Clear Horizon 16 Fleet Divers in Korea

Divers from Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) make preparations for a second mine countermeasures dive during Clear Horizon 16 in Chinhae, Korea.

Divers from Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) make preparations for a second mine countermeasures dive during Clear Horizon 16 in Chinhae, Korea.


PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES REMEMBER THE FALLEN

Capt Jenn Jackson, MARPAC PA Office ~

Senior representatives from Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom and the United States took part in a memorial ceremony in Busan, Korea, Oct. 15  at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea to honour United Nations fallen soldiers during the Korean War.

The ceremony was part of the commencement events for Clear Horizon 16, a multi-national Mine Warfare Exercise led by the Republic of Korea Navy taking place in Busan and Chinhae, Korea, and the surrounding coastal waters from Oct. 15-23.

Lt(N) Greg Oickle, Executive Officer of Maritime Forces Pacific’s Fleet Diving Unit, represented Canada at the ceremony.

“It was an unforgettable opportunity to be part of this ceremony that honours more than 2,000 United Nations soldiers, more than 300 of which are Canadian, who fell during the Korean War,” he said. “I was really struck by how young many of the interred soldiers were when they fell. The average appeared to be around 19 years old.”

The United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea is the only United Nations cemetery in the world. The Parliament of Korea, in order to honour the services and sacrifices made by the UN forces during the Korean War, volunteered the land for permanent use by the UN as a cemetery in August 1955.

The General Assembly accepted the proposal and UN Resolution #977(X) to establish a United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea; it became effective in December 1955.
This is a holy site where the fallen of 11 nations are interred.

During the ceremony, Rear-Admiral Jong Sam Kim, Commander of Republic of Korea Navy Flotilla 5, led the parade of senior representatives in an act of remembrance and laid a wreath to honour all UN fallen soldiers of the Korean War.

Following the ceremony, representatives were given a guided tour and an opportunity to see the memorial
specific to their country, as well as the memorial to fallen soldiers for whom no marked grave is known, and a memorial for all British Commonwealth soldiers who fell during the war.

This ceremony was only part of the opening events for Clear Horizon 16, which also included a visit to the Geoje POW camp by exercise participants, an opening ceremony, and a welcoming dinner.

More information on the UNMCK can be found at www.unmck.or.kr/eng_index.php.

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A FOREIGN MILITARY PERSPECTIVE

Capt Jenn Jackson, MARPAC PA Office ~

It is not often that an opportunity arises to speak with a member of a foreign military and hear their thoughts and perspectives about the challenges and successes of joint operations.

Fortunately, such an occasion came to fruition during Clear Horizon 16 with Lieutenant-Commander Jung Yong Cho, Commanding Officer of the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Flotilla Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN).

LCdr Cho was the commander for the diver mine countermeasures segment of Clear Horizon 16, a multi-national Mine Warfare Exercise led by the Republic of Korea Navy that took place in place in Busan and Chinhae, Korea, and surrounding coastal waters from Oct. 16-23.

LCdr Cho first joined the ROKN in 2001 as a naval cadet at the Naval Academy, and was commissioned as an officer in 2005, specializing as a Special Forces Officer in 2006.  He was appointed Commanding Officer of the NSW Flotilla Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team in spring 2016.

Clear Horizon 16 brought together divers from eight different nations.  Canada was represented by members of Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) and Naval Force Readiness.  Divers from Canada, ROK, Philippines, Thailand, and the U.S. worked jointly to conduct mine countermeasures training.

“One of the most important goals of Clear Horizon 16 was to complete joint operations, especially with members of United Nations Sending States,” said LCdr Cho. “Working together during this training increased the interoperability of all participating nations, and began to increase their familiarization with how to operate on the Korean Peninsula.”

Despite language barriers, which were overcome during the exercise, the comradery developed between divers of all nations was apparent from the very beginning of the exercise.

“Each participating country uses different equipment and different procedures to achieve the same mission—find and neutralize mines in the water,” says LCdr Cho. “While it was challenging in the beginning to adapt to and integrate the different methods being used, at the same time there were numerous learning points for all nations taking part in the training.”

One of the things LCdr Cho found especially valuable was that the divers from Canada’s Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) brought and used their own equipment. This gave both the Royal Canadian Navy and the ROKN practice in deploying equipment from overseas to Korea, and successfully integrating it into a joint exercise.

“The biggest success of Clear Horizon 16 is that divers from five different countries were able to do so well working together in a foreign country they are not familiar with, and were able to so easily adapt to working together.

“Korea is situated in a very complicated spot geopolitically. Being and training here will help the Royal Canadian Navy to better understand the region and the challenges of working around the Korean peninsula. I truly hope the future will bring more opportunities for the Canadian Armed Forces to work in Korea, and with it more opportunities for our two nations to work together.”

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EXPERTISE SHARED

Capt Jenn Jackson, MARPAC PA Office ~

Ten divers from Maritime Forces Pacific’s Fleet Diving Unit (FDU) participated in a pool preparation day as part of Clear Horizon 16.

Divers from Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom and the United States gathered together at the training pool at the Chinhae Naval Base in Korea to explore and learn about each other’s mine countermeasures dive equipment.

This sharing of information was the first phase of this multi-national exercise.

“It is interesting to see the different types of equipment used by our Asia-Pacific allies for mine countermeasures, and to take the opportunity to show them our own equipment,” said MS Jonathon Gendron of FDU Pacific.

He described two pieces of Canadian equipment: the Shark Marine Navigator, which uses sonar for detecting objects on the seabed floor and allows divers to navigate in a limited or no visibility environment, and the diver tracking system to monitor and locate divers during mine countermeasure operations.

“We all have the same goal when we are under the water—find mines and neutralize them, but we all use slightly different equipment to complete the task,” said PO1 Nick LePage, FDU (P).

He described the Canadian Clearance Diver Apparatus, a Canadian-designed re-breather specific to Mine Countermeasure operations.

“We are working together more often, so opportunities like today are a gold mine for increasing our interoperability with our allies,” he added.

The pool day represented the start of the multi-national mine countermeasure exercise, the first hosted by the Republic of Korea, representing a positive step forward in south-east Asian capabilities.

Clear Horizon 16 is expected to be the first of many future multi-national exercises highlighting and increasing cooperation between Asia-Pacific allies. It is also the first exercise that involves both the Philippine and Thai Navy personnel operating in the Republic of Korea.

As the divers move into the open water phase of the exercise, excitement is high, and the spirit of international cooperation has developed a strong foundation that will sow the seeds for the future in the region.

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