USPACOM Visits Australian War Memorial

By U.S. Pacific Command Public Affairs

CANBERRA, Australia  - Adm. Samuel J Locklear III, Commander, United States Pacific Command, visited the Australian War Memorial July 14 following several days of high-level military discussions with the major U.S. ally.

The Australian War Memorial has artwork and model displays which commemorate the sacrifices of the men and women that served in the Australian military during times of war. The memorial is a structure that was specially designed and sits within direct line-of-sight of Australian government buildings allowing lawmakers and government employees a clear view.

Exhibits of art and displays of artifacts—such as uniforms and weapons—line the walls of many of the inner rooms to the museum portion of the memorial. A tour guide led Adm. Locklear and other U.S. service members through the history-filled spaces. Many of the displays showed a shared history between the U.S. and Australia.

According to Locklear, the current rebalance of U.S. forces in the region provides additional opportunities for the alliance to grow while U.S. and Australian military members are already working together within the country.

 “The first couple hundred Marines are on a rotational deployment now. They’re starting to train together to be better interoperable,” he said. “We’re starting to look at how we’re going to exercise together—not only bilaterally, but how to start to expand that to multi-lateral opportunities.”

Also with the rebalance, the U.S. and Australian militaries would be in a better position to respond to potential natural disasters and work closely together to provide humanitarian assistance to other countries in the area.

 “We think that is a good thing for our security relationship, and certainly a good thing across all aspects of the security [in] the Asia-Pacific,” said Locklear.

Both allies have fought alongside each other for many years. The U.S. military and Australian alliance is still strong today and will continue into the future, he said.

— USPACOM (posted July 19, 2012) —