Manila Briefings: Targeting, Gender, Ships, and Ships

 The last day of this familiarization tour was perhaps the best.  And not just because I finally got the french toast I had been seeking. 

small sat receiver for the CAF unit

The first session was over at the targeting tent: four of the five eyes countries had units in a tent (ac-ed, thankfully) doing the targeting for the upcoming exercise (later this week, a very big, multilateral military exercise will be taking place--we kept running into CAF members who are here for it).  The UK, Aussies, Kiwis, and Canadians were all in the same place.  Each one had their own targeting process--getting the intel, analyzing it, getting an idea of which weapon would be best, getting the legal advisor to vet it, and so on.  Interesting stuff.  They also showed us their satellite setup--not Starlink (Canada seems to be out of the Starlink biz for secret stuff, and phew!) but webone.  I got to ask questions about caveats and such.  Nice flashbacks to my third book and the origin story of my civ-mil work.

The next session was with the Armed Forces of the Philippines gender and development unit.  The officers were mostly women, discussing where they are at today.  It was an interesting conversation, glad to see Women, Peace, and Security taken seriously out here even if Whiskey Pete is removing it from all US stuff.   The swag started getting most impressive.

We then went to the Philippines Coast Guard HQ where they quite literally rolled out a red carpet for our Assistant Deputy Minister for Public Affairs, and very much kept the rest of us off of it.  They gave her a bunch of swag--it was a most impressive effort.  The conversation mostly focused on what Canada could do to help them with their rapid expansion--4x the personnel over the last ten years or so and basically tripling the number of ships.  Their mantra was chill but prevail--avoid escalating with China but don't roll over either.  Maritime heartland was a phrase that was used several times, and it struck me as both strange and apt.

The last session involved us going over to the HMCS Charlottetown, which is here for the exercise.  We got onboard, got a tour of part of the ship including the ops centre, and then chatted with its executive officer and captain.  I teased them about the crappy name for the line of ships to be replacing this frigate and its kin.  The next ships are currently called "River-Class Destroyers" which sounds odd since they will not be fighting on rivers, but named after rivers.  This would be like calling either the Iowa-class battleships or the Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile subs "state-class."  It is not only an American tradition to name a class of ships after the first one in the class--the Halifax-class frigates for example.  

Anyhow, we got to ask a bunch of questions, and another of my peeves showed up: professional means what?   In reference to encounters with China's ships, so far those meetings have been peaceful and professional.  Because military folks stretch the definition of professional to cover all things that are good and desired.  Anything bad is not professional even if the Chinese fly their planes or sail their ships really really well even as they buzz the Canadian ships or planes.  I think the term professional should describe not what is desired but whether one is being skillful/expert in their vocation.

Overall, I learned a lot this week about the Philippines and the dynamics involving China and the various other players.  I really wish the US was focused here and not on Trump's incredibly dumb wars.  On the other hand, maybe things are going better here because he is not focused on this place?  I have one last post about the bigger implications, and I may write an op-ed based on the things I learned this week.  It was definitely worth the time.  I just hope the Iran crisis-induced fuel shortages don't get in the way of m y going home tomorrow.