Chinese troops will have boots on the ground in Hawaii Tues.

[PrisonerOfHope]

Chinese troops will have boots on the ground in Hawaii on Tuesday
Author
By Judi McLeod



Aloha Hawaiians! If you see what you think are soldiers from the Communist Peoples Republic of China Army wandering about in your neck of the woods Tuesday through Thursday next week, your imagination is not playing tricks on you.

For the first time in history the U.S. Army will host the Communist Peoples Republic of China’s Army on American soil Nov. 12-14, 2013.

But don’t worry while Chinese soldiers will have boots on the ground in Hawaii, they are only really “simulating”.

“Simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country”.

You can’t make this stuff up when GridEx 2 is doing it for you.

GridEx 2 (there was already a GridEx 1in November of 2011) is a massive ‘emergency drill’ planned to take place across the whole of North America with thousands of utility workers, business executives, National Guard officers, FBI antiterrorism experts and officials from government agencies, in the United States, Canada and Mexico (who) are preparing for an emergency drill in November that will simulate physical attacks and cyberattacks that could take down large sections of the power grid. (New York Times, Aug. 16, 2013).

The exercise is touted as a unified move “to test the resiliency of the U.S. power grid to withstand major damage causes by a natural disaster or deliberate attack”.

“Fears about the possible detonation of a nuclear warhead in the skies about the United States, for the purposes of creating an electromagnetic pulse aimed at sizzling electronics on the ground, have led a number of public figures to call for significant steps to strengthen the power grid. Ex-CIA head R. James Woolsey is planing a campaign to convince state governments to pass laws requiring utilities to harden their electronics against potential EMP attacks.

“A key objective of GridEx 2 is to learn how governments would handle a loss of electrical power that is large enough to drastically affect the delivery of common and essential goods and services.” (NYT)

Hoping that the U.S., Canada or Mexico aren’t GridEx 2’s “fictional third country” and that the soldiers out on reconnaissance in Blue Hawaii don’t stamp ‘Made in China’ on it.

The New York Times reported on GridEx 2’s massive, Nov. 13-14 drill on August 16, but never mentioned the participation of the Peoples Republic of China’s Army.

China’s Xinhua Agencies kicked in on November 6 reporting that American and Chinese soldiers will train together in the November exercise.

“The US military Pacific Commander, Samuel Locklear, said here Tuesday that a joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise to be held this month helps improve the relationship between the United States and China.” (Xinhua Agencies, Nov. 6, 2013)

”Locklear told a news briefing that the Pacific Command’s Army component commander in Hawaii has been looking forward to the Nov. 12-14 exercises “for some time”, as the Army will host the People’s Liberation Army soldiers of China to train together in a field environment, simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country.

“Summing up his expectations for the joint exercise, Locklear said both militaries can learn something in disaster management and “better prepare tomorrow than yesterday”.

“In relation to our ability to do this with our Chinese counterparts”, he said, “this kind of exercise gives us a place to start, and get into the rhythm of understanding and trusting each other.”

“The joint exercise was announced during an August visit to Washington by Chinese Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan, as China and the United States expand their military-to-military relationship and explore cooperation opportunities in non-traditional security areas.”

On August 19, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel escorted China Minister of National Defense Gen. Wanquan during an honor cordon at the Pentagon.

In a same day press conference, Gen. Wanquan said China’s military has never supported any hacker actions, expressing at the joint press conference that the cyber space is a new field and cyberspace security threats have become a world wide problem. “China is one of the major victims of hacker attacks, suffering serious threats from network attacks,” he said.

Meanwhile, let’s hope the last one out of the GridEx 2 simulation exercise turns North America’s lights back on.

link

[PrisonerOfHope]

Responding to a typhoon, huh? 

Army hosts China in first joint field exercise
Nov. 12, 2013 - 06:58PM |



By Michelle Tan
Staff writer

China, U.S. armies to begin joint disaster exercise

About 60 soldiers from the Chinese army are in Hawaii this month to train with the U.S. Army and participate in the first field exercise the two countries have conducted together.

The disaster management exchange is scheduled for today through Thursday at Marine Corps Training Area-Bellows in Hawaii. Senior members of the Chinese delegation will then travel to Washington, D.C., and the Northeast to visit areas affected by last year’s Hurricane Sandy.

The Hawaii-based portion of the exercise is a continuation of an annual — and growing — exchange between the Army and the People’s Liberation Army, said Col. John Lee, strategy and plans officer for security cooperation and policy at U.S. Army Pacific.

As the U.S. military turns its focus toward the Pacific, USARPAC has been working to grow its engagements and exercises with all of its partner nations in the region. And China is a critical part of it.

Last fall, a team of about 20 soldiers traveled to China for a similar exchange focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. The event took place in Beijing, Kunming and Chengdu, and the exercise scenario revolved around a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in a third country.

While the Army has conducted exchanges with the Chinese army since 1998, last year marked the first time the two armies added a tabletop exercise to their annual meetings.

This month’s exchange in Hawaii will still feature a tabletop exercise and an expert academic discussion, but officials are adding a field portion for the first time, Lee said.

This year’s scenario will focus on responding to a typhoon, he said.

“This will be the first time we’ll do a side-by-side in a field environment, with troops actually doing a hands-on practical event,” Lee said. “It stems from last year’s engagement in China. It was something the Chinese … thought was a good progression for our exchange, and we concurred with them. We’re always seeking to work more closely with them, to show them we can work together.”

During the exercise, the soldiers will work on tactics, techniques and procedures for conducting search and rescue in a structure that has collapsed, he said.

About 50 American troops — from Army Pacific, the Hawaii National Guard and the Marine Corps — are scheduled to participate in the exchange, said Lt. Col. Carrie Barhorst, a planner for the event. Also scheduled to participate are experts from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, said Col. Bill Florig, chief of civil-military operations for Army Pacific.

After the exchange in Hawaii, a delegation of senior Chinese officers will travel to the D.C. and New York areas, Lee said.

This is a regular part of the exchange, as well, he said. In previous years, the Chinese visited Louisiana to talk with first responders to Hurricane Katrina, he said. Last year, the Chinese took the Americans to visit Chengdu, which was hit by a deadly earthquake in 2008.

These exchanges are a vital part of Army Pacific’s relationship with the Chinese, said Lt. Col. Adriel Lam, the China desk officer in the Army Pacific security cooperation and policy directorate.

“We all look forward to the exchange, and we see this as a stable part of our relationship,” he said.

The growth of this exchange is important to Army Pacific, which seeks a multinational approach to all of its missions, Florig said.

“What’s important about doing this with the Chinese is it … is a confident first step to moving forward to working with them in the future in situations like this,” he said.

Barhorst agreed.

“Most of China’s [humanitarian assistance and disaster relief] is focused on internal [response],” she said. “By coming here, they’re learning about external HADR, and they’re starting to get more involved in the region and other training events that occur across the region.”


link