Cooperation the name of the game

Interoperability is a cornerstone of combined and joint military environments.

International exercises such as Pacific Partnership offer prime examples of interoperability in action.

HMAS Choules, the RAN warship acting as the command and control platform for Pacific Partnership, is hosting more than 100 embarked specialist personnel from the US, Canada and Germany.

While Choules was transiting from Subic Bay in the Philippines to Sibolga, Indonesia, these embarked members shared their trade knowledge and practical skills with each other and Choules’ ship’s company.

Skill sharing then occurred during Choules’ transit when a there was a need for a dental procedure at sea.

Two specialist dental officers from two navies came together to get the job done.

US Navy CDR Eric Bischoff and RAN LEUT Jingyang Li teamed-up to ensure the procedure, an emergency tooth removal, was completed promptly and safely while Choules was making way in the Strait of Malacca.

“We try not to do surgeries such as this while at sea,” LEUT Li said.

“While they’re fairly routine, it’s always preferred to conduct them while alongside or ashore, so it was really great to have CDR Bischoff there to supervise.” 

CDR Bischoff was happy to scrub in for the surgery, even as a second pair of hands.

“I really appreciated the invitation to join in on this surgery, it’s always interesting to see how other navies work, especially when using the deployable dental kit,” CDR Bischoff said.

The cooperation around the ship wasn’t limited to emergency medical surgeries.

Sailors from Choules and the embarked multinational contingent worked together all around the ship, from helping maintain equipment to sharing their culinary skills in the galley to keep the entire ship well fed.

One of the Choules chefs, Australian Army Chef PTE Annie Koutroupis Karas, found working in a combined environment rewarding.

“It’s great learning how everyone does things a little differently from each other. We’ve been able to learn how to cook food we hadn’t learned about before,” PTE Koutroupis Karas said.

“We even had different names for things and had to show each other what we meant.”

From July 20 to August 1, about 113 specialist personnel disembarked from Choules at the Indonesian port of Sibolga on the island of Sumatra, working alongside Indonesian authorities and delivering essential humanitarian services to local communities.

Australia has participated in Pacific Partnership since 2008, providing specialist personnel, including health and medical professionals, as well as RAN ships for sealift support in 2009, 2010, 2013 and again this year.