Royal Brunei Navy ships and a U.S. Navy frigate steam in formation during Exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2000. Royal Brunei Navy P15 KDB Pembur leads P-16 KDB Penyerang, P02 KDB Waspada, P03 KDB Pejunag, PO4 KDB Seteria, and the U.S Navy’s USS Sides (FFG 14) off the coast of Brunei. Photo by PH1 (NAC) Spike Call, USN

Navies from six Southeast Asia countries participated in the annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training exercises. Known as "CARAT," this series of bilateral exercises, brings naval forces from Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand in contact with the U.S. Navy for a series of bilateral maneuvers and other activities that enhance interoperability, encourage greater military-to-military cooperation, and build professional and personal friendships important for the future.

"Strategically, this is a very important region of the world," noted Rear Adm. Mark J. Edwards, commenting on CARAT’s importance in Southeast Asia. "CARAT helps promote regional stability, prosperity and security." Rear Adm. Edwards is the Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific, headquartered in Singapore. CARAT "also gives us a chance to get to know one another – really know one another. This is important. Host countries allowed us access to facilities not normally used by U.S. forces. We must continue working together and finding opportunities to exercise and improve our capabilities."

In his parallel duty as Commander Task Force 712 of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, Rear Adm. Edwards oversees the staff that organizes the annual CARAT series. They meet with host nations months before the actual exercise. Each host nation takes the lead in determining the goals of each phase that involves its forces. Together, the countries then map out how to accomplish those goals.

Capt. Joseph Natale, Commander of Destroyer Squadron 9, homeported in Everett, Washington, led the CARAT 2000 Task Group. The task group included the dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) forward deployed to Sasebo, Japan; the dock landing ship USS Mount Vernon (LSD 39) and the frigate USS Sides (FFG 14) homeported in San Diego, California; the frigate USS Reuben James (FFG 57) from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and a U.S. Marine Landing Force from Okinawa, Japan The salvage ship USS Safeguard (ARS 50), also forward deployed to Sasebo, supported salvage exercises during the exercise.

In addition to the task group, seven members of the U.S. Navy’s rock band "Orient Express" performed in the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. In Malaysia, the band performed their own combined training with the military musicians and music school of that country. The first stop for the CARAT 2000 Task Group was the Philippines.

CARAT Philippines 2000

The Philippine Navy sent four ships from Manila to Subic Bay in mid-June for the two-week exercise. This marks the first time in four years that a phase of CARAT has taken place in the Philippines. Passage of the Visiting Forces Agreement in 1999 made it possible to expand the scope of the exercise to include events ashore.

"Exercise CARAT 2000 is actually a continuation of a decades-long tradition of cooperation between the United States Navy and the Philippine Navy," stated Capt. Mariano S. Sontillanosa, exercise director for the Filipino participants.

The 1,500 Filipino and 1,700 American sailors and Marines worked in tandem to promote interoperability in the areas of operational planning, command and control, tactics and community relations proj-ects. While Philippine and U.S. ships were at sea for four days of afloat training, a number of humanitarian, salvage and maritime patrol exercises were conducted ashore.

Philippines Naval Construction Brigade and U.S. Navy "Seabee" engineers built an addition to the Parang Elementary School in Ternate, Cavite. Combined Philippines-U.S. Navy and Army medical and dental teams, joined by a U.S. Army veterinary team, conducted clinics at Labac National High School in Naic, Bukal Elementary School in Maragondon, and Parang Elementary School in Ternate, all in Cavite Province.