The CAT in Palau and to others

 

【縛雞之見】

There are roughly 20,000 residents in Palau, about 500 of its citizens serving in the U.S. military.

Besides military presence, there are tiny units, or Civil Affairs Team or CAT, in the Pacific Islands countries that have a close tie with the U.S.  The U.S. or the INDOPACOM in more precise makes its presence in a way versatility.

Esper, first SECDEF to travel to Palau, visits with Seabees and Marines   

Meghann Myers＠Military Times 20200828

PALAU — U.S troops have been rotating in and out of a small Southeast Asian island nation for more than 40 years, and on Friday they got their inaugural visit by a Pentagon boss.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper toured a civil affairs compound and met with top government officials as part of the first-ever visit by a U.S. SECDEF, though the relationship between Palau and the military dates back decades.

“There are so many Palauans who serve in the American armed forces, at a much higher rate than any state in the United States,” Esper said.

A country of more than 300 island and roughly 20,000 residents, about 500 of its citizens serve in the U.S. military, more than twice the rate of American citizens, which is currently about 1 percent.

This is made possible by a 1994 Compact of Free Association, which made Palau a democratic republic, but also guarantees not only a diplomatic and economic relationship (they use the U.S. dollar) but its defense by American troops.

Several dozen troops are deployed to Palau at any given time, for a range of missions. Task Force Oceania currently has Hawaii-based Army reservists assigned to the U.S. embassy there, including a civil affairs team and Palauan natives.

“We are grateful to the people of Palau for their enduring contributions to the United States armed forces, and we honor those who laid down their lives in defense of both of our nations.”

表單的底部

Task Force Koa Moana, a yearly event, is underway with troops from I Marine Expeditionary Force embarked on the expeditionary fast-transport ship City of Bismarck, who manned the rails Friday as Esper and his team motored out to the site of a crashed World War II-era TMB Avenger, where he laid a wreath with President Thomas Remengesau.

But the longest-standing troop presence in the country belongs to Navy construction teams, Seabees, who have been rotating in as the13-man Civic Action Team Palau for decades.

Based at Camp Katuu ― literally, Palauan for “cat” ― they help build local projects like playgrounds, but also offer free repairs for broken-down vehicles, during six-month rotations.

They also run an apprenticeship program, with recruits Palauan locals, pays them minimum wage for a year and gets them certified in construction specialties like carpentry, welding and machinery repair.

In recent years, CAT Palau has expanded to include Army and Air Force engineering/construction units.

Their presence is more important now than ever, Esper said, as China continues it’s “destabilizing activities in the region,” which include not only flexing military might in Southeast Asia, but also economic influence in the form of funding for struggling economies.

 

 

For engineers, deployments to Pacific islands, Southeast Asia could be in the works    Meghann Myers＠Military News 20200901

Honolulu ― For decades, small groups of military engineer teams have been spending six-month stints in paradise in the name of strengthening the U.S.’s relationship with one Pacific island nation.

And there’s possibility that their model could expand, after Defense Secretary Mark Esper made a Pentagon chief’s first ever visit to Palau on Aug. 28.

“I think, the Civic Action Teams — how can we replicate that in other countries?” Esper told Military Times on Saturday.  “It’s a high payoff, low-cost way to get the teams out there.  They’re just a good asset to do that diplomacy on the ground.”

In place since the 1970s, CAT Palau could be a blueprint for similar rotations in other countries.

Their mission has included everything from doing free car repairs and building playgrounds to hosting outdoor movie nights for local families and anchoring a radio show geared toward Palauan citizens.

They also offer an apprenticeship program that trains locals in construction ― welding, carpentry, vehicle repair, etc. ― and gets them certified so they have a marketable skill.

But at the same time, their presence is strategic.  This year’s big project has been expanding an airstrip on the island, bringing it up to snuff for C-130s.

“These are minor muscle movements that could lead, eventually, to a major muscle movement,” Esper said.  “So you get small teams like this out there doing the groundwork, forging the diplomacy.”

The teams would be part of a larger INDOPACOM strategy that would spread out the U.S.’s concentrated forces in Japan and South Korea, an INDOPACOM official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, told reporters Monday.

“I don’t think we’re looking to have fixed bases in fixed places, right?” the official said.

Rather, CATs could make inroads in parts of the Indo-Pacific that have no U.S. presence.

On that wish list are countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, or perhaps Indonesia.

“There’s a lot of work all along the Mekong [Delta] that has some real opportunity that can start small and continue to work,” the official said of Vietnam, where engineering troops could spearhead dam preservation and other infrastructure projects.

That philosophy is playing a large role in the INDOPACOM combatant command review, which is underway now and expected to wrap up some time in the fall.