Part I: Accidents in Emergency Exercises and Real Training

One morning, at a base in Alaska, 864 Army paratroopers quickly boarded a C-17 transport plane and headed to Hawaii to participate in an exercise simulating a "great power war". However, only 492 paratroopers successfully arrived at their destination; some aircraft were forced to land early due to malfunctions or safety issues. Some soldiers who successfully landed suffered varying degrees of injuries during the airborne landing, and even a 19-year-old soldier fell from a height of 360 meters at high speed because his parachute failed to open. This scene not only frightened other soldiers, but also revealed the real risks in future high-risk conflicts.

This exercise not only tested the paratroopers' airborne capabilities, but also highlighted the high risks of great power wars. The U.S. Army is actively preparing for possible future wars in the Asia-Pacific region, especially for potential conflicts with China. The Pentagon calls this type of conflict a "great power war" and believes that it will bring unprecedented casualties. If a conflict really breaks out, the confrontation between the two countries' nuclear forces will escalate the situation, and other nuclear powers such as Russia may also be involved.

Part II: Strategic Transformation of the U.S. Army

The various branches of the U.S. military are stepping up to adapt to the needs of the Asia-Pacific environment. In particular, the Army has gradually transformed from the traditional way of fighting terrorists in Afghanistan to explore direct confrontation strategies with major powers. Compared with the Taliban, China has powerful satellite monitoring technology and can quickly locate the position of U.S. troops from the air, so the concealment of the Army's actions and the cooperation of small teams have become crucial.

In order to meet the new battlefield situation, the U.S. military is introducing 96 new jungle camouflage infantry squad vehicles to the troops. These vehicles can move at high speed in complex jungle terrain, and each vehicle can accommodate up to nine soldiers, which is convenient for rapid concealment and flexible combat. Major General Evans of the 25th Infantry Division said that these vehicles can support the rapid assembly and evacuation of small teams on the battlefield to maximize the strike effect and keep a low profile to avoid enemy tracking.

Part III: Strategic layout around Taiwan

The U.S. military attaches great importance to the situation in Taiwan, because if a conflict occurs in the Taiwan Strait, U.S.-China relations will be directly broken. Looking back at history, the United States formulated the "Operation Causeway" plan in World War II, hoping to gain a springboard for attacking Japan by controlling Taiwan. However, General MacArthur opposed the plan at the time, believing that landing in heavily defended Taiwan was too risky. Despite this, the US military strategy today still involves how to assist Taiwan in defending against mainland attacks.

Today's military analysis believes that although China has made preparations for rapid amphibious landings, including modifying civilian ferries and building floating docks, the difficulty of landing will be greatly increased once the US military joins. The current joint military exercises in the Pacific region by the United States are also intended to demonstrate the combat strength of the US military and send a deterrent signal to China to force it to slow down its military expansion.

Part 4: Dealing with the "Tyranny of Distance"

The United States has deployed a large number of troops in the Asia-Pacific region, from Japan and South Korea to Alaska and Hawaii. But Taiwan is more than 6,000 miles away from the US mainland, and this remote geographical distance has brought a kind of "tyranny of distance" to the US military. To effectively deal with this problem, the US military relies on warships like the "Rear Admiral Robert Smalls", which can carry heavy equipment and troops and deploy quickly on islands in the Pacific region. The movement of such resources is the key to supporting combat operations in the Asia-Pacific battlefield.

During the exercise in Hawaii, the troops simulated various situations that might be encountered, and conducted operations that require fast movement and concealment on the battlefield. By observing Russian tactics in the Ukrainian war, the US military learned how to evade enemy reconnaissance through precision disassembly and relocation of command centers in a short period of time, and even communicate using secure internal communication methods without relying on satellite communications to reduce the risk of being intercepted by the opponent.

Part V: Real Challenges in Exercises

One of the focuses of the exercise is to cultivate the ability of paratroopers to respond in hostile environments. For example, in the exercise in Hawaii, paratroopers dropped from C-17s, but weather conditions, terrain and other uncertain factors posed many challenges. In one exercise, a soldier's parachute failed to open as expected and the backup parachute was not deployed in time, causing the soldier to suffer a serious spinal injury after falling. Despite emergency rescue and multiple operations by military doctors, the soldier's road to recovery still faces uncertainty.

The paratroopers no longer wore sand-colored combat uniforms in the exercise, but full jungle camouflage, hiding in a tropical environment, trying to use this to exercise possible future battlefield environments. After the exercise, the Army's top brass briefed the media on the content of the exercise, saying that the purpose was to simulate a "decisive action in the Asia-Pacific region" scenario and prepare for possible future conflicts.

From exercise to actual combat preparation

As geopolitical tensions intensify, the U.S. military continues to adjust its strategy to deal with possible conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region. Through this exercise in Hawaii, the U.S. military aims to be fully prepared for actions in potential conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region and enhance the troops' ability to work together in land, sea, air and even space environments. The U.S. Army's exercise not only demonstrates its technological progress, but also its adaptability and combat readiness in the face of future uncertainties.