From beautiful beaches to dense, mountain jungle, a combat team of Australian soldiers traded knowledge with Philippine counterparts on the island of Panay during Exercise Kasangga 2025-02 from October 8 to November 7.

Aussies trained Filipino mortarmen to drop 81mm bombs down Australian tubes, while local soldiers brought the remaining Australians into the jungle to learn tracking and survival.

Down at the beach, Aussies trained Filipino soldiers, who had never piloted a boat, to be competent Zodiac operators able to land for beach assaults and defend coastal positions.

Reconnaissance soldiers in the jungle swapped tactics for drone use and how to make the most of them in dense vegetation.

It was all part of efforts by the Philippine Army to re-orientate towards territorial defence, according to Australian contingent commander Major Joshua Rousseau.

“They’ve been in the thick of counter-insurgency operations of essentially the last 30 years,” Major Rousseau said.

“At their battalion-level and above, they’re very cognisant that they need to transition away from that.”

Surviving missile and artillery strikes was also a priority, with training conducted on building defensive positions.

Australian medics showed Filipinos tactical care of the combat casualty procedures, and a joint staff exercise also took place to help both nations understand each other’s battalion-level planning and orders processes.

'Learning from the Filipinos who live and operate in the jungle every day has provided extremely valuable lessons.'

The exercise, under the Joint Australian Training Team – Philippines, was the first time one of the groups had worked with the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.

“The Filipinos are extremely happy to have us here. They’re an extremely positive team that’s always wanted more training,” Major Rousseau said.

He was impressed with the Filipinos’ resourcefulness, including being able to operate older artillery and mortar sights, improvise engineering stores out of bamboo, and use more flexible patrol tactics.

“We get given a lot of additional ammunition, resources and equipment in Australia, which we don’t truly understand until we see what resources they make do with,” Major Rousseau said.

About 90 Australian soldiers took part, formed around Charlie Company, 5th/7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. It was the company’s third activity in the Philippines this year.

Despite a rotation in Tully last year, Major Rousseau said his soldiers struggled compared with the Filipinos.

“Even with all that preparation, coming to Panay Island and having a few nights out in the jungle we were still underprepared and under-trained for that environment,” he said.

“Learning from the Filipinos who live and operate in the jungle every day has provided extremely valuable lessons.

“It’s an operating environment that completely changes the tactics and procedures we utilise in Australia – from manoeuvre, communications, recon and logistics.”