Pacific Airlift Rally 2009 kicks off

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Veronica Pierce
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
SUBANG ROYAL MALAYSIAN AIR FORCE BASE, Malaysia (AFNS) --  A biennial symposium involving Pacific Rim nations to enhance military airlift interoperability with a focus in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations kicked off here Aug. 17.

Pacific Airlift Rally 2009, co-hosted by the American and Royal Malaysian air forces, includes representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, the United States and Vietnam.

Lt. Gen. Dato' Rodzali bin Daud, the Royal Malaysian Air Force air operations commander, officiated the opening ceremony of the biennial symposium involving Pacific Rim nation air forces. Rally events include an international seminar, a tabletop exercise focusing on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief coordination between the multiple countries, and a field training exercise relating to the tabletop exercise scenario.

Field training exercise participants include three C-130 Hercules from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan; an An-32 from the Bangladesh air force; and one C-130 each from the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Republic of Singapore air force and Royal New Zealand Air Force.

"It's a privilege and honor to represent the U.S. Pacific Air Forces here and one of 18 countries participating in the exercise," said Col. Mark Hering, the 374th Operations Group commander. "Exercises like PAR present the perfect forum for countries to come together to gain a better understanding of each country's capabilities and lessons learned from prior operations."

Pacific Airlift Rally enhances military airlift interoperability and builds partnerships between nations in the Pacific region, with a focus on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.

"The interaction with partner nations within the Pacific region is invaluable," said Colonel Hering. "We are truly building relationships and enhancing our interoperability to be able to work together more effectively when responding to future humanitarian assistance or disaster relief operations."

Seventy-five participants represent Yokota this year from the 374th Maintenance Group, 374th Operations Support Squadron, 374th Logistics Readiness Squadron and 36th Airlift Squadron.

"This exercise is an outstanding opportunity for our operators, maintainers, and support personnel to execute our airlift mission away from home station, and to build partnerships with the very nations we will be working side-by-side with when responding to a future regional crisis," said Colonel Hering.

The symposium ends Aug. 21.