US Navy, Marines Integrate to Improve Maritime Missions during Talisman Sabre

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paolo Bayas, USS George Washington Public Affairs

TIMOR SEA (NNS) -- Marines embarked aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) and introduced the Joint Automated Deep Operation Coordination System (JADOCS) during exercise Talisman Sabre 15 (TS15).

According to Marine Cpl. Steward Bach, a JADOCS operator, their visit aboard George Washington allowed the U.S. Marine Corps to show the U.S. Navy their capabilities and how the Marine Corps can integrate and improve the Navy's maritime missions.

"There is a common misconception that Marines are supposed to be a land fighting force. We are also a sea-to-land fighting force," said Bach. "Talisman Sabre gives us an opportunity to go back to our maritime roots and JADOCS is the system we are using to do so."

Bach added that JADOCS is a system that links land and sea assets, and creates a clear image that is designed to allow a combatant commander to make better tactical decisions. It improves communication between all allied resources and provides more detail for real-world scenarios, which ultimately allows better tactical engagements.

"As III MEF [Marine Expeditionary Force] supports approximately one hundred TSC [theater security cooperation] and exercise events per year, our planners, along with 7th Fleet planners, are shaping to align our participation in a more building-block approach by capturing our METs (Mission Essential Tasks) sustainment training and certification exercise requirements," said Marine Col. A.J. B. Ylanan, senior Fleet Marine Force staff officer. "To continue the momentum of 7th Fleet's success in Operation Valiant Shield 14 last fall, which III MEF assets also participated in, TS15 also serves as an ideal event platform that can further experiment and refine the Marine Corps' contribution to integrate as a positive-force multiplier to the Navy's maritime operational objectives in addition to exercising our core amphibious capabilities."

III MEF is based in Okinawa, Japan, and is home to more than 23,000 Marines, Sailors and their families. They operate in support of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, providing for the mutual defense of Japan and ensuring regional security.

"After over a decade of forward combat deployments in support of overseas contingency operations (OCO), the Marine Corps is gradually returning to our traditional roots as a naval service and are reinvigorating our partnership with our Navy brethren," said Ylanan. "This coordinated and collaborated effort will certainly lead toward providing expanded and streamlined capabilities as we work and operate with several of our allies and partner nations throughout the 7th Fleet area of responsibility, which will polish our response package to potential future threats and other humanitarian assistance and disaster relief requirements."

"A part of Talisman Sabre was to train Navy personnel to use JADOCS and how to use the system to integrate with Marines," said Bach. "So far, I have not met a single Sailor who has not seen the advantages to our system. It is history in the making to be able to integrate JADOCS with the Navy's system and I am blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of it."

TS15 is a biennial land, sea and air military training exercise between U.S. and Australian forces that features more than 33,000 personnel, 21 ships, 200 aircraft and three submarines, which increases U.S.-Australian interoperability to respond to a wide variety of contingencies and maintain security, peace, and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.