‘Cobra Gold’ comes to an end

After two weeks of joint military exercises with troops from the United States, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia, Thailand ended its annual war games this Tuesday. About 11,600 military personnel from the five nations were involved in “Cobra Gold,” the biggest war games in Southeast Asia, which began on February 4.

It was a grand affair with nearly 7,300 troops from the US which conducted air, water and ground exercises alongside about 4,000 troops from Thailand, 106 from Singapore, 75 from Japan and 113 from Indonesia.

The closing ceremony of the ceremony was held at Chiang Mai when the US Ambassador Eric John said the exercise was a “vital tool” in strengthening regional ties.

“This year (the games) demonstrate once again the importance of Cobra Gold to the bilateral US-Thai military relationship and to friends in the region,” John said adding, “The work our troops have done in this exercise can help to save lives in future operations, peacekeeping deployments and disaster responses.”