ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Allies and partners traveled to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to participate in the 2023 Indo-Pacific Unity Allies and Partners Engineer Summit consisting of a Silver Flag Training Exercise, August 7-11, 2023, and Key Leader Engagement, August 9-11, 2023.
Allies and partners in attendance included Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom.
Hosted by U.S. Pacific Air Forces, this summit brought together nearly 150 engineers comprised of allies and partners as well as U.S. Air Force, Navy Seabees, Army, and Marine Corps. The summit provided a forum to exchange views, create professional relationships, enhance partner capacity, promote regional stability, and increase engineer interoperability throughout the theater.
Forums like this offer a rare opportunity for collaboration. The ultimate intent is to build a stronger partnership and enhance our understanding of each other’s engineering capabilities. “I hope our Indo-Pacific allies and partners will walk away reflecting on the camaraderie and collaboration they experienced this week, reimagine how we can increase joint interoperability based on each of our unique capabilities, and then reinvest those learning objectives into the future force,” said Colonel Kevin Osborne, PACAF Command Civil Engineer.
At Silver Flag Guam, the 554th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) Squadron assisted allies and partners in hands-on activities focused on Command and Control, Rapid Airfield Damage Assessment Surveys, Rapid Explosive Hazard Mitigation, and Airfield Damage Repair.
“It is important to share our knowledge and capabilities with our Allies and partners. I am confident that they will leave here with new skills in hand and a renewed sense of pride in the criticality of their mission space,” said Lt. Colonel Gavin Brost, 554th RED HORSE Commander.
During the Key Leader Engagement, the same focus endured. Briefings covered Airfield Damage Recovery, Agile Combat Employment, U.S. Air Force programs, and ally and partner capabilities from all those in attendance. One highlight from the engagement was an afternoon of “speed networking.” This included 33 separate bi-lateral discussions where command engineers were afforded the opportunity to meet directly with their counterparts from other allies & partners in attendance.
Hoping to establish a full range of connections with operational partners from this engagement, Wing Commander Paul Howell, Royal Australian Air Force, said he enjoyed learning about how participants approach techniques for airfield repair. “This is critical, especially when Australia is talking about operating across a wide variety of environments,” he noted.
The capstone event of the summit was the 356th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group activation ceremony. The historic ceremony marked the first Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group activation since World War II and the first activation in the pacific theatre. After the ceremony, ally and partner leaders joined their Airmen at the Silver Flag site to observe their newly acquired skills.
Concluding the summit with the same way he began, Colonel Kevin Osborne left attendees with three words to ponder. “As leaders, we are charged to train the next generation of leaders to continue what we have started, so I will leave you with the same three words we started the summit with. Wherever you are in the world, remember: Reflect, Reimagine, Reinvest.”