NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –
When Defense Logistics Agency assembled a team of six supply specialists and planners to represent them in the 2023 Talisman Sabre Exercise, DLA Distribution Strategic Planner Joshua Bell didn’t hesitate to raise his hand. As a chosen member of the team, Bell had this to say about his experience.
“This was my first time in Australia, first time participating in Talisman Sabre. Typically it’s not a planner position because were more talking future plans, not the day-to-day operations, but this was a good opportunity for Distribution to interact with some of our foreign allies out there and push the rock forward on some of the initiatives were looking to complete.”
Exercise Talisman Sabre 2023 kicked off July 22 and concluded Aug. 4. It was the 10th and largest iteration of the exercise to date, consisting of field training exercises incorporating force preparation activities, amphibious landings, ground force maneuvers and air combat and maritime operations. This is also the first year Papua, New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga participated in the annual exercise.
“What we did there was educate, what we find a lot of the time is people think DLA Distribution is just transportation, which is not the case. TRANSCOM [U.S. Transportation Command] is our arm of getting the material there,” he said.
The 15-day exercise included a variety of large-scale logistics, amphibious assault training operations, multinational firepower demonstrations and field training exercises.