US sailors warn to learn karaoke from Filipino counterparts

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—Filipino soldiers are eager to learn new combat techniques from their American counterparts and experience the use of state-of-the-art equipment during the nine-day Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (Carat) 2012 here, but what do US forces want to learn in return?

“To learn karaoke,” said Capt. Dave Welch, commander of the US Navy’s Destroyer Squadron 31 based in Pearl Harbor.

Welch told the Inquirer aboard the USS Vandergrift at the Makar Port here Wednesday that he and his men wish to go out with Filipino soldiers for karaoke before the exercises end on July 10.

“That’s a certain thing that we need help in,” he said.

Welch said some American soldiers might turn out to be “excellent musicians.”

“We usually put them in our bands but I myself, for example, I am not skilled in karaoke,” he said.

Welch said he and his men can use all the help they can get to become skilled in karaoke singing.

Philippine Navy Capt. Robert Empedrad, Carat 2012 exercise director, said they were willing to teach their American counterparts the tricks of karaoke singing.

“If you’re in the navy, you love singing. That’s one way of entertaining your comrades. 

There’s no problem. We can impart to them our skills on that,” he said.

Welch said it was up to Filipino sailors to learn what they could from US forces during the nine-day exercise.

Empedrad said Filipino soldiers can learn a lot too from their American counterparts in the conduct of warfare.

In fact, on Friday, they will participate in a live fire drill with US sailors in  waters off Sarangani province.

“Our ships are already old but what’s important is we will learn a lot from them,” Empedrad said.

Welch described Filipino sailors and members of the Philippine Coast Guard as very professional.

There are around 450 personnel from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard participating in the Carat 2012. The US Navy and Coast Guard sent  about 500 personnel.

The exercises training include  in-port training, subject matter expertise exchanges, ceremonies and interactions; diving and salvage training at General Santos Bay, Sarangani; and medical/dental/ engineering civic action projects and community relations activities in different locations in General Santos City and Glan in Sarangani.

Commodore Philip Cacayan of the Eastern Mindanao Naval Forces said their American counterparts have installed sophisticated radios in their vessels to address communication gaps.

He reiterated that the exercise has nothing to do with the territorial dispute with China over the Scarborough Shoal.

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Jeoffrey Maitem | Inquirer Mindanao | July 5, 2012 | Article Link

PH-US exercises: Glaring gap between 2 navies

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines - “Iyan ang pangarap natin. Magkaroon man lang sana tayo niyan.” (That is our dream. We wish we'd own one like that.)

Navy Commander Lued Lincuna said this with a sense of resignation as his patrol boat approached USS Vandegrift past noon Sunday, July 1, at the mouth of Sarangani Bay, some 20 nautical miles off General Santos City.

The US frigate is not even in the list of the US Navy's top-of-the-line warships. “Over 25 nautical miles (per hour),” was all Commodore David Welch would volunteer to say when we asked about its maximum speed.

Welch is Task Group 73.1 commander of the US Navy that is participating in the ongoing 2012 CARAT exercises in this city. CARAT stands for Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, an 18-year joint military exercise and training between the US and its allies in Southeast Asia.

USS Vandegrift is a versatile vessel capable of navigating international waters and behind hostile territories. It's armed with torpedoes and is also designed for anti-submarine warfare. It can stay afloat for weeks on end without refueling. Most of all, it can eavesdrop anywhere in the world with its sophisticated listening and surveillance devices. Stationed in San Diego, California, it can be deployed anywhere in the world at a moment's notice.

Docked side by side at Makar Wharf with USS Vandegrift is the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Waesche. Commissioned in 2006, USS Waesche is the flagship of the US Coast Guard and its most modern vessel.

(Members of the local press here were only allowed limited tour on USS Vandergrift, commissioned in 1984, and were not brought to USCGC Waesche.)

Lincuna recalled the time when the Philippine Navy was known as one of the best in Asia.

“The Philippine Navy had its glory days in [the late 1960s and] 1970s (before Martial was declared),” Lincuna said as his fast attack craft BRP Salvador Abcede made a traditional welcome pass around Vandegrift.

CARAT 2012. Mere exercises? PHOTO by Edwin Espejo

The Philippine Navy however has deteriorated over the years.

According to global intelligence, “Philippine warships are armed entirely with mounted machine guns and deck guns, the largest of which is 3" (76mm)...The Fleet lacks missile-armed ships, greatly limiting range and effectiveness against enemy warships and aircraft. Even antisubmarine (ASW) weapons like depth charges are absent on all or almost all of the Philippine warships. The Philippine Fleet also lacks its own submarines, not to mention aircraft carriers.”

The Philippine Navy was supposed to be the major beneficiary of the P331-billion (US$ 8 billion) 15-year modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that was crafted in 1995. The program never took off until recently when the Navy acquired BRP Gregorio del Pilar, and before that BRP Ramon Alcaraz, under the Excess Defense Articles and the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act of US government.

In May this year, the Philippine Navy issued its own wish list for the modernization of its fleet. It includes 6 frigates configured for anti-air warfare, 12 corvettes designed for anti-submarine warfare, 18 Offshore Patrol Vessels (OVs), 3 submarines, 3 Mine Counter Measure Vessels (MCMVs), 4 Strategic Sealift Vessels (SSVs), 18 Landing Craft Utility (LCU) among others.

CARAT 2012. Mere exercises? PHOTO by Edwin Espejo

The Navy's biggest ship right now is the refurbished BRP Gregorio del Pilar.

BRP Gregorio del Pilar was formerly USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715), built in 1965 but decommissioned by the US Coast Guard in the same year it was transferred to the Philippine Navy.

Commodore Philip Cacayan, commander of the Philippine Navy’s Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao command, said what the navy lacked in equipment and armaments, they make up with their resilience.

He is confident that the Philippine Navy would eventually catch up with its neighbors in Southeast Asia.

Even its ground forces – the Philippine Marines – are still equipped with Vietnam War-era M-16 riffles.

CARAT 2012. Mere exercises? PHOTO by Edwin Espejo

Side by side with some 50 US Marine troops during a riverine exercise, the Philippine Marines and Philippine coast guards can only wish they will someday be issued the M4 version of the Armalite rifles that is currently the standard issue in the US military.

From the combat boots to caps and uniforms to the minutest of combat gear, the Filipino soldier is his US counterpart’s poor cousin.

And each time these exercises are held, the Philippine Navy is reminded that it has a long way to go before it can call its forces a naval fleet. 

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Edwin Espejo | Rappler.Com | July 5, 2012 | Article Link

Philippines: US warship makes port call ahead of navy excercises

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – US frigate ship USS Vandergrift arrived here Sunday afternoon and dropped anchor at the Makar port as some 500 American troops prepare for a 72-hour joint naval exercise with the Philippine Navy and coast guards.

Commodore Dave Welsch and the crew of the USS Vandergrift were met by Commodore Marfin Tan (res) and Capt. Robert Empedrad of the Philippine Navy in arrival honors that were dampened by heavy downpour.

Welsch is commanding general of Task Group 73.1 of the US Navy.

Commodore Dave Welsch is welcomed by Commodore Marfin Tan (Res) and Capt. Robert Empedrad (PN) upon arrival of USS Vandergrift at the Makar Wharf.FOTO BY COCOY SEXCION

Commodore Philip Cacayan, head of the Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao of the Philippine Navy,  early in the week said US troop movement inland will be restricted and confined to civic military operations.  He said requests for media to board the ships while on exercise will have to be assessed.

Several squads of US Army Special Forces however are already in the city to hold joint military exercises with the Philippine Marines.

The two other US ships expected to participate in the activities failed to join USS Vandergrift.

Sources said US Coast Guard ship USCG Waesche will arrive later in time for the exercise while USNS Safeguard, earlier reported to also join the naval activities here, will instead conduct rescue and salvage training in Manila.

Outside Makar Wharf, some 40 militants belonging to the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) shouted slogans and waved their banners to protest the exercise dubbed Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 21012.

In a press statement, Bayan spokesperson Ryan Lariba said the exercise only proves increasing US military intervention in the country.

Patrol Boat BRP Salvador Abcede skipper Cmdr Lued Lincuna however said the joint exercise will enable the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard to upgrade their tactical capabilities considering that the US Navy have far more advance tactics in naval maneuver and warfare .

Cmdr Lincuna told journalists who boarded the Philippine Navy patrol boat in meeting USS Vandergrift at the mouth of Sarangani Bay just off the coast of Maasim that the exercise will be held in the “Mindanao sea” and will be out of sight of residents around the bay.

“It will also involve live fire exercises,” Lincuna said.  Participating Philippine Navy ships are equipped with 20-mm anti-aircraft guns and caliber .50 heavy machine guns.

The BRP Gregorio del Pilar, recently acquired from the US Coast Guard, is the biggest naval asset of the Philippine Navy.  It has an Mk.75 Oto Melara 76 mm Compact main gun, two Mk.38 M242 Bushmaster 25 mm chain gun at midships.  It will not be joining CARAT 2012, however.

USS Vandergrift is a Perry-class frigate and is capable of storing and launching guided missiles.   It has an Mk 75 76mm/62 caliber rapid firing gun and MK 32 ASW torpedo tubes (two triple mounts).  It also houses two Seahawk helicopters and has a crew of 17 officers and 160 enlisted men.

The Philippines will send a 450-man contingent from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard to the exercise.

The Philippine contingent will be coming fresh from a taxing rescue operations in Sarangani Bay involving scores of fishermen who were drifted away by a strong storm surge last June 12.

Three fishermen are still missing while the death toll have reportedly risen to at least five other people.

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Edwin Espejo | Asian Correspondent | July 1, 2012 | Article Link