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Kazakhstan and U.S. Special Forces train during BALANCE KAYAK 97. |
INTRODUCTION: The following remarks are excerpts from the Kazakhstani representative’s presentation at the Annual Pacific Area Special Operations Conference (PASOC), 14-20 Feb 98. His remarks describe the first Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET), between Kazakhstani Special Operations Forces (SPETSNAZ) and U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) from the 1st SFG (A), Fort Lewis, Washington. BALANCE KAYAK 97 was a combined training event to exchange skills and information for humanitarian assistance, emergency field medical skills, and disaster relief operations.
From remarks given at the Pacific Area Special Operations Conference (PASOC 98) on 17 February 1998
"I would like to share with you some of the experience gained from the training of Kazakhstan's special operations forces in the completed exercise BALANCE KAYAK 97. . . .
The joint/combined Kazakhstani-American exercise BALANCE KAYAK 97 (June 1997), focused on various types of special operations, which are categorized as support operations according to the American system of classification.
The exercise was conducted . . . with the theme of "Training and Conduct of Special Operations involving the search for, the rendering of medical assistance to, and the evacuation of Armed Forces Personnel who find themselves in extreme situations."
The Goals of the Exercise:
1. To organize close interoperability of administrative organs and sub-units of the special operations forces and combat medicine forces of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the U.S. through planning, training, conducting special operations, and rendering medical assistance in battlefield conditions.
2. To refine staff, professional, and field training of administrative organs and special operations forces personnel of the two sides and combat medicine forces.
In the first phase, exercises in combat medicine training, communications, special tactics, heliborne search and rescue, engineering, small arms firing, and physical training were conducted. . . .
American specialists attended the exercises in military medicine and physical training. During the first phase, the following procedures were worked out:
· analysis and processing of information on the objectives of the operation;
· planning and conduct of the actions;
· preparation for the operations (administrative, logistic, and operational coordination);
· training medical specialists in rendering assistance on the battlefield and in stationary conditions.
The second phase included three days of planning and conducting special operations. During this phase, the following combined procedures were worked out:
· search for, rendering assistance to, and evacuation of aircrews involved in an air disaster;
· force protection;
· search for, rendering assistance to, and evacuation of ship’s crews involved in a disaster at sea.
Three groups of participants were trained for this phase, each of which went into action based on the plan worked out by the staff leadership:
· Group I - search for crews of downed aircraft;
· Group 2 - force protection;
· Group 3 - rendering assistance to and evacuation of ship's crews in island sectors.
The Course of Events:
Two weeks before the start of the exercise, the groups arrived in the base region "Odzhbr" where they aclimatized and carried out . . . general and specific training.
Groups of military doctors underwent training and taught military service members of the armed forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan to render first aid . . . [for] wounds or trauma.
On day "D-1" (D minus 1) the groups received information on a downed aircraft, ships in trouble at sea, and military sites, after which a joint group of planners refined the planning and training of the special operations. At the conclusion of the planning
("D-day") the three groups were employed. Deployment of Recon Group No. 1 was completed by air . . . [to] search for an aircrew. After the drop, Recon Group No. 1 completed a muster and search. After locating the aircrew, they rendered assistance and completed the evacuation of the aircrew.
The deployment of Recon Group No. 2 was completed by airlift to an airstrip with the task of a forced march and moving out to the region where the special measures would be carried out with the aim of securing the area and force protection measures.
The deployment of Recon Group No. 3 was carried out by sea aboard two cutters with the task of moving out to the region where the search was being conducted, to an island . . . [to locate] the ship's crew, rendering medical assistance, and completing their evacuation.
In the course of conducting the exercise BALANCE KAYAK 97, both sides demonstrated a high level of professional training. A high level of skill and mastery was observed on the part of the medical instructors of the Armed Forces of the U.S., having trained 50 medical instructors from the cadre of young reinforcements at Odzhbr.
The experience gained during the exercise enables us to organize training of sub-units of the Armed Forces in the carrying out this type of special operations.
