Pacific Partnership 2026 wraps up second mission stop in Sibolga, Indonesia

Pacific Partnership 2026 wrapped up its second mission stop in Sibolga and the surrounding Central Tapanuli regency with a closing ceremony at Simare-Mare Field on July 30, following two weeks of engineering, disaster management, medical exchanges, and community outreach carried out alongside the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia), local experts, and civilians.

The mission stop brought together approximately 150 U.S. service members with counterparts from the Australian Defence Force, Canadian Armed Forces, German Armed Forces, and Singapore Armed Forces. “This mission has been about more than training and engagements; it has been about people,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Macswayne Muralt, the officer in charge of the Indonesia Pacific Partnership 2026 mission stop. “As an American of Indonesian-Chinese heritage, it has been a privilege to work alongside our TNI and Indonesian partners, strengthening the relationships that help our communities prepare for future challenges together.”

Engineering teams from the U.S. Navy Seabees’ Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5 and Amphibious Construction Battalion 1, the Hawaii National Guard’s 230th Engineer Company, and TNI engineers completed a new two-classroom building at National Elementary School #158309 and classroom renovations at National Elementary School #158490. “Executing these new construction and renovation projects alongside our Army National Guard and TNI partners highlights our ability to seamlessly integrate diverse technical capabilities,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Hamilton, mission engineer for PP26. “From the first block laid to the final coat of paint applied, this mission represented a unified, team effort. Missions like this reflect the core of why we serve, leaving a lasting, positive impact on a community while strengthening our operational bonds.”

Disaster management activities included a five-day urban search and rescue vertical lane rescue and patient evacuation course at Sibolga Naval Base, a two-day disaster response planning session at the Sibolga mayor’s office, and a two-day culminating field training exercise at Pandan General Hospital. The exercise simulated a hospital fire and a ship collision and featured a staged building collapse, a mass casualty drill, water rescue, and on-scene treatment and evacuation to sharpen coordination between military and civilian responders. “It was a great experience to work with our TNI counterparts and Indonesia’s national-level first responders,” said U.S. Army Capt. Nathanael Wrye, PP26 disaster management line of effort (LOE) lead for the Indonesia mission stop. “These evolutions allowed us all to explore the individual capabilities of TNI and first responders to react to specific scenarios that can occur during disasters and increase our collective ability to develop plans and strategic outlook.”

Community outreach centered on youth engagement and public performances by the Pacific Partnership Band. “Music connects people instantly. It cuts across language and culture in a way nothing else does. The students were the highlight of this mission stop, hands down,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Joel Thiesfeldt, Pacific Partnership band master. “When kids who don’t speak your language are singing and dancing along with you, that’s cultural outreach doing exactly what it’s supposed to do: bringing our nations closer together.”

Medical teams carried out 79 engagements, including seven veterinary exchanges, seven community health engagements, and 65 subject matter expert exchanges across nursing, dental, midwifery, general surgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine, and ophthalmology. “We had great collaborative engagements with our host and partner nations in subject matter exchanges and side-by-sides,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Squires, PP26 medical LOE lead for the Indonesia mission stop. “The opportunity to share and exchange knowledge from our specialists to the community of health professionals is a truly rewarding experience. I realized working here that health is a universal language. No matter what culture, religion, language, or place we come from, our shared experiences broke down barriers and we found common ground in finding different solutions for similar challenges.”

With the Sibolga stop complete, Pacific Partnership personnel prepared to embark aboard the Royal Australian Navy Bay-class landing ship dock HMAS Choules (LSD 100) to continue the mission across the Indo-Pacific. Now in its 22nd iteration, the series is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster management preparedness mission in the region, working with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security and stability, and foster new and enduring friendships.