By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii, Feb. 9, 2018 — It is
somehow appropriate that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s latest
visit to the Pacific ends here, where the history of America’s involvement in
the region is in a nutshell.
Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford arrived here yesterday after a
trip that took him to Wake Island, Australia, Thailand and Guam.
Chinese propagandists insist the United States is a
declining power in the Pacific, no longer able to safeguard the rules-based
international order that has provided security, stability and economic progress
for the region since World War II. They say they have a better way to go – so
long as you do exactly what they tell you.
A visit to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor is a
lesson to those who underestimate U.S. commitment to the region.
The memorial is bestride the wreckage of the battleship
Arizona – sunk in the opening moments of the Japanese attack on the Pacific
Fleet on Dec. 7, 1941. A total of 1,177 sailors and Marines died in the
explosion on the Arizonaand 38 sets of brothers and one father and son were
killed in the attack.
Moored 500 yards astern of the Arizona is the USS Missouri.
On the deck of that battleship, U.S. and allied leaders watched as Japanese
officials surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945.
Since then, the United States has maintained a strong
military presence in the Pacific and will continue to do so for the future,
Dunford said.
Rules-Based International Order
The rules-based international order has allowed all nations
in the region – including China – to prosper. The United States is very much
invested in the region politically, economically and militarily. President
Donald J. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson,
Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and the chairman have made repeated trips to
allies and partners in the region.
More than 350,000 U.S. service members and Defense
Department civilians are serving in the region, according to U.S. Pacific
Command. The exercise program with allies and partners – exemplified by
Exercise Cobra Gold starting next week in Thailand – is comprehensive and
challenging. The United States has been there operationally, also providing aid
during natural disasters such as the 2004 earthquake and tsunami off the coast
of Indonesia and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan.
Some 50,000 U.S. service members are based in Japan, and
28,000 Americans are ready to “fight tonight” alongside their South Korean
allies. U.S. service members provided enablers to the Philippine armed forces
as they battled Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-affiliated groups in the city
of Marawi.
U.S. Marines are rotating in and out of Darwin, Australia.
The U.S. and Japanese governments are investing millions in upgrading military
facilities in Guam and on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Even on Wake Island –
with a total U.S. military garrison of four – is looking to the future, as it
is a test bed for missile defense.
Meeting Alliance Commitments
The bottom line is that the United States is able to meet
its alliance commitments in the Pacific, Dunford said in an interview with
reporters traveling with him.
“We have an alliance with South Korea. We have one with the
Philippines. We have one with Japan. We have one with Thailand. We have one
with Australia,” he said. “And our force posture and presence here, and our
level of readiness, and the level of interoperability that … we’ve developed …
allows us to meet our alliance commitments.”
From a security perspective, the U.S. presence “is
underlying the rules-based international order that for the last 70 years
everybody has benefited from,” he said. “And what we’re doing now is we’re
modernizing our force, we’re modernizing our presence in the region, and we’re
enhancing our relationships in the region to ensure that we have another 70
years of peace in the rules-based international order.”
Pacom has 60 percent of the entire U.S. Air Force dedicated
to it. The U.S. Navy will soon have 60 percent of its capabilities in the
region. The U.S. Army Pacific has been upgraded to four-star level, and the
service is also putting significant resources into the region.
The network of allies and partners developed since the end
of World War II is dedicated to the rules-based international order. “They
don’t want ‘might to equal right,’” Dunford said. “They want there to be a set
of international standards and norms that are enforced by the international
community’s collective coherent response. That’s what our relationships here in
the region are all about.”
And no one should underestimate the quality of America’s
military. “One of the more important things for military power is human
capital,” Dunford said. “And it’s the education of that capital, it’s the
flexibility of that … human capital. And when I look at our noncommissioned
officers as an example compared to any autocratic nation, the degree of
initiative our junior people have, the degree of education that they have, and
the competence they have is unmatched.”
Others understand this. He noted that at the end of the Cold
War, the former Warsaw Pact countries focused on developing junior officer and
noncommissioned officer corps “that had the kind of initiative and flexibility
that ours does,” the chairman said.
“So I think when it comes to military effectiveness --
equipment aside, from a human capital perspective -- I think there’s a strong
argument to be made that a liberal democracy produces a stronger leadership
corps with the kind of qualities that they have to have to deal with the
uncertainty and the chaos of combat.”
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