The excellence and tenacity of Philippine Army (PA) personnel was on full display during the conduct of a combined arms and littoral live fire exercise (CALLFEX) and urban operations demonstration in Rizal, Palawan on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
The CALLFEX and urban operations were performed by the Army troops at Purok Base in Brgy. Punta Baja to test, evaluate, and enhance the Command’s effectiveness and interoperability with other major services, according to Col. Xerxes Trinidad, PA spokesperson.
Participating personnel from different Army units worked together in various scenarios such as breaching operations, casualty evacuation, and disruption of anti-personnel mines among others to enhance their ability to work together during missions.
Among the participating units were from the Headquarters PA (HPA) General Staff, Training and Doctrine Command, Army Signal Regiment, Army Aviation Regiment, 15th Infantry Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Signal Battalion, 525th Engineer Combat Battalion, 6th Cavalry Company, Armor Division, Explosive Ordnance Battalion, 4th Intelligence Service Unit, and 3rd Infantry Division’s Forward Service Medical Company,
Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), congratulated the troops for the success of the drills as he emphasized that the modernization of the military does not only rely on getting state-of-the-art weaponries and platforms but also on the skills enhancement of the soldiers.
“To all our troops, your participation has proven that the AFP’s modernization is not solely limited to the acquisition of advanced military technologies. Our Armed Forces are also honing our military forces and equipping our soldiers with the necessary capacities to prepare them for possible future trajectories of the changing character of warfare,” said Bacarro in his message that was delivered by Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, commander of the Palawan-based Western Command (WESCOM).
The CALLFEX and urban operations were among the highlights of the ongoing AFP Joint Exercise (AJEX) “DAGIT-PA” 2022. The exercise kicked off last Nov. 7 and will conclude on Nov. 18. Around 1,500 military personnel participated in the exercise.
The AJEX DAGIT-PA stands for “dagat, langit, lupa” (sea, sky, land) and it focuses on enhancing the readiness of the PA, Philippine Air Force (PAF), and Philippine Navy (PN) in combined operations that mirror a real-world scenario.