PRACHINBURI, Thailand - Washington National Guard and Royal Thai Army Soldiers participated in their annual Homeland Assistance Disaster Relief subject matter exchange from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8, in Prachinburi and Chachoengsao, Thailand.
“This is the fourth year of this subject matter expert exchange, which continues to foster team building and knowledge sharing between the Washington National Guard and the Royal Thai Army,” said Col. Amanda Doyle, the exchange lead.
The exchange aimed to enhance knowledge sharing and capability development between the two organizations. This iteration focused on equipment demonstrations, organizational structures, communication strategies, fire line tactics, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives response, and emergency medical operations. The lessons learned will help the Royal Thai Army participants refine tactical wildland firefighting, emergency medicine triage and assessment, and CBRNE response while shaping future training.
“After each instructional module, facilitators provided participants with opportunities for open discussion, fostering a deeper understanding of disaster response concepts and best practices,” Doyle said. “The dialogue between facilitators and participants was reinforced through hands-on exercises designed to demonstrate and elaborate on disaster response techniques and strategies.”
This engagement built on the success of previous exchanges, validating the receipt of critical safety information and updates to emergency response protocols. Another objective was to enhance collaboration and interoperability between disaster response teams.
The long-running exchange successfully met its objectives while offering U.S. personnel valuable insight into Thailand’s wildfire environment, response procedures, and the Royal Thai Army’s role in wildland firefighting, medical operations and CBRNE response. Thai personnel gained insight into the Washington National Guard’s mission, tactical wildfire response strategies, hand crew organization and training, and its collaborative relationship with the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
“The success of this exchange sets the stage for future engagements in other regions of Thailand, enhancing the capacity for joint disaster response operations and fostering a stronger partnership,” Doyle said. “The robust discussions of best practices, shared by both, provided increased awareness and understanding of techniques and processes used in Thailand and Washington state.”
This was the fourth exchange of this type, and discussions have already begun regarding future engagements, including expanding the scenarios and duration of the training.
The Washington National Guard and Royal Thai Army have been partners in the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program since 2002.