Pacific pathways to expand army's presence in region.

• Author: Sicard, Sarah

From September to November, soldiers based in Washington and Hawaii cut a swath through Asia with stops at Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan to conduct training with local forces.

Known as Pacific Pathways, the new concept is designed to both boost the Army's presence in the region as the armed forces make a strategic shift to the Asia-Pacific and reduce costs in fiscally austere times, said Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific.

By taking this approach, "We can be more efficient in using assets and drive costs down," Brooks said. "As you can imagine, that's critical in a time of reduced and reducing resources."

The three exercises--Garuda Shield in Indonesia, Keris Strike in Malaysia and Orient Shield in Japan--were formerly conducted by three separate Army units, Brooks said at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C.

The innovation was to move units from one country to another with equipment such as Strykers and helicopters shipped from point to point and used as needed, he said. There could be up to three pathways per year, with two or three stops each, he added.

In the future, instead of having to deploy troops from the United States to handle every new crisis that arises, the Army will have a semi-permanent presence in the region and use these "fast response teams" to quickly address threats, said Brooks. There may be up to three units rotating around the region in fiscal year 2015 conducting training with allies, he said.

Getting troops where and when they are needed in Asia has historically been a challenge because it's a vast region, he added.

"This should be a great opportunity for the Army to show its ability to adapt to a changing and challenging security environment," Robert Haddick, a contractor at U.S. Special Operations Command and author of Fire on the Water: China, America and the Future of the Pacific, told National Defense.

"The role of U.S. ground forces in this are underappreciated, but can be one of the most important and effective components of successful U.S. strategy," Haddick said.

With continued cutbacks to its budget and troops, the U.S. Army must reestablish ground forces as a necessary element in the Asia-Pacific rebalance, he added.

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