Reservists bolster the mission behind Pacific Partnership 2026

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — U.S. Armed Forces reservists are taking on an expanded, central role in Pacific Partnership 2026, working alongside active-duty, host nation, and partner forces from pre-planning through mission stops across the Indo-Pacific. Their work spans four lines of effort: medical, engineering, disaster management, and host nation outreach in Vietnam, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Reservists are integrated at every level, including senior leadership, with U.S. Navy Capt. Robert Reyes serving as mission commander and U.S. Navy Command Master Chief Eric Zimmermann as command master chief. Zimmermann said this is the first iteration of the mission where both top leaders are reservists, adding that this year’s reservist footprint is larger than in previous years.

“Historically this has been an all active-duty mission, but to support the manpower requirements for this mission, every year Sailors are pulled from the waterfront and from warships to support Pacific Partnership in an smaller individual augmentee (IA) construct,” said Zimmermann.

Individual augmentee assignments place service members in temporary billets away from their parent commands to bring specialized skills to units and missions that require additional personnel.

“For this year’s mission, we were able to leverage the strategic depth of the reserve force to support the national security mission that Pacific Partnership is with an all-IA construct, while still enabling the U.S. Navy as a force to maintain our warfighting readiness on the waterfront, and still executing here with a high degree of success in the Indo-Pacific,” said Zimmermann.

He said reservists’ civilian expertise is filling manning gaps and adding technical depth across the mission. “A great example from a continuity standpoint is the Army civil affairs specialists we have on the team, all reservists,” said Zimmermann. “They are a staple of Pacific Partnership, which is fundamentally a disaster preparedness mission, and they bring their highly specialized skill set to support the core of this mission, all reservists, every year, in every country, supporting one of our lines of effort.”

For the disaster management line of effort, U.S. Army Reserve civil affairs specialists organized interagency disaster preparedness symposiums and led tabletop and field exercises focused on earthquake and tsunami response. They conducted subject matter exchanges with first responders from urban search and rescue teams, multinational military dive and salvage divers, and undersea medical officers, and met with religious and community leaders to address cultural considerations and community needs in disaster response.

“My civilian career has given me significant experience working in a joint environment and alongside allies and partners, so the dynamics of Pacific Partnership were familiar to me,” said U.S. Army Capt. Noppamas Suttinun, PP26’s mission disaster management LOE lead. “What has stood out to me most is that disaster management is ultimately about people and relationships. Technical capabilities are important, but building trust and understanding between organizations is what allows those capabilities to come together when they are needed. This is a great contrast and comparison of how reserve expertise can contribute to a mission that depends heavily on collaboration across military, government, and civilian organizations.”

On the medical line of effort, military nurses and health care practitioners have been conducting community health engagements and professional exchanges with host nation doctors and nurses. U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Danielle Sterner, a dietitian assigned to the medical line, credited her active-duty experience in Guam and civilian work in acute care, outpatient, and rural hospitals with informing her contributions during these engagements.

“Working for the medical LOE in this area of responsibility has been a great learning opportunity to broaden knowledge on specific areas such as pediatric malnutrition, cultural and religious food traditions, and food safety and nutrition needs for specialized populations such as maternity and pediatrics,” said Sterner. “For this stop, I was able to bring my work experience from a variety of civilian clinic care settings that contributed to my scope of knowledge in advising the community here. I also have more experience with lower income, elderly populations, and complex medical conditions from working at a Level II trauma center.”

Zimmermann said reservists’ ability to balance civilian careers with military obligations, adapt to changing environments, and apply cross-sector skills has strengthened the mission.

“We have shown what right looks like in a forward-deployed, afloat environment, integrating active duty with reservists,” said Zimmermann. “I hope that this mission can be a successful model for active-duty units, stateside and OCONUS [outside the Continental U.S.], and the rest of the Navy that have reserve Sailors assigned to their units.”

Now in its 22nd iteration, the Pacific Partnership series is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster management preparedness mission conducted in the region. It works with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security, and foster new and enduring friendships across the Indo-Pacific.