PACOM commander visits Northern Edge

  • Published
  • By Brian Lepley
  • Elmendorf Joint Information Bureau
Elmendorf AFB, AK --  Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of Pacific Command (PACOM), was in the furthest north of his area of responsibility last week, visiting Alaska to officiate the Alaskan Command (ALCOM) assumption of command ceremony and to get up to date on exercise Northern Edge 08.
After a briefing on the exercise May 8, Keating sat for an interview.

Q: How does PACOM benefit from this year's version of Northern Edge?

A: Northern Edge is the application of tactics from plans that we have on the shelf. It is the most tactical of all Pacific Command exercises we conduct.
These are the very same tactics our guys will use in combat. It is a hands-on, get in the airplane; test the tactics that we have in the operations plans.
Some of the guys I've known a long time are flying, some of them are new, but they're all quite good at what they do.

Q: PACOM's exercise slate is extensive; Northern Edge is ongoing, Cobra Gold starts soon. Given the strain on the Department of Defense brought on by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how do you keep these exercises manned with forces and meaningful?

A: The Central Command challenge is not insignificant for all of us. It is principally an Army and Marine manpower demand. One of my jobs as the Pacific Command commander is to represent our situation to the secretary of defense and the president; that we are ready to execute the plans that we're exercising here in Northern Edge. And my answer is yes, we are. It requires a little bit of flexibility on our part. Instead of certain kinds of forces we use other shapes and sizes but it's a capability we possess to project strength and power and I'm satisfied we're ready to do just that.

Q: A real world situation has occurred in Burma with the devastation hurricane Nargis has wrought on May 2. What is PACOM's situational awareness there?

A: There is the horrible situation in Burma. We have forces that are going forward for Cobra Gold in Thailand. We may flex over some of those forces to provide humanitarian and disaster relief in Burma if the Burma government lets us come in. We've got ships, Marines, some Air Force C-130s, that are anxious to move relief supplies in but we can't get permission from Burma right now. (US military forces began moving relief supplies into Burma May 12 after United Nations intervention with the government there)

Q: The new ALCOM commander, Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, worked in operations for you at PACOM since 2007.

A: I've had the good fortune of working with DT for over a year now and I can assure all of you that you're getting a warfighter. The exercise being conducted right now is a great example of the effect DT will have on all of our plans for the Pacific. Northern Edge is as tactically demanding a scenario as we conduct in the Pacific ever. A staggering array of airplanes, great drivers, wonderful controllers; that's the kind of thing DT will shepherd and improve in the future for us.

Q: Northern Edge has evolved over the years from a traditional, land forces-based, military conflict training to specific Pacific scenarios but it is still in Alaska. What does the state offer PACOM?

A: We've got over 120 aircraft and that's one of the wonders of being able to do it here in Alaska. We've got the air space, the environment, the ranges. We've got the sea profile as well as an air and overland profile so the advantages to Alaska are significant.
We talked to guys who came to Alaska; they love it here. We understand how vital the support is we enjoy from all of our friends here in Alaska.
It is incumbent on those of us who use the airspace, who fish the streams, who hunt, who have families that are raised here, to as good a job as we possibly can to protect the environment. We are pledged to do that.