Pacific Pathways


Pacific Pathways is a program run by United States Army Pacific and operationally led by I Corps with the goal of expanding the Army's engagement in the Pacific region, and potentially reducing the costs of doing so by linking multiple military exercises together, creating a "Pathway". The concept of the program was first created by General Vincent K. Brooks in 2014. Pacific Pathways have developed into operations to both increase readiness of US, Allied, and Partnered forces while shaping the security environment in support of an open and free Indo-Pacific and providing options to the combatant commander.

History

2014 Pathway

From August to November, one Pathway was completed as a proof of concept. About 820 personnel from the 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team were sent to complete three exercises:
In 2015, three Pathways were completed, numbered 15-1, 15-2, and 15-3. soldiers demonstrate how to properly handle and neutralize a king cobra to U.S. Army soldiers during Cobra Gold 15|alt=

Pathway 15-1

From January to May, about 880 personnel from the 2-25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team completed three exercises for Pathway 15-1. The exercises completed were:

Pathway 15-2

From June to October, the 3-25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team sent about 840 personnel to complete these three exercises, including two previously completed during the Pathway 14:
In June and July, about 420 personnel from the 1-25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team completed three exercises for Pathway 15-3:
In 2016, Pathways 16-1, 16-2, and 16-3 were completed to increase Army readiness, increase Joint and interagency access and expand regional ally and partner collaboration and interoperability.

Pathway 16-1

From December 2015 to May 2016, about 835 personnel from the 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team completed the following three exercises:
During the months of May to September, about 700 personnel from the 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team completed four different exercises:
From July to September, these four exercises were completed:
In 2017, three Pathways were completed.

Pathway 17-1

From February to May, these three exercises were repeated from Pathways 15-1 and 16-1:
During the months of July to September, the following three exercises were completed:
From July to September, these four exercises were completed:
Three Pathways were completed during the year of 2018. They were Pathways 18-1, 18-2, and 18-3.

Pathway 18-1

Between February and May, the following three exercises were completed:
From June to September, these five exercises were completed:
This Pacific Pathway was the first Army National Guard-led Pathway, conducted by the 76th IBCT from the Indiana Army National Guard, the 96th Troop Command from the Washington Army National Guard, and the 116th CBCT from the Idaho National Guard.

Pathway 18-3

From May to September, the following exercises were completed:
Two of these exercises were Reverse Pathways, and the other two were traditionally naval exercises that the United States Army joined in through the Multi-Domain Task Force led by 17FAB as a part of the Army's pilot program for multi-domain operations.

2019 Pathways

Three Pathways were completed in 2019 to include an extended presence Pathway, an MDTF Pathway, and a total force Pathway.

Pathway 19-1

From January to May, the following exercises were completed:
The 19-1 Pathway was the first extended presence in a priority nation, with four months in the Philippines. 19-1 also was the first dynamic force employment of the Pathways task force with a "spoke" to Palau from the Philippines. Pathway forces for 19-1 were provided by 25ID, 1-2SBCT, and 25CAB.

Pathway 19-2

19-2 consisted of two exercises from July to September focused on the multi-domain task force led by 2 ID DIVARTY and 17 FAB. The exercises in 19-2 were:
19-3 consisted of the following exercises:
Forces for Pathway 19-3 were provided by 2-25IBCT, 16CAB, and 33IBCT from ILARNG.

Pacific Pathways 2.0

In October 2018, General Robert Brooks Brown announced changes to the Pacific Pathways program to utilize the Pathways to compete with rivals in the Indo-Pacific area by spending longer time periods in priority nations to build deeper relationships. This design will mean that units will be in hubs in treaty nations for 4–6 months, and will be positioned west of the international date line. The Pathways forces will be able to also provide options to the INDOPACOM commander to assist partner nations in times of need or if needed to transition from competition to conflict.