A closing ceremony was held to mark
the end of Exercise Khaan Quest 2012 at the Five Hills Training Area near
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Aug. 23.

Khaan Quest 2012 is a multinational exercise sponsored by U.S. Army Pacific,
hosted by the Mongolian Armed Forces, and is the latest in a continuing series
of exercises designed to promote regional peace and security.

“It is an honor to be here at the closing ceremony for Exercise Khaan Quest,”
said Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy. “It is a mark of the importance the U.S.
places on our partnership with Mongolia and on Khaan Quest that both the
secretary of the Army and myself as secretary of the Navy have visited during
this exercise. Khaan Quest started out ten years ago as a bilateral exercise
between the Mongolian Armed Forces and the U.S. Marine Corps. It has expanded
over that decade to include participants of over 10 countries and almost 1,000
people.”

The scope of Khaan Quest has also expanded as well.

“Exercise Khaan Quest incorporated five main components consisting of
multinational, platoon-level, field training exercises focused on peacekeeping
operations based on United Nations training standards, a multinational,
combined battalion-level staff exercise, and a humanitarian civic assistance
medical project,” said Lt. Gen. Ts. Byambajav, chief of general staff for the
Mongolian Armed Forces. “During the exercise, specialized forces from Mongolia,
the U.S., Canada and the Republic of Korea were able to help 4,500 people in a
humanitarian medical outreach.”

The main focus of Khaan Quest is to train and prepare militaries for
peacekeeping missions.

“Peacekeeping is not an easy task,” said Z. Enkhbold, speaker of the parliament
for Mongolia. “It is an essential duty served on behalf of the international
community in countries that are either striving to solve an internal conflict
or international disputes in their region. Peacekeeping demands that all services
possess courage, resilience, professionalism, experience and compassion.”

By participating in Khaan Quest, nations are able to showcase their resolve in
peacekeeping missions around the world, according to Mabus.

“Khaan Quest serves as a practical example of the closeness of Mongolia and
U.S. relations,” said Mabus. “It also serves as a symbolic commitment to peace
and security around the world that is demonstrated by the participants of Khaan
Quest.”

Khaan Quest offered participants the ability to see how other countries operate
and the opportunity to forge friendships, according to Byambajav.

“I have no doubt that the participants learned from other nations during the
exercise,” said Byambajav. “The core outcome of the exercise is the sharing of knowledge
and experience.”

Building such friendships can prove to be invaluable when it comes to
peacekeeping operations, according to Mabus.

“Together you have built expertise, together you have built interoperability,
and together you have built trust,” said Mabus. “In the future, whatever
mission is needed, we will already know each other, we will already know how
each other operates. I want to (thank) Mongolia for the strong partnership (it
has) with the U. S. and the strong regional partnership (it has) with countries
in the area.”