Department of Defense

MALANG, Indonesia – Hawaii Army National Guard Noncommissioned Officers share their knowledge and experience in NCO corps with 35 Indonesian NCOs during a five day Subject Matter Expert Exchange. The exchange is designed to foster positive foreign relations, and develop professional international relationships.

The Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) is the backbone of any military establishment. Recently in an effort to foster positive foreign relations and build strong military and personnel relationships seven members of the Hawaii National Guard traveled to Malang Indonesia to share from their knowledge about and experience in the NCO corps. This engagement is a part of the State Partnership Program and is the second time Hawaii Guard members are engaging with their Indonesian counterparts in such an exchange.

We want to come up with a common picture and some what give them an understanding of what we do as far as training our NCOs. In the same token we are trying to learn from them how they go about their day to day business and how they go about training their NCOs. Said Staff Sgt Belinda Parazz of the Hawaii National Guard State Partnership Program NCO Subject Matter Expert Exchange Team.

“It is interesting we have a lot of the same training and we do a lot of the same things the only real barrier we have is the language differences. Eventually we would to like to incorporate their day to day tactics into our training plan.” Sgt Parazz continued.

The program included equal parts classroom, hands-on and small group discussion, where the Hawaii team members shared from their varied backgrounds. The class members where divided into small teams or squadrons whose leaders worked directly with a member of the Hawaii team in setting goals and presenting discussions.

The topics of discussion included military roles and responsibilities, risk management; maintaining discipline, team development, training management and physical fitness, with a culminating tactical exercise. The discussions parallel the Army NCO development course. The Indonesian soldiers also meet together after the class to further their understanding of the topics discussed during the day. Each squadron shared the results of the evening’s discussions each morning.

Our primary intent is to foster positive foreign relations though classroom instructions over a five-day period with a little practical exercises outside. All the NCOs that come over here are from diverse back grounds from artillery, Infantry, administration, and medical it brings a broader background of knowledge to share with the Indonesian NCOs. We are here to make friends.” Said 1st Sgt. Balendran Anandarajah of the Hawaii National Guard State Partnership Program NCO Subject Matter Expert Exchange Team.

The National Guard’s State Partnership Program provides unique partnership building capabilities to combatant commanders and U.S. ambassadors. Hawaii has active partnerships with Indonesia and the Philippines where members of the officer and enlisted corps meet a few times a year. The NCO Subject Matter Expert Exchange (SMEE) is a key engagement in this year’s partnership with Indonesia.