MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Exercise Cobra Gold 2013 is slated to kick off Feb. 11, with units from the Royal Thai military and several branches of the United States armed forces.
From Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Marine Aircraft Group 12, along with its supporting units, are scheduled to take part in the exercise, with Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 acting as the resident Marine fighter squadron in Thailand.
“Cobra Gold is the largest joint multinational exercise that Pacific Command puts on,” said Maj. John Baseel, MAG- 12 future operations officer. “It’s also the largest multinational exercise that the Marine Corps participates in. So for us, the goal is three-fold: one, to build goodwill amongst our Thai military host and the Thai populace in general; two, to build interoperability between ourselves and the Thai military; and last, but not least, to get some good unit-level training.”
The purpose of Cobra Gold 2013 is to provide VMFA (AW )-224 ample opportunities to conduct various training exercises.
“VMFA 224 will be our F-18 squadron that is going to deploy to Cobra Gold,” said Baseel. “Primarily, when they are there, they are going to be working on air-to-ground missions such as close-air support, forward air controller airborne and basic dive bombing. They will be dropping inert and live bombs at a variety of ranges. They will also be doing air-to-air training alongside the Thai Air Force.”
With Marines, as well as other branches of the armed services, the main goal of training exercises is to be combat ready.
“The most important aspect is the ability to take our forces, deploy them to a foreign country and complete all of our core missions,” said Lt. Col. Peter L. McArdle, V M FA ( AW ) - 2 2 4 commanding officer. “These Marines get the opportunity to go to new places and experience new things, as well as gain the experience of being in an environment which most of them are not used to.”
The Thai and U.S. militaries have been allies since the 1800s, making them one of the oldest allies of the U.S. in the Pacific theater.
“We look to build on our partnership with Thailand, as well as our interoperability, and then, as always, theater engagement and theater security cooperation,” said McArdle.
With peace and stability in mind, as well as further cooperation between Thailand and the United States, Cobra Gold 2013 is sure to further maintain and enhance the peace-keeping and operational capabilities of both nations’ militaries.