Philippine military to triple size of anti-terrorist unit

The Philippine government is to triple the size of a special forces military unit that operates against Islamist militants responsible for deadly bombings and kidnappings of Westerners, officials said Tuesday.

The Light Reaction Battalion is to be built up to regiment size, Philippine Army chief Lieutenant-General Noel Coballes said, an increase from about 500 soldiers to as many as 1,500.

"We have seen how effective they are, so we are strengthening the unit in terms of anti-terrorism. From a battalion we'll increase it to a regiment," he said.

The unit is fighting the Abu Sayyaf, a group of several hundred Islamist militants who are behind the country's deadliest attacks as well as kidnappings of Western targets.

Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the battalion had taken substantial casualties during a three-week battle against gunmen in the southern port of Zamboanga in September last year.

The gunmen are followers of former rebel leader Nur Misuari, who went into hiding as hundreds of his men infiltrated Zamboanga to oppose a proposed peace treaty between the Philippine government and a rival Muslim guerrilla faction.

The fighting left more than 240 people dead and displaced about 116,000 people as entire districts of the city of nearly a million people went up in flames.

"As you have seen, we lost a number of our men in the Zamboanga incident, which led to a shortage that needed to be addressed," Gazmin said.

Neither official gave a timetable, but Armed Forces spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala said the unit would be bulked up within the year.

"Based on what happened in Zamboanga, our military leadership saw a need to increase the strength of the Light Reaction Battalion to be able to address contingencies anywhere in the country," Zagala told AFP.

The United States has trained and equipped the battalion since 2002, to help its Asian ally fight the Islamist militants in the south of the mainly Catholic nation.

Article Source: InterAksyon

Acquitted military officer in Basilan bloodbath reinstated

MANILA, Philippines - Col. Alexander Macario, one of the officers charged for violating some provisions of the Articles of War (AW) in connection with the October 2011 Basilan bloodbath, was designated as the new Inspector General (IG) of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, it was learned Thursday.

A member the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Sandiwa” Class 1985, Macario assumed his new position Feb. 27. He replaced Col. Ferdinand Quidilla (PMA “Matikas” Class 1983), who is designated as the new commander of the 402nd Infantry “Stinger” Brigade.

Last November, Macario, former commander of the Special Forces Regiment (Airborne) was acquitted by a General Court Martial for “insufficiency of evidence.” Also acquitted was Lt. Col. Orlando Edralin, former commander of the Special Task Force Basilan and Special Forces School. Both were charged for allegedly violating AW 96 (Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman) and AW 97 (Disorders and Neglects to the Prejudice of Good Order and Military Discipline).

“[Col. Macario has] my confidence and he is the right person for this designation and I believe that he can equal or even surpassed what Col. Quidilla has accomplished,” 4th ID commander Maj. Gen. Nestor Añonuevo said.

Last January, the same court found guilty Col. Amikandra Undug, former commander of the Special Forces Regiment (Airborne), for violating AW 96 and 97. His case is on appeal before the office of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista.

At the same time, the court is still hearing the case of Lt. Col. Leonard Peña, former commanding officer of the 4th Special Forces Battalion, for allegedly violating AW 96, 97, and 84 (Willful or Negligent Loss, Damage or Wrongful Disposition).

The officers’ case stemmed from the October 18 daylong firefight of less than 100 soldiers against more than 400 combined Muslim rebels and Abu bandits in Barangay Cambug, Al-Barka town that resulted to the death of 19 soldiers and 14 others seriously injured.

The rebels were from the 114th base Command of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) led by Long Malat Sulayman and Furuji Indama, respectively.

The soldiers, who were in the area to serve arrest warrants of lawless personalities when attacked, did not coordinate with the Muslim rebels who were in peace talks with the government.

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Jaime Sinapit | InterAksyon.com | February 28, 2013 | Article Link

Special Forces: AFP Force 'Multipliers'

Empowering The Filipino People

 

MANILA, Philippines --- On 25 June, the Philippine Army’s Special Forces Regiment (Airborne) celebrates its 50th Golden Anniversary at Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija. From modest beginnings in 1962 as a company of 12 officers and 105 enlistedmen, the SFR (Abn) now numbers 180 officers and 3,000 enlisted personnel (including 20 women) in five battalions deployed countrywide.

The concept of Special Forces – defined succinctly as compact units adept at “unconventional warfare” – emanated from successful guerrilla movements against the Axis Powers in Europe and Asia during WWII. The US Armed Forces recognized the importance of skilled soldiers who could infiltrate clandestinely by land, sea, and air behind enemy lines.

These specialists provided timely intelligence and also trained guerrilla units to support conventional forces about to undertake an invasion or full-scale raid. Their hazardous undertakings required a core of versatile combatants around which local guerrillas could be organized and given access to communications, logistics, and, most important, leadership. SF units also provided escape/evasion mechanisms to rescue or exfiltrate important personages safely out of enemy-occupied territory. 

Our AFP and PNP, of course, have never been conceived to be destructive war machines – because their missions basically are about internal defense, public safety, countering insurgency, and neutralizing criminal syndicates. On the other hand, Special Forces units in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and PNP perform critical tasks as “force-multipliers” in collaboration with local officials and civilian auxiliaries (veterans, security guards, and reservists, etc.) in maintaining peace, order, and stability.

All-Out Force/All-Out Friendship

When the Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Huks) under Luis Taruc and Jesus Lava began to fight government because of agrarian abuses and social injustice in the late 1940s, the AFP launched large-scale operations against them. These unwieldy formations proved ineffective against the Huks who consisted of elusive armed cells and mobile local auxiliaries.

Reshaping his strategy, Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay directed the formation of compact hard-hitting units, principally Battalion Combat Teams (BCTs) and Scout Rangers. 

The resultant small-unit actions which focused on endurance, stealth, and jungle combat proved successful in hunting down the Huks through long-range patrols and first-strike operations. 

Early on, it was recognized that the real battle was for people’s “hearts and minds,” especially the rural poor, whose loyalty had to be won by Government at every step.

Knowing that even elite combat troops wouldn’t be enough to quell the Huk rebellion, Magsaysay further improved his pacification campaign by effectively combining “all-out force” (on the right) and “all-out friendship” (on the left). 

The latter included medical and engineering assistance to poor communities and homesteads for landless tenants (with retired soldiers as co-settlers) in Mindanao and other conflict areas. 

The 1st SF Company (Airborne)

In his ninth year as Captain, (having been stalled in that rank with the integration into the Regular Force of hundreds of “recognized” WWII guerrilla officers), FVR was assigned to command the newly created 1st SF Company (Airborne), PA. He had undergone Special Warfare and Airborne courses at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 1960 with three other gung-ho officers (Jose Magno, David Abundo, Cesar Batilo). Only one of six volunteers passed the rigid physical fitness and psychological tests prescribed for the 1SFCA.

AFP Chief General Manuel Cabal enhanced President Magsaysay’s two-pronged approach by approving the SF “multiplier” concept. The AFP’s capabilities were thus expanded beyond combat operations by embracing community development and nation-building missions. SF soldiers became proficient in civilian skills, notably engineering, healthcare, and community organization – thus enabling them to tackle multi-faceted duties.

The first months were devoted to training in the mountains surrounding Fort Magsaysay, sweating through hundreds of kilometers of roadruns, and jumping from old C-47 cargo planes into unfamiliar dropzones. The 1SFCA did the first demonstration para-drops on Camp Murphy (now Aguinaldo), Fort McKinley (now Bonifacio), and Manila Bay. 

In addition to honing combat and airborne skills, SF troopers became proficient in jungle survival, civic action, and night operations. Their small teams specialized in intelligence, engineering, demolitions, communications, and medical support. Even doctors and nurses earmarked for South Vietnam deployment were toughened thru SF techniques. 

Unconventional Warfare Learned from Filipinos

Two US Army officers proved instrumental in giving shape to our Special Forces: LtGen William Yarborough and BGen George Jones. Both served as Commander of the US Army Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina during the 1950s-60s. 

Before WWII, Yarborough served with the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts. As test officer for the Provisional Parachute Group in 1941, in Fort Benning, Georgia, he designed the paratrooper’s uniform, badge, and aerial delivery containers. He spearheaded parachute combat missions in Italy and France in 1944-45. As USASWC Commander, he introduced multiple disciplines into training methods, particularly in deep penetration commando raids and the multiplier effect of audacious warriors infiltrated into hostile territory to organize local freedom-fighters. 

He also secured funding to develop the SF organization into a strategic force with a distinct sartorial identity: the “Green Beret.”

Jones was the leader of “Rock Force” – consisting of his 503rd Parachute Regiment plus support units – which jumped on the tiny “Topside” dropzone and liberated Corregidor in the first-ever “tri-phibious” air-sea-land operation in February, 1945. 

He had previously led his Regiment in December, 1944 in liberating Mindoro, and commanded the Regimental Team which flushed out Japanese hold-outs from Negros in July, 1945. 

Civic Action: Winning Hearts and Minds

SF training had to be extremely tough, because one “bad egg” could compromise the whole team’s survival. Commanders had to ensure that every SF unit was capable, mission-oriented, and determined because even ordinary “test missions” would require infiltration behind or within the target enemy. 

Most important, SF troopers learned to win the friendship and trust of the community. They cultivated goodwill with LGUs down to barangays, and became adept at menial pursuits like making sanitary toiletbowls or growing backyard vegetables.

Green Berets from Okinawa led by Lt. Col. Ray Call provided a nucleus training contingent during the first year. Overall US supervision was exercised by Pentagon officers Bob Brewer, Ace Ellis and Jerry Milsted.

Those were hard and challenging times – but also a period that FVR would not exchange for any other assignment in his 42 years in the AFP. FVR recounts: “Once you have stood at the airplane’s open door at 1,500 feet altitude at night, and gathered enough courage to jump into thin air with a fragile WWII-type parachute holding you aloft while being dragged down by 40 pounds of equipment and supplies for needy civilians – then anything else becomes relatively easy to do.” 

That intrepid 1962 band of pioneers would grow into the SF Group (Abn) in August 1964 and eventually became the SF Regiment (Abn) in November 1989. SF troops have operated throughout our country and even abroad as peacekeepers to help secure free societies and uphold the law. 

Countering International Terrorism

The SF has undergone major shifts in contemporary warfare – from countering insurgency to fighting international terrorism. 

None of these developments has diminished the value of unconventional warfare. If anything, the SF Regiment has become more important than ever. With asymmetric warfare magnified after the 9/11 attacks on US territory, conventional hostilities have receded farther from the norm. Stateless terrorists have killed and destroyed where a nation and its institutions are weakest – to unleash huge global destruction with relatively few investments in lives and resources.

The US achieved “poetic justice” when Osama Bin Laden – evil genius behind shocking violence and mass murders – was eventually terminated by Naval SF operatives (SEALS) after years of painstaking tracking. The raid on his Abbottabad, Pakistan, hideout was the culmination of intensive intelligence and relentless man-hunting that are SF hallmarks. 

Through the years, our SF units have attained commendable successes in dangerous enclaves inhabited by the NPA, Islamic jihadists, and Abu Sayyaf extremists countrywide. 

God, Country, and People Above All Else

The most notable of those successes are chronicled in the SFR (Abn) Anniversary Book to commemorate its first 50 years. Many were accomplished with little fanfare and with nothing close to the high-tech support enjoyed today by their American and European counterparts. Each of these success stories illustrates the meticulous application of principles and techniques that SF units have assimilated over the past half-century.

The growing prevalence of conflicts characterized by surprise, mobility, and lightning strikes against strategic targets is right up the SF alley. However, theirs also is the higher goal – not just to defeat insurgency or terrorism – but to help safeguard our national security, people’s well-being, and cherished national values. 

Indeed, the SF Regiment (Abn) has proven to be unwavering in its loyalty to God, country, and people. 

SUCH FIDELITY TO THE IDEALS AND VIRTUES THAT GAVE BIRTH TO THE SF – COMBINED WITH THE REMARKABLE SUCCESS OF ITS UNITS IN THE FIELD – TRULY PROVES ITS UNCEASING RELEVANCE TO OUR NATION’S PEACE, SECURITY, AND INTEGRITY.

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 Fidel V. Ramos | Manila Bulletin | June 16, 2012 | Article Link

Fidel V. Ramos is a Former Philippine President

PA Trains With US Soldiers

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecija, Philippines — In a bid to raise competency on Military Decision Making Process (MDMP), military intelligence experts from the Philippine Army (PA) and the United States Army gathered at the Officer’s Clubhouse here for a Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) to train participants in the adoption of army’s analytical approach to decision making.

The event was than 35 members of the Philippine Army and about six US Army soldiers.

Approved under the Philippines (PH)-US Mutual Defense Board (MDB) activities for this year, the SMEE aims to raise competency on MDMP among the participants giving primacy on a soldier's capability to develop the right estimate of the situation and plan in every military operation the right estimate of the situation and plan in every military operation.

The participants are from the Philippine Army Infantry Division Training Units in Luzon; Intelligence, Special Forces, Ranger, Combat Service Support, Combat Arms Schools; Special Operations Command; and the 50th Infantry Battalion whose forces are on a scheduled training at Fort Magsaysay.

Military here said that the training on MDMP will help military commanders and his staff examine a battlefield situation and reach logical decisions.

“The process will help our men apply thoroughness, sound judgment, professional knowledge and logic to reach a decision,” the military said.

The MDB manifests the stability of the long-standing PH-US strategic alliance, which has remained remarkable through years of steadfast cooperation amidst the rapidly changing global security environment.

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Mark Anthony N. Manuel

February 24, 2012, 5:27pm

Manila Bulletin

MB.Com.Ph

Article Link

Special Forces, AFP Honor "Wild 42"

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines ‐ Members of Joint Special Operations Task Force ‐Philippines held a ceremony Feb 22, 2012 observing the 10th anniversary of an aircraft accident that claimed the lives of JSOTF‐P service members serving in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines joined U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen at Camp Navarro in paying respects to Special Operations Aviators and Air Commandos who perished when their US MH‐47E Chinook helicopter, call sign "Wild 42," went down in the Bohol Sea while returning from a mission in Basilan in 2002.

“Ten years ago today Operation Enduring Freedom‐Philippines was well underway, when tragedy struck our nation again,” said U.S. Army Chaplain (Captain) Johnnie lder, while leading a prayer. “Ten American warriors died, bringing the world‐wide war on terror casualty count to 32 that day. Let us bow our heads.” 

An intense, multi‐day search and rescue operation followed. First responders recovered remains of eight of the ten service members a few miles off the southern coast of the Negros Islands. 

During the ceremony, U.S. Army Col. Fran Beaudette, commander of JSOTF‐P, and the JSOTF‐P Senior Enlisted Advisor, Command Sergeant Major Frank Gilliand, laid a wreath at the base of a memorial plaque. A bell rang as each of the names of the fallen was recited.

Lost were: U.S. Army Maj. Curtis D. Feistner; Army Capt. Bartt D. Owens; Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jody L. Egnor; Army Staff Sgt. James P. Dorrity; Army Staff Sgt. Kerry W. Frith; Army Staff Sgt. Bruce A. Rushforth Jr.; Army Sgt. Jeremy D. Foshee; Spec. Thomas F. Allison; Air Force Master Sgt. William L. McDaniel II and Air Force Staff Sgt. Juan M. Ridout. 

“Ten years ago, the lives of ten families changed forever,” said Col. Beaudette as he addressed the crowd, which included a joint formation of U.S. and Philippine forces. “Take time to think about these ten names and those hundreds of thousands of Americans and Filipinos before them who led them home and accomplished their missions, as we’ll accomplish ours.” 

U.S. Joint Special Operations Task Force – Philippines was established to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines in their fight against trans‐national terrorism. Since its inception, 17 U.S. service members have died while advising and assisting Philippine forces with efforts to secure peace and stability in the Mindanao Region.

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By Major Darrick Lee, JSOTF-P Public Affairs

February 24,2012

Shadow Spear - Special Operations

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