Slobodan Lekic, Asem Bagus – Dozens of elderly villagers wearing checkered sarongs wait patiently on cots while a US Navy corpsman prepares them for eye surgery. Nearby, US Marines and Indonesian servicemen, their uniforms drenched with sweat, help each other refurbish a dilapidated school.
"This is a great experience for us, working together with the Indonesians to help local people improve their quality of life," said Cpl. Charles Spencer, 20, of Saint Marys, W.Va., as he dug a trench for a water pipe.
Although US officers at this seaside village 530 miles east of Jakarta downplayed the joint American-Indonesian exercise Tuesday as just one of many good will missions worldwide, the 10-day project is anything but routine.
It is the first time the two armed forces have worked together since US military ties with Indonesia were cut following East Timor's devastation by Indonesian troops and militiamen last year.
The Cooperation Afloat and Readiness Training – or CARAT – mission is the result of a switch by US policy-makers alarmed by the prospect of Indonesia disintegrating under the weight of multiple religious and separatist conflicts.
Last week, Defense Secretary William Cohen said the Clinton administration would follow Australia, which led a successful international peacekeeping operation in East Timor, in formulating policy on a potential intervention in Indonesia's strife-torn Maluku islands.
The current exercise, involving more than 400 US and Indonesian marines, sailors and medical personnel, coincides with a sharp escalation in the Muslim-Christian war in that archipelago, which has killed over 4,000 people.
On Sunday, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had told him of growing appeals for peacekeepers to be sent to the region. Wahid said his government could end the conflict by itself.
But Wahid said Indonesia's overstretched military might need logistical aid from friendly countries. Foremost among these is the United States, whose transport capabilities are the best in the region.
Critics of US policy maintain American military training and cooperation enabled Indonesia's military to commit human rights abuses during President Suharto's regime. The United State has therefore chosen to focus exclusively on humanitarian operations as a first step to forging closer links with Indonesia's navy and air force.
The army, which underpinned Suharto's 32-year rule, has been excluded from the joint project. Instead, the navy and marines, neglected by Suharto's regime and now seen as backing Wahid's political and economic reforms, were selected as partners.
Washington is "considering a program of phased re-engagement with the Indonesian military in ways designed to promote further reform," the State Department said recently.
The navy and air force – although seen as blame-free by human rights groups – have both been hit hard by the US embargo on military sales. Numerous navy supply ships and at least half of the air force's fleet of 19 C-130 Hercules transports have been idled by a lack of spare parts.
Col. Marsetio, the local Indonesian naval commander, said the humanitarian operation "is a new step after a stagnation in cooperation between the Indonesian and US navies."
The operation features a US Navy medical unit performing surgery and making eyeglasses for villagers. An Indonesian military outpost has been converted into a makeshift hospital for cataract surgery.
"This gives us a chance to gain experience that we normally wouldn't get," said Capt. Karl Holzinger, the chief surgeon. "In the States it's virtually impossible to encounter cases of mature cataracts ... which completely block vision."
Down the road at the Sumberwaru elementary school, Cpl. Spencer and his fellow combat engineers contend with a group of rambunctious third-graders trying to "help" them dislodge a boulder. "Their smiles help, they just make the work much more enjoyable," Spencer said.