MANILA, Philippines—The military looks to have “hybrid” battalions in
the future, as a pilot case combining reservists and militiamen with
regular soldiers in an Army battalion has worked out well.
The Army’s reclassified 24th Infantry Battalion under the 7th
Infantry Division has passed the Army’s technical evaluation with flying
colors after a year in operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Samson, commander of the military’s first
“territorial battalion,” said the successful pilot test might mean the
setup would be replicated in other units.
“We hope that since the first-ever territorial battalion gained
positive evaluation from our technical working group, this undertaking
by the Armed Forces of the Philippines will be expanded to other
peaceful and development-ready areas like Zambales,” Samson said.
The 24IB was reclassified last May 1, 2011, as a territorial
battalion to integrate reservists and Cafgu [Citizens’ Armed Forces
Geographical Units] active auxiliary (CAA) paramilitary troops, whose
task is to conduct civil military operations (CMO) and other support
missions.
Aside from the regular soldiers, Samson’s battalion has 16 reservist
officers, 121 reservist enlisted personnel and 334 CAA personnel who all
come from the area.
Evaluators from the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio found that
the fusion of reservists and CAA personnel to the regular members of the
24IB has increased the number of effective CMO activities in the area.
CMO activities refer to community services including disaster rescue and relief operations.
The added manpower, meanwhile, allowed soldiers in the active service
to conduct “focused and deliberate combat operations” against
insurgents and other armed groups.
The Army has turned to reservists and paramilitary troops as “force
multiplier” due to the deficiency in the number of ground troops.
Launched on December 20, 2010, the concept of integrating Army
reserve and active components in selected units was seen as a solution
to “low personnel fill-up.”
The setup is said to be the brainchild of Army chief Lieutenant
General Emmanuel Bautista when he was still the AFP deputy chief of
staff for operations (J3).
AFP Chief of Staff General Jessie Dellosa recently directed the AFP
Reserve Command to give priority to the development of reservists as
territorial forces.
He said community-based military reservists serve as the backbone of first responders during calamities.
“I hope that this success can be replicated in other battalions in every part of the country,” Dellosa said in a statement.
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Dona Z. Pazzibugan | Philippine Daily Inquirer | May 6, 2012 | Article Link
