When Captain Slattery is talking with Takehaya while eating Slattery asks Takehaya which branch of the military he served in. Takehaya responds that he was an officer in Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (Japanese Navy), and Slattery comments that they have probably met at RIMPAC. Slattery is referring to the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. It is held every two years in Honolulu and is hosted by the United States Navy's Indo-Pacific Command at Pearl Harbor in conjunction with the United States Marine Corps, US Coast Guard and the Hawaii National Guard. The US invites militaries from nations in the Pacific Rim (and any NATO allied country outside the Rim) to attend RIMPAC with the goal of enhancing interoperability and cooperation during joint exercises and operations among the Pacific Rim armed forces. The countries that most commonly attend are the Naval and Marine forces from Australia, Canada, Chile, Columbia, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, South Kora, Thailand and the United Kingdom.