Massive Jungle WarGame: US & Philippines Train to Stop Chinese Invasion

By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News

As war games go, it was a relatively small one – only about 1,500 US and Philippine troops conducting jungle warfare drills in triple-digit temperatures in the northern part of the island nation.

But the message it sent was a big one: the two countries are continuing to strengthen their alliance at a time when China poses a growing threat in the region and threats to the Philippines and Taiwan are increasing.

The ten-day exercise, which wrapped up Monday, was a test of how forces would function in a harsh jungle environment. Commanders had to determine how to transport enough food and ammunition through a challenging terrain. Pilots had to calculate what the scorching weather would mean for flying.

These drills have been held before, but this was the first time they were conducted in the Philippines. In the past, the setting was the US Army’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Hawaii.

And this exercise comes just weeks after two larger-scale drills with US and Philippine troops. Those involve 16,000 troops engaged in live-fire maneuvers in and along the South China Sea.Those involve 16,000 troops engaged in live-fire maneuvers in and along the South China Sea. It was an opportunity for the US to deploy medium-range missiles in the Philippines – the first time since the Cold War the US has placed such missiles in Asia.

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