I am currently medically retired from the Marine Corps. I volunteer with the local Marine Corps League Detachment that I founded last year (2017) as a Countywide detachment. I am currently the Commandant (President/CEO) of this detachment (Ellis County Detachment 1452).
Training Exercise - Cobra Gold '97
From Month/Year
April / 1997
To Month/Year
August / 1997
Description Cobra Gold is an Asia-Pacific military exercise held in Thailand every year. It is the largest Asia-Pacific military exercise held each year, and is among the largest multinational military exercise in which the United States participates.
Cobra Gold was first held in 1982. It served as military training exercise to improve coordination between the armed forces of the United States and Thailand in both hostile military and humanitarian efforts. It also had the goal of strengthening ties between the U.S. and Thailand, the oldest ally of the United States in the South Asia region. More recently, Cobra Gold has served a humanitarian mission, as military personnel deliver health care to the local Thai population, and as a testing ground for new battlefield technologies such as solar powered weaponry.
The United States has engaged in only a single, very minor military intervention in the Pacific area since the end of the Vietnam War, making it difficult to judge Cobra Gold's effectiveness in improving warfighting capabilities and coordination. Cobra Gold has, however, proven effective in improving coordinated military response to natural disasters.