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Philippine and U.S. pilots familiarized themselves with each other’s aircraft

"Last week, we flew to Crow Valley, we shot at Crow Valley, we actually had them [PAF pilots] in our aircraft, flying, shooting, and we had them on the range as range safety officers and (forward air controllers) on the ground," observed U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Mike Rocco, Commanding Officer, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron-369.

"The information flow is not a one-way street," noted Lt. Col. Rocco. "We pick up a lot of good ideas from [the PAF]. It’s good for us to train the way Philippine forces do, because we operate in a desert environment. And how we would execute a mission in the desert is very different than how we’d do it in the jungle. It gives us an opportunity to see what we would do in a different environment, and they’re experts at it."

In addition to helicopter flight training, PAF and U.S. Marine engineers constructed a range control tower and a 20- by 40-foot attached three-room barracks in Crow Valley, Tarlac Province. The tower and barracks will support future operations and training for Philippine and U.S. forces. The construction involved more than 2,200 cinder blocks, 200 bags of cement, and 200 bags of sand.

Because of the remote location of the construction site, the engineers had to transport equipment and personnel via helicopter. The only non-manual piece of equipment was a cement mixer connected to a power generator.

"We had to make about 32 helicopter trips to carry all of the materials," said U.S. Marine 2nd Lt. Jason Smith, a combat engineer officer. "We also didn’t have the tools we’re used to working with, and we had to improvise a lot of different tools for this mission."