SAF, US Marines conclude annual bilateral exercise

SINGAPORE - Around 800 soldiers from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and US Marine Corps concluded their annual bilateral exercise with an urban assault scenario on the morning of March 26.

This year’s Exercise Valiant Mark started on March 17. It involved 600 soldiers from the 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards and 7th Singapore Infantry Brigade (SIB), along with approximately 200 Marines from the Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia (MRF-SEA).

Activities at the exercise included professional exchanges between both sides, live weapons firing and heliborne training that culminated in the bilateral urban operations mission on the final day.

One of the live-firing events involved SAF soldiers and US Marines using each other’s weapons at Nee Soon Range on March 21 – the SAF guardsmen fired the M27 infantry automatic rifle, while the Marines fired the SAF’s SAR-21 rifle.

Several training events were held on March 26 at

Safti City in Lim Chu Kang.

These included an urban break in battle as they moved from the forests into the urban training area, with the guardsmen and Marines transported to the training area in the west of Singapore by helicopter.

This was followed by an overnight march to the urban training facility where they then carried out an urban assault to clear the buildings of enemy forces.

There was also a joint strike observer mission exercise among the training activities at Safti City, with a joint SAF-US Marine team calling in simulated air strikes on enemy positions.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mohamad Fahrul Saaid, commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards, said Exercise Valiant Mark is a good opportunity to build up trust and interoperability between the SAF and the US Marines.

He also said Safti City was a game changer, as the complexity of the buildings in the facility made the training challenging.

“This enhances our training realism and improves the interoperability not just within our unit, but also with our military partners,” he said.

Major Karl Hu, the lead planner for the US Marines at Exercise Valiant Mark, told the media that the most valuable takeaway for him was the opportunity to see the similarities and differences in the way the SAF plans for missions compared with the Marines.

The Marines stayed in Bedok Camp alongside the SAF guardsmen. LTC Fahrul and Major Hu said both militaries formed strong bonds with each other that extended into their personal lives.

Exercise Valiant Mark ended with a closing ceremony at Safti City that was attended by Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Lee, the second in command of the 7th SIB, and Colonel Stuart Glenn, commanding officer of MRF-SEA.

Mindef said that Exercise Valiant Mark, which started in 1991, underscores the excellent and longstanding bilateral defence relations between Singapore and the US. Besides bilateral exercises, the two militaries also engage in a wide range of multilateral exercises, professional exchanges and cross-attendance of courses.

Singapore also facilitates the US’ rotational deployments of US littoral combat ships and P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

These regular interactions have enhanced the interoperability between the two militaries, as well as forged strong rapport and camaraderie among their personnel.