Members of the 25th Infantry Division fire machine guns during a Balikatan live-fire drill in Aparri, Philippines, May 3, 2025. (Malia Sparks/U.S. Marine Corps)
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division heads to the Philippines next month for its part in U.S. Army Pacific’s annual Operation Pathways training engagements with that nation’s armed forces.
Just don’t call them “exercises.”
“I will emphasize: We won’t call these exercises,” Col. Aidan Shattock, the division’s deputy commander for interoperability, said by phone Tuesday.
“The Philippines look at these activities as rehearsals,” he said. “We are rehearsing how they will defend their homeland and their territories.”
That distinction reflects the evolution of Operation Pathways, which started in 2014 as Pacific Pathways, and the changing security environment in Southeast Asia.
The initial Pathways rotated small Army units into the Indo-Pacific region for a few months at a time by moving through a series of established multinational exercises west of the International Date Line.
Its redesignation as Operation Pathways in 2023 marked the initiative’s shift into an Army campaign.
“Now we’re focused on … rehearsing,” Shattock said. “That creates the most amount of deterrence.”
That deterrence is primarily directed toward China, which maintains expansive but disputed claims to most of the South China Sea, including islands and atolls claimed by the Philippines.
Over the past two years, Philippine crews have captured video of Chinese coast guard vessels harassing Philippine boats with water cannons and unsafe maneuvers.
Tension between Manila and Beijing over the South China Sea is an “existential issue for the Philippines,” Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan, commandant of the Philippine coast guard, told reporters in Honolulu in January.
Operation Pathways kicks off in March with Salaknib, which has in the past included live-fire drills, logistics operations and air-assault training.
Salaknib has primarily been an army-to-army engagement between the two nations, but it is apparently expanding this year.
Philippine media reported this fall that the Japan Self-Defense Force and the Australian army will join Salaknib for the first time.
Balikatan, the largest annual engagement between U.S. armed forces and the Philippine army, begins in April.
Key activities typically include live-fire maritime strikes, amphibious assaults, cyber defense, coastal defense and disaster relief operations.
Japan, Australia and New Zealand have regularly participated in Balikatan.
Canada, however, is expected to be the third largest participant in Balikatan after signing a status of visiting forces agreement last year with the Philippines, according to reports by Philippine media.
In May, U.S. Army Pacific’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center will deploy to the Philippines for the third year.
It employs monitors, video and other digital information to provide real-time feedback on combat to 25th ID and Philippine soldiers on the ground.
“We will conduct that with our largest footprint to date,” Shattock said.
In June, the 25th is scheduled for Operation Maneuver, a massive movement of joint troops and equipment by air, sea and land.
During a similar operation last year, 25th ID soldiers joined troops from the 5th and 7th Philippine infantry divisions for maneuvers on the northern portion of Luzon, the nation’s largest and most populous island.
“We are now developing that path to include the 9th Infantry Division, which is south of Manila, so that we can build in more exposure to the Philippine army forces,” Shattock said.
The 25th will also continue throughout spring and summer with its transformation of several brigades into lighter, more mobile units using drones, the HIMARS rocket system and the new infantry squad vehicles, Shattock said.
