'Refocused' Cobra Gold to go ahead

[webfact]

'Refocused' Cobra Gold to go ahead
WIRAJ SRIPONG
THE NATION


Cobra Gold 2013 (File Photo). AFP Photo

BANGKOK: -- WHILE this year's regional joint military drill - Cobra Gold - will go ahead, Washington has considered scaling down and refocusing the exercise after the military coup in Thailand, according to diplomatic sources.

The US communicated to the Thai military earlier that the joint military drill, which has been conducted for more than three decades, was no longer a bilateral matter between Thailand and the US.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel told media interview that "it's a multinational exercise that includes something in the order of 30 countries. It's not only the US and Thailand. Moreover, this year we are welcoming India's participation for the first time".

Concern was expressed in the junta inner circles as to whether Cobra Gold would be held in Thailand as usual this year, since Washington had threatened earlier that it might be scrapped or moved to another location after the May 22 coup.

Russel said that while the coup had had some implications for Cobra Gold, the refocus of the drill would aim to meet the new environment in the region.

"Certainly an important area for cooperation between our two militaries is humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," he said.

International security expert Panitan Wattanayagorn said there was no reason to categorise the level of training as being downgraded, as Cobra Gold had always been focusing on humanitarian relief operations since the end of the Cold War.

The training each year takes turns in practising humanitarian relief operations and multilateral military exercises on the ground.

"Last year was multilateral military exercises, so the training this year will focus on humanitarian issues," said Panitan, adding that the US has always remained firm in its commitment to continue the training despite last year's coup.

Cobra Gold is a military training exercise that should be dissociated from the political situation, security expert Panitan said.

Washington suspended military assistance to Thailand after the coup.

Panitan went on to highlight the multifaceted roles that a country could play when trying to realise its national interest at the international level.

He cited by way of example the fact that the US still maintained contact with the military regime in Egypt despite the limits imposed by its own internal law.

It is crucial for Thailand to maintain the right balance of contact with all major powers, he said, adding that the country currently holds a military exercise with China and the US without having any dispute with the two great powers, he said.

Panitan also said that current US-Thai diplomatic tension was merely temporary.

What might happen, however, is that if Washington continued to hold the same stance, it could increase political pressure through the downgrade of Thailand in its annual "Trafficking in Persons Report", he added.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Refocused-Cobra-Gold-to-go-ahead-30252918.html


-- The Nation 2015-01-29

[NongKhaiKid]

I'm presuming ' scaled down ' will mean less US personnel which will hurt some aspects of the Thai economy.

Taking Udon Thani as an example, the local airport and Wing 24 of the RTAF hosts US Marine aircraft and personnel the majority of whom are billeted in local hotels on full board. The Udon situation is nothing compared to the volume of personnel in other areas of Thailand.

On the plus side at least TAT can count all the troops as tourist arrivals.

Edited January 28, 2015 by NongKhaiKid

[Kooweerup]

I guess the U.S Ambassador will be summonsed again to knee at dear leaders feet and explain why the U.S wound Thailand again. Don't they realise that this will be lost revenue for Thailand?

[bluebluewater]

Lots of info is not included in this article. Total personnel the Americans will have on hand from all branches will be less than 10,000 and most of those will be on their ships with liberty offered from time to time.

Those 30 nations that are mentioned will probably not nearly reach that number (think less than a dozen!) and will be "observing" which means that they will have a military officer or two on hand and that is the extent of their participation.

[EyesWideOpen]

Will Thailand be inviting China to the exercises..... America " refocusing"

on Cobra Gold is simply another notification to Thailand that it is no

longer is of any strategic importance to America...

[Diplomatico]

"The US communicated to the Thai military earlier that the joint military drill, which has been conducted for more than three decades, was no longer a bilateral matter between Thailand and the US."

Slap. Slap, slap, slap.

[geriatrickid]

With the recent losses of civilian aircraft in the region, Cobra Gold has taken on a new importance this year. The search and recovery lessons learned from the Malaysian airlines incident were applied to the Air Asia incident and those lessons will be shared. Also, there is added emphasis to better co-ordinate response times after a natural disaster such as a Typhoon or earthquake. Add in the concern about insurgencies in certain regions and it is understandable why Cobra Gold must go on, and why other nations are involved.

[sabaii69]

Just stay home America. (US citizen here). You are not accomplishing anything, especially respect for Americans living here.

[klauskunkel]

Do they all need work permits?

[sabaii69]

Security is everywhere in Thailand, even in the smallest bar. I pay monthly for security that does little in my village. If Thailand wants the 'security' of a superpower showing off on its turf they should pay for it. They should pay for billeting US personnel attending military 'teaching' exercises and give back to the US citizen living here free visas. As they say in Thailand "you have to pay!" If the US has learned anything in past military conflicts, it is, the deadbeats you fight for will not pay you back for your services. 'Yankee, go home'.

[seajae]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

[Diplomatico]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

[IAMHERE]

Just stay home America. (US citizen here). You are not accomplishing anything, especially respect for Americans living here.

Not so sure (American here), plenty of contacts between the militaries may be beneficial contacts if the military ever takes over, prevent misunderstandings and such, lines of communication, etc...

[seajae]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

the Australian army absolutely leaves the us one for dead, every corp has better and superior training as was proved time and time again, we had the green berets pull out of the cunungra course because they couldnt hack it(most of them simply refused to do the hard bits and refused to do the tower jump), their armoured corps had no idea how to do any service work on their own vehicles, if any of them ran into problems they didnt have a clue what to do because they were not trained. They have a specialist corps to do anything hard but other than that they are hopeless as soldiers, you keep thinking with your little head as you obviously have no idea what I am talking about. The biggest problem is most of them think they are actually smart yet cant even add up small numbers without removing their shoes and socks.

[Kooweerup]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

They are no match for an Aussie Soldier.

[DaveE13]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

They are no match for an Aussie Soldier.

Or A Brit

[Diplomatico]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

They are no match for an Aussie Soldier.

Or A Brit

Or a German. Or a Dutch. Or a Norwegian. Blah, blah, blah.

[Kooweerup]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

the Australian army absolutely leaves the us one for dead, every corp has better and superior training as was proved time and time again, we had the green berets pull out of the cunungra course because they couldnt hack it(most of them simply refused to do the hard bits and refused to do the tower jump), their armoured corps had no idea how to do any service work on their own vehicles, if any of them ran into problems they didnt have a clue what to do because they were not trained. They have a specialist corps to do anything hard but other than that they are hopeless as soldiers, you keep thinking with your little head as you obviously have no idea what I am talking about. The biggest problem is most of them think they are actually smart yet cant even add up small numbers without removing their shoes and socks.

Agree I have worked with the U.S army in both Townsville and Darwin and all they did was moan and complain even about little things like P.T. About all they were good at was banging their heads against brick walls and chanting USA, USA. Geez even the Aussie army cook would eat the finest the USA had to offer. The Australian Army may be small but geez, highly trained and professional from the Q staff to the SAS.

[NeverSure]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

the Australian army absolutely leaves the us one for dead, every corp has better and superior training as was proved time and time again, we had the green berets pull out of the cunungra course because they couldnt hack it(most of them simply refused to do the hard bits and refused to do the tower jump), their armoured corps had no idea how to do any service work on their own vehicles, if any of them ran into problems they didnt have a clue what to do because they were not trained. They have a specialist corps to do anything hard but other than that they are hopeless as soldiers, you keep thinking with your little head as you obviously have no idea what I am talking about. The biggest problem is most of them think they are actually smart yet cant even add up small numbers without removing their shoes and socks.

Still haven't forgiven the US military for saving your butts, have you. Such hate.

"President Franklin Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of MacArthur who became Supreme Commander, South West Pacific. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia."

LINK

[EyesWideOpen]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

the Australian army absolutely leaves the us one for dead, every corp has better and superior training as was proved time and time again, we had the green berets pull out of the cunungra course because they couldnt hack it(most of them simply refused to do the hard bits and refused to do the tower jump), their armoured corps had no idea how to do any service work on their own vehicles, if any of them ran into problems they didnt have a clue what to do because they were not trained. They have a specialist corps to do anything hard but other than that they are hopeless as soldiers, you keep thinking with your little head as you obviously have no idea what I am talking about. The biggest problem is most of them think they are actually smart yet cant even add up small numbers without removing their shoes and socks.

Still haven't forgiven the US military for saving your butts, have you. Such hate.

"President Franklin Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of MacArthur who became Supreme Commander, South West Pacific. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia."

LINK

Well said. In referring to people, a wise man once told me that if you help someone,

instead of being deeply appreciative , they will in fact dislike you. Meaning that the

act of helping is showing in a definitive way who is strong , and who is weak, thus

creating resentment from weak. Apparently this concept applies to nations as well,

as Australians, instead of being grateful for not being forced to learn the

Japanese language, instead refer to Americans as septics. What class.........

[klauskunkel]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

the Australian army absolutely leaves the us one for dead, every corp has better and superior training as was proved time and time again, we had the green berets pull out of the cunungra course because they couldnt hack it(most of them simply refused to do the hard bits and refused to do the tower jump), their armoured corps had no idea how to do any service work on their own vehicles, if any of them ran into problems they didnt have a clue what to do because they were not trained. They have a specialist corps to do anything hard but other than that they are hopeless as soldiers, you keep thinking with your little head as you obviously have no idea what I am talking about. The biggest problem is most of them think they are actually smart yet cant even add up small numbers without removing their shoes and socks.

Still haven't forgiven the US military for saving your butts, have you. Such hate.

"President Franklin Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of MacArthur who became Supreme Commander, South West Pacific. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia."

LINK

...and don't forget Napoleon! He did something in Australia..., small town named Waterloo, QLD. Ah yes, he invented the modern toilet, now called water-loo, but he didn't pay royalties to the Aussies for using the name, so the Australian army swooped in and flushed Napoleon right thru his own invention. (I just made this up, it's not true!)

[Nickymaster]

I think Cobra Gold is still on because the US soldiers love Pattaya.

[DaveE13]

KK you are a legend. Napolean!

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

They are no match for an Aussie Soldier.

And just don't mention the Vietnamese

[seajae]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

the Australian army absolutely leaves the us one for dead, every corp has better and superior training as was proved time and time again, we had the green berets pull out of the cunungra course because they couldnt hack it(most of them simply refused to do the hard bits and refused to do the tower jump), their armoured corps had no idea how to do any service work on their own vehicles, if any of them ran into problems they didnt have a clue what to do because they were not trained. They have a specialist corps to do anything hard but other than that they are hopeless as soldiers, you keep thinking with your little head as you obviously have no idea what I am talking about. The biggest problem is most of them think they are actually smart yet cant even add up small numbers without removing their shoes and socks.

Still haven't forgiven the US military for saving your butts, have you. Such hate.

"President Franklin Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of MacArthur who became Supreme Commander, South West Pacific. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia."

LINK

no hate at all, I was just stating facts, has nothing to do with what has happened in the past. If you cant admit the truth the problem is yours, trying to make up excuses is usually the last straw of someone that knows they are out done but dont worry, I wont hold it against you. Even the yank colonel that chatted with us on excercise admitted we were better trained and had more depth and a few GB's did make the plunge into the river fully kitted out even if the rest refused so at least some had the balls to do it, the fact that only a couple of the aussies backed off though made it obvious who the more committed soldiers were but that course is known as a pretty hard one to complete. If you have to go back to the 1940's it does show how bad you lot are, I was talking about late 70's and 80's but you do realize that is was aussie diggers that stopped the japanese soldiers in New Guinea, the US navy did more damage sinking a lot of their ships, their army didnt have all that much to do with it

Edited January 29, 2015 by seajae

[Baerboxer]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Not sure how long ago that was. I have close relatives who are career soldiers (British Army) and served with American forces in Bosnia, Kosova, Iraq and Afghanistan.

They regard the professionalism of their American colleagues with the utmost respect.

[Baerboxer]

what a joke, when we did combined excercises with the US their so called soldiers were that far below par it wasnt funny, we ran rings around them. Even some of their specialist units were not up to scratch with our regs, training wise they were very average. Dont think Thailand will be missing out on much if they cut it back, from my time working with them they were all mouth and bugger all action/ability, our reserves were better trained.

Keep telling yourself that. More probably, they didn't give a rat's ass about some lame exercise with a second rate force.

They are no match for an Aussie Soldier.

I know several people who transferred from units of the British military to the Australian equivalent, becoming Australian citizens. I will not knock the Australian military as I've many many friends from within it, in addition to those who emigrated from Britain.

But my experiences, and those of several close relatives, has been very different to yours then concerning the American military and its members professionalism.

American forces did not perform well in Grenada or the Iranian hostage rescue. Those issues were addressed, lessons learnt and changes made.

If I had to fight in today's type of actions I'd be very happy fighting alongside either American or Australian forces. Much more so than some EU / Nato allies' forces.

[sgtsabai]

I've never met an American GI, Army, Marine, AF, Navy that didn't have the utmost respect for the Aussie military, top of the line, or the British. I've got some great Aussie friends up here that were in Vietnam and we both respect each other's branch of service. Being a jarhead, I never had much respect for any other branch of the US military, but I'm learning. OK, my son went Navy SEALS, gotta' show a bit of respect there. From what I've heard from those that have been fighting these stupid wars over the last umpteen years, they don't sound a bit different than we did when we came back from Vietnam. Stupid policy, stupid war, stupid-dangerous "leaders", SNAFU from the git go. My talk with a USMC Capt. and his 1st. shirt a couple of years ago down in Pattaya sounded the same as ours 40 yrs. ago (damn I'm old-NOT). Not a good sign for the US military, tired, worn out, demoralized with nothing but pencil pushers for "leaders" (recently retired USMC Commandant comes to mind). OK he was prejudiced, he was a Mustang. One thing I'll agree on, America's war fighting sucks. Watching the History Channel's "Sons of Liberty" reminded me of why we can't win wars, we treat people in other countries the same as the Brits did us and can't understand why they don't like us, fight "dirty" etc., ah duh. Anyway, glad Cobra Gold in some form is continuing. I'm afraid if Thailand continues to crawl in bed with China, the US and Thailand will find each other at great odds. Not good for either country. After all, the US has been in bed with some of the most despicable dictators in the world.

[Jaygee]

Is This the one based near Pattaya or Phuket ?

[sgtsabai]

Cobra Gold is mostly around the Pattaya are, but there are other areas involved. Udonthani is one, sometimes.