Mobile and resilient, the US military is placing a new emphasis on ground troops for Pacific defense

By DAVID RISING
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — As China’s navy grows and its land-based missile systems expand, the United States is reworking its strategy in the Indo-Pacific, particularly as it relates to the defense of Taiwan. This week the Army is concluding its largest exercises in Hawaii so far, training groups of land forces to operate as small groups of mobile units on archipelagos such as the island chains off China’s coast. More than 5,000 troops have been practicing fighting in an island jungle environment against an advanced enemy force, with exercises including paratrooper drops, a long-range air assault, and re-supply by air and sea.