Major Marc Dickinson, Special Forces branch, deployed his operational detachment alpha (ODA) to the Philippines to support Operation Enduring Freedom. Alerted while in Thailand on a joint security assistance training mission, Dickinson's detachment conducted normal mission preparation activities aligning available intelligence, assessing what they could about conditions on the ground, and practicing team standard operating procedures for any potential kinetic fight. This detachment moved from Fort Lewis to Okinawa for three weeks of intensive preparation in January 2003 then on to the Philippines in mid-January with several other Special Forces detachments. Dickinson's team and the others would train and advise the 18th Infantry Battalion on Basilan in the predominantly Muslim southern islands of the Philippines. Working under the command of an advanced operating base, this training and advisory mission had to balance the local sensibilities of the Filipino military leadership and the clear needs of the battalion's rank and file for basic and advanced soldier skills like rifle marksmanship, combat medical skills and land navigation. Further complicating this mission set was the Filipino battalion's ongoing task of integrating soldiers who had recently opposed them: former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front. Dickinson and his detachment led with consistent message of a pre-planned information campaign. Often confronted with media presence, Dickinson stayed on message that their mission was one of support to the Filipino military to counter terrorists and help the Filipino people. That end, military civic actions like medical missions and a concurrent US Marine Corps engineering mission took place alongside infantry training. Internal, cultural issues were often present among the indigenous Filipino soldiers: trying to help develop a non-commissioned officer culture of self sufficiency clashed with the traditional role of officers. Some tension was present brought on by the differences between the dominant Catholic faith of the 18th Infantry's officers in a population sea of Muslims. Dickinson also remarked on the endemic corruption. This mission continued after a structured handoff with other Special Forces elements in April 2003.

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