WEBVTT

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- Yeah, my name is group
Captain Mark Larter.

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I'm the Multinational
Task Force Commander,

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here at Cope North 20.

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And I'm also the Officer
Commanding 95 wing,

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in the Royal Australian Air Force.

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So I'm leading the
Multinational Task Force,

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that comprises of three Air Forces.

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That's the Japanese
Air Self-Defense Force,

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the United States Air Force,

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and of course, the Royal
Australian Air Force as well.

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And what I'm trying to achieve here,

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along with my compatriots
is the humanitarian aid

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and disaster relief component
of exercise Cope North,

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and really, that's about
establishing an airhead.

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And that will enable really,

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the establishment of medical support

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and the ability for us to
distribute humanitarian aid,

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to a government of the scenario

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that we're following at the moment.

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So the exercise for me is,

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I've got a bit of a leadership role there.

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It's the first time in
10 years of Cope North

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that the Australians
have been asked to lead.

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They had our component of
exercise Cope North 20.

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That's not to say it's all down to me,

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I really rely on the collegiate support

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from the Deputy National Commanders

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of the multinational task
force from the Kōkū Jieitai

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and also the United States Air Force.

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But I guess my main responsibility,

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is to make sure that the planning function

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is robust so that we
can perform our mission.

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That the concept of
operations is delivered to me,

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in a timely fashion
but it's also accurate,

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that it will actually
compliment the mission in hand,

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and that our personnel go into theater

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and outside of theater,

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so we can achieve the mission

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but also people go in there,

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operate safely and come
back safely as well.

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Yeah, so what you'll see first of all,

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at Tinian is a Contingency
Response Squadron

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that comprises of various capabilities.

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They secure an airhead for us really

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and that provides a
center of gravity for us,

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to work with government agencies,

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to make sure that we're able to go out

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and distribute humanitarian aid.

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That could be water supplies,
it could be food supplies,

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it could be medical supplies.

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Anything really that our
respective governments

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ask us to put into theater.

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At Rota the island there,

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we've set up an aeromedical
evacuation capability.

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So that's expeditionary medical.

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And they've got quite a sizable footprint

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there under another command

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of the contingency response element there

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belonging to the 36 Air Force
Contingency Response Group.

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Know both Tinian,

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which is more about the
distribution of humanitarian aid

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and disaster relief supplies
going to the local population

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and Rota which is about
aeromedical evacuation

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and expeditionary medical support.

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We are operating under
the banner of Cope North

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and what we're trying to do there

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is execute hub and spoke operations.

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So yes, they're definitely connected.

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What we've been trying to
do is learn on the lessons

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from previous Cope Norths.

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So observe them

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and then try and introduce
them into future exercises.

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The difference really,

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this year compared to previous years

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is we stood up a functional
operational headquarters

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that will conduct and execute

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and oversee those hub
and spoke operations.

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As you can see here,

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we have got, an expeditionary
field environment.

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That's the operational
headquarters for the MNTF.

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What we wanted to do was replicate

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the field environment before,

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the forces here have been fragmented

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at Andersen Air Force Base.

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Now they're under a collective umbrella.

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It means that people are
encouraged to work together.

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And that's been working
really well for us there.

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For me as a commander,

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well, I'm an ex military
commander back in Australia.

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I'm involved in a lot of
activities and operations already.

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And this is really aligned with
what I do back in Australia.

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But it does mean that you've
got to have the capabilities,

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there ready to perform.

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They're all ready to go.

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We have our readiness notice,

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activities and
responsibilities in Australia.

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We've combined them with the Kōkū Jieitai

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and the United States Air Force.

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And one of the things for
me as a commander here,

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coming over and conducting this exercise,

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I work very closely,

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with the Commanding officer,

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of the 36 Contingency Response Group.

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I learned from him last year,

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and yeah he set me up really well

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to try and lead,

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the Multinational Task Force
headquarters this year.

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Yeah, first of all,

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the biggest thing for us
is the language barrier,

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because our friends

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from the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force,

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they haven't got that
common English language

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that the United States
and the Australians have.

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So it's really important to make sure

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that they're first of all,

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empowered to join us in the exercise.

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And that everything that we
do when it comes to planning,

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intent, guidance, is all fully translated.

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And again, I think as a bit
of a difference this year,

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we've had to make that happen,

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because we wanted to make
sure that the Kōkū Jieitai,

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were very comfortable in sitting there

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in the mission planning,

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and they then had the confidence

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because they understand
everything going on around them,

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that they're able to interject

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and make sure that they have a say

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in what goes on in this exercise,
which is really important.

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The biggest takeaway
for us on this exercise

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with the three nations here
that I've already mentioned,

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is the interoperability to conduct

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whether it's large force employment,

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Combat Air Force or Humanitarian aid

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and disaster relief operations.

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So that's what our people
are picking up at the moment.

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Some of them aren't used to
serving alongside other nations.

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Some of very experienced as well.

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We've got raw people here
that never done exercises

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and operations before.

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And it's not just observing

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the atmospherics within
a planning environment.

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They are learning on the
march as they go along,

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talking to different
members of a nationality

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but also more importantly,

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talking to their counterparts

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from one of those three nations,

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the the Australians, the
United States or the Japanese

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that all bring important parts

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and experience into the Cope North party.

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So what we're trying to do
as a collective force here

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with the three nations
taking part in Coke North 20

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is to you know, align our techniques,

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our tactics, our procedures.

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We are here in real life to preserve peace

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and also to effect
stability in the region.

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And working with the Japanese Forces

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and the United States Air Forces,

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well, that deepens our
collective understanding

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of each other and the way we operate.

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But also it enables us to respond

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to the region's priorities
if we're required to do that.