Count the Pacific Recruits Behind the Keen Sword Contingents

On 19 October, Japanese and US forces opened Keen Sword 27, a drill around Japan's southwestern islands set to end on 29 October. The Associated Press counted about 45,000 Japanese troops and 12,000 US service members in it. Forces from 7 other nations take part in some elements. France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the Philippines joined the exercise for the first time this year. Japan has deployed its Type-25 anti-ship missile to Yonaguni, an island about 110 km east of Taiwan.

Japan's Joint Staff gave the national figures in a release dated 29 September, with 45,000 personnel, 6,100 vehicles, 40 vessels and 260 aircraft from the Self-Defense Forces. That release lists the partners by force name, among them the New Zealand Defence Force. Australia sent more than 250 personnel with the frigate HMAS Stuart and a P-8A patrol aircraft. Australian units have trained in Keen Sword since 2022. South Korea and the United Kingdom sent observers.

Off Amami Oshima, a French frigate trains with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force from 22 to 24 October in VBSS, the procedure for inspecting a suspect vessel at sea. The Amami Shimbun (奄美新聞) reported the deployment as the first French participation in Keen Sword. France bases 2 surveillance frigates in the Pacific. Prairial sails from Papeʻete and Vendémiaire from Nouméa.

The Forces armées en Polynésie française (FAPF) police fisheries and conduct sea rescues under the French state's action at sea. The command counts about 1,250 military personnel for an exclusive economic zone of 5.2 million km² around 118 islands and atolls. The Ministry of the Armed Forces lists Prairial and 2 patrol vessels, Teriʻieroʻo a Teriʻieroʻoiteraʻi and Philippe Bernardino, in the FAPF fleet. The command also includes a marine infantry regiment, the RIMaP-P.

Polynesians make up 80% of the more than 1,000 military personnel in the Régiment du service militaire adapté (RSMA), according to the French High Commission. The regiment trains more than 800 volunteers a year in 33 trades on 4 archipelagos, at Hiva ʻOa, Tupuaʻi, Hao and Tahiti. Its stated aim is the integration of young Polynesian volunteers into employment through military and vocational training. The regiment also contributes to civil emergency plans in French Polynesia.

Colonel Thierry Fluxa, head of recruitment for the Air and Space Force, told Outremers360 in May 2022 that Polynesia supplied 25% of the force's new recruits from the overseas collectivities. The force signed 11 Polynesian recruits in that intake. It posted 9 of them to mainland France and 2 to Air Detachment 190 at Faʻaʻā. Applicants must be between 16 and 30 years old, with qualifications from lower secondary level up to a master's degree.

Article 57 of organic law 2004-192 makes French the official language of French Polynesia and calls Reo Tahiti, the Tahitian language, a fundamental element of its cultural identity. The article names French, Tahitian, Marquesan, Pakumotu and Mangarevan as the 5 languages of the territory. On 13 June 2013 the Council of State held 2 lois du pays (territorial statutes) illegal because the assembly had debated them partly in Tahitian on 10 July 2012.

The NZDF Pacific Peoples Strategy 2020-2025 put Pacific people at 4.6% of the Defence Force, including 5.4% of the Regular Force and 3% of Reserves. The 2018 Census counted Pacific people at 8.1% of the population of Aotearoa The strategy projected a 10% share by 2026 and counted 54.9% of Pacific people under the age of 25. The NZDF writes that it competes for Pacific talent from a limited New Zealand workforce.

In that document, the Defence Force credits Pacific personnel with untapped potential in language skills and cultural knowledge. It asks them to add language and cultural information to their talent profiles. A separate action commits the NZDF to improve pre-deployment language training. The strategy also plans a Pacific Cultural Advisor for the NZDF and cultural advisors posted in the South Pacific.

Because Pacific families take part in decisions, the strategy calls for culturally competent engagement and recruitment practices. Its Fonofale model places family at the centre of community life and glosses the word as matavuvale in Fijian. The model names Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Niuean, Tokelauan and Tuvaluan peoples in its Pacific world view.

The name of the Defence Force in te reo Māori is Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa. Ngāti Tūmatauenga emerged in 1994 under Major General Anthony Birks, then Chief of General Staff. The NZDF calls it New Zealand's youngest iwi. Its 3 services maintain a marae apiece. The NZDF website also lists a Te Reo strategy for 2025.

A Huri reviewer flagged a staffing clause in a Pacific seasonal-labour contract, rendered as not more than 15 employees. The English source meant fewer than 15. The rendered bound admitted the 15th employee, a change with legal consequence for the employer. A fluency check accepts either wording. For power of attorney, the team retained the English term in the target text. Huri has published a comparison of machine output and its own translation in Tahitian.

In April 2023, Prairial transited the Taiwan Strait and then called in Japan. Its crew trained with a Japanese frigate on that deployment. The ship's complement numbers 90 plus 24 marines. Its design provides berths for 13 more personnel.