HONOLULU (KHON2) — The month-long 2024 Rim of the Pacific exercise that gathered 29 nations in Hawaii will conclude on Thursday, Aug. 1. Vice Admiral John Wade and Commodore Alberto Guerrero with the RIMPAC Combined Task Force joined Take2 with a recap of the events.
2024 marked the highest number of nations to participate in the RIMPAC exercise, helping promote a safe, stable and secure vital region to prepare for a natural disaster or deter conflict.
“In this modern world, anything we do in the Pacific matters. So as many nations come here and protect communications, protect free trade and open seas adds value to everyone’s safety and prosperity,” Commodore Guerrero explained.
According to Vice Admiral Wade, the goals of RIMPAC 2024 included building relationships among the 29 nations and creating a sense of interoperability to better communicate with each other and conduct operations.
This year’s RIMPAC exercise emphasized humanitarian assistance and disaster response. The exercise was meant to prepare nations to come together in the event of a natural disaster to save lives.
“We really emphasized the disaster relief, but the humanitarian assistance aspect of it. We actually had two scenarios, one was a simulated island that was impacted that multiple nations came in to support. We also simulated a natural disaster here in Hawaii,” said Vice Admiral Wade.