Jakarta (ANTARA News) - This year`s Garuda Shield exercise represents the largest and most complex training exercise ever conducted in the long-standing military relationship between the United States and Indonesia, the US Embassy said.

Over the last two weeks, soldiers from the US Army`s 82nd Airborne Division and the Indonesian Army`s Kostrad Division 1 have participated in the annual Garuda Shield exercise which is designed to build relationships between the two armies and create familiarity through working together, the embassy said on its official website on Thursday.

The event includes a wide array of interoperability-focused events ranging from combined staff operations and computer-based simulation to small unit tactics training and live-fire exercises.

The culmination activity and centerpiece of the 2013 Garuda Shield Exercise were multiple airborne operations conducted with U.S. and Indonesia paratroopers descending together onto a drop zone in the vicinity of Kostrad Division 1 Headquarters.

This year almost 500 US soldiers made the journey to Indonesia to take part in this important exercise and continue to develop our military-to-military linkages.

The 2014 Garuda Shield, which is planned to be conducted with Kostrad Division 2 in Malang, will continue to enhance familiarity and introduce new areas of collaboration for our two armies to explore.

(A014/F001)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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