PACAF Airmen participate in Exercise Balikatan ‘08

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo
  • Air Force News
CLARK FIELD, PAMANGA, Philippines (AFPN) --  Moving large amounts of equipment, personnel or humanitarian relief supplies can be daunting. But it's a task made for tactical and strategic airlifters like the C-130 Hercules and the C-17 Globemaster III. That's why they were instrumental in Exercise Balikatan '08.

The joint and bilateral exercise increases the abilities of the U.S. and Filipino armed forces to quickly respond and effectively work together to provide relief and assistance in the event of natural disasters and other crises that threaten public safety and health.

The ability to deliver materiel and personnel to military operations, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief or contingency operations is critical to for success.

"Our role for the exercise is key in that in any military operation that we have you're always going to need airlift- whether it's tactical airlift or strategic airlift," said Lt. Col. Mark Polomsky, 36th Airlift Squadron commander.

The term Balikatan means 'shouldering the load together' in Tagalog, the most spoken language in the Philippines, and characterizes the philosophy and intent of the exercise.

Along that same line, the first C-17 Globemaster III involvement with the exercise comes as a mixed team of active duty and Air National Guard members.

"We are a team," said Capt. Al Basioa, C-17 planner for the exercise. "The Hawaii Air National Guard's 204th Airlift Squadron, the 535th Airlift Squadron as well as our maintenance is made up of Guard and active duty.

"Everything is a team effort and we work very well together. It is indistinguishable between us in our mission," he said.

Working hand in hand with the Filipinos, the two C-130 Hercules aircraft from Yokota Air Base, Japan, and the C-17 Globemaster III from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii showed their capabilities via airlift.

"It's really good training working with our sister services and working with another countries' military," said Colonel Polomsky.

The exercise allows the Filipino government to understand the scope of America's airlift capabilities, said Captain Basioa. If they need assistance in humanitarian or disaster relief efforts in the future, they'll know what to expect

"Airlift is very important," said Captain Basioa. "For example, when the floods and mudslides happened in 2006, the C-130s and the C-17 were both there to provide assistance."