planning, which was conducted in preparation for this exercise.
Mr Pattamatta from India is another who shared his thoughts, and said, “India as a nation is ever ready to take on these challenges, as HADR is such an effort which requires all nations to come together and make an effort, which is going to be a multi-national cooperation; a necessity for the future. “This is going to be the platform where we all can link up with each other, coordinate and ever offering SOP ready,” he continued. He highlighted that India has come with a contingent that consists of one ship, and has also brought a sea-king helicopter as well as a medical team of 20 personnel. “We are all here to contribute our effort towards the ADMM exercise and assets will be integrated with the multi-national causes for a successful HADR,” he added.
Colonel Sunsuripto from the Indonesian army also spoke, saying that he has seen a lot of work go into the arranging and managing of all the participants for this exercise. “So far Brunei as the host, they are running this programme or exercise very smoothly and very good,” he said, congratulating the Sultanate for the successful way in which everything has been run for this huge exercise. “I hope, for the future, all countries can contribute more, especially Indonesia because at the moment we have only contributed a planning team, a search and rescue team and lastly a medical team,” he added.
Major Ian Brandon from the New Zealand Defence Force said he feels “privileged” to have been invited to participate in this inaugural ADMM+ HADR & MM exercise hosted by Brunei Darussalam. “I congratulate the Royal Brunei Armed Forces for the outstanding job they have done in planning and coordinating a very complex joint multinational activity,” he said. “HADR and MM are very important military outputs in our part of the world, and an effective response can be required at very short notice in order to save lives. “I have no doubt that this exercise will significantly enhance cooperation and our collective ability to respond to regional disasters in future, and look forward to continuing to share and develop our combined capabilities with the 17 other contributing nations as the activity progresses,” Major Brandon added.