An Indian Army officer and two U.S. Army Special Forces noncommissioned officers review squad movement operations with Indian Army soldiers from the 4th Parachute Battalion.

The communiqué also noted the importance of the India-U.S. relationship in building stability and security in Asia and beyond. In a matter of months, the India and U.S. defense establishments translated the broad vision for the relationship into action. No fewer than a dozen separate groups have met to map out a purposeful path for the renewed India-U.S. defense relationship. At the December 2001 DPG meeting, both sides agreed to accelerate the pace of India-U.S. defense cooperation through the following, all of which are in progress:

• Conduct combined naval patrols in the Strait of Malacca.

• Resume defense trade, beginning with the "Firefinder" radar sale.

• Conduct combined Special Operations airborne exercises in Agra, India.

• Conduct an India-U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense workshop in the U.S.

• Facilitate cooperation in defense technology.

As a security cooperation tool, SOCPAC executed more than 30 Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) events, such as BALANCE IROQUOIS, in 20 countries throughout the U.S. Pacific Command’s area of operation in fiscal year 2002. The primary goal of the JCET program is to train U.S. forces in basic mission essential skills, with a secondary goal of training the host nation's forces. In this year’s BALANCE IROQUOIS, U.S. forces improved their skills while improving Indian forces’ interoperability and combat readiness through realistic and challenging joint combined training. BALANCE IROQUOIS also helped enhance bilateral relations by increasing U.S. Special Operations Forces’ Indian cultural orientation and language skills. "JCET events are an overall win-win situation for all participants," said MSgt. Shell.

An Indian Army rifle squad conducts rehearsals for crossing danger areas with U.S. Army Special Forces.

BALANCE IROQUOIS focused on small unit tactical and leadership development skills. The training included land navigation, weapons familiarization, battle drills, and airborne operations. In airborne operations, members of both armed forces conducted a Friendship Jump, after which U.S. Special Forces members received Indian jump wings and Indian Army members received U.S. jump wings. Members of India’s 50th Independent Para Brigade and SOCPAC’s U.S. Army Special Forces tested each other’s equipment and jumped from each other’s planes, coordinating the mutual parachute drops at the Malpura drop zone in Agra. Indian commandos jumped from a U.S. Air Force MC-130 Hercules transport aircraft using U.S. parachutes, and U.S. Special Forces wearing Indian parachutes jumped from Indian AN-32 and IL-76 transport aircraft. Indian and U.S. Air Force pilots who flew the paratroopers became familiar with each other’s equipment by taking the opportunity to pilot each other’s aircraft.

"Members of SOCPAC enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with the Indian Army and learned a lot during this deployment," noted MSgt. Shell. One of the things they learned was that the weather in central India during April and May is very hot, and this year the country experienced a record heat wave. "So we modified the training calendar to reduce the risk of heat-related injuries," said MSgt. Shell. "We also learned that water is another factor that we need to plan for in addition to summer temperatures, but no soldiers, U.S. or Indian, were evacuated due to heat injuries. We had a very successful training event."