FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii— The personal relationships Soldiers build each year during dozens of training exercises with partners across the Indo-Pacific region are the U.S. military’s true strength in the Pacific, the command’s new chief said Friday , pledging to continue the initiatives championed by outgoing commander General Charles Flynn. .

“It’s these relationships, built on a foundation of trust, that really give our adversaries pause. They can plan or provide resources to counter any technical or procedural advantages we might have, but they cannot undo relationships,” said General Ronald Clarkadding that Flynn “made the region safer and our military stronger.”

Clark has served here several times before. He returns to Hawaii after two years as a senior military aide to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a role that prompted Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to hold on Clark’s promotion for weeks.

He succeeded Flynn on Friday in a rainy ceremony attended by senior military officials from across the region.

Flynn used his final speech in uniform to discuss key events and themes that made a difference in his life, to pay tribute to his family and friends, and to thank U.S. partners in the region for highlighting what he calls “the strategic land power network…a formidable counterweight.” to everything that happens here every day, which is dangerous and aggressive.

The way to “maintain peace and stability, protect everyone’s freedoms and prosperity, and ultimately… our greatest duty, as INDOPACOM Admiral Sam Paparo puts it, is to deter and to prevent such a path from continuing. So the goal here is to not have a war. »

Flynn is a strong advocate of the Army’s role in the Pacific, which he calls “vital and essential to success” – and regularly highlights the importance of Operation Pathways, a series of more than 40 joint and partner exercises in the region.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said during the ceremony that Army Pacific forces had, during Flynn’s tenure, “planned, coordinated and executed more than 200 exercises bilateral military operations in more than 90 countries,” as they “built a formation that is lethal and cohesive.”

The U.S. Army Pacific “is a courageous, determined, intelligent, creative and spirited team because they have adopted the traits of their commander,” George said. “Your true and sincere appreciation for our partners and allies has laid the foundation for the trust and respect we enjoy today and must earn tomorrow. »

There is no more important mission for the Army, George said, addressing Clark. “Today, our adversaries are working together to challenge us in every theater. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea represent an axis of upheaval that increasingly collaborates to threaten the free world.”

Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, noted that “the security environment has deteriorated” since Clark’s last station in theater, in 2021.

“Given this dangerous security environment, the transactional and connected symbiosis of our potential adversaries, the increasingly aggressive behavior (of the People’s Republic of China), the growing ties between Russia and North Korea, we We need the team to be ready. You are precisely the right leader for this mission,” Paparo said.

Clark nevertheless told reporters that he was not too concerned by reports that North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russians in Ukraine.

“It really doesn’t give me pause… because, as you know, on the Korean Peninsula, we are ready to fight tonight,” he said. “The proliferation of warfighting capabilities across the globe is now occurring at breakneck speed, given automation, the Internet, AI and machine learning. We therefore expect our adversaries to learn quickly. We must also learn lessons from ongoing conflicts, and even faster. And… what they can’t break are these relationships” with their allies and partners.