Southern Partnership Station 2011 Kicks Off Mission in Nicaragua

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jeffery Tilghman Williams, High Speed Vessel Swift Public Affairs

CORINTO, Nicaragua (NNS) -- The joint military construction team supporting Southern Partnership Station (SPS) 2011 kicked off its mission Corinto, Nicaragua, March 22.

The construction team consists of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 28 detail bravo Sailors and 2nd Marine Logistics Group (MLG) members, who will conduct subject matter expert exchanges (SMEE) at Instituto Parroquial Pbro. Emilio S. Chavarria with Nicaraguan military members.

During the SMEE, service members are working together to construct two Southeast Asia huts (SEA hut), to be used as a classroom and library for the children and faculty at the school.

"This is going to be a challenging project for us, because we are attempting to construct two 16-by-32-foot wood frame structures in five days, while participating in an information sharing exchange with members of the Nicaraguan military," said Lt. Rama Mutyala, NMCB detail bravo officer-in-charge. "But I'm confident our team is more than capable of performing the task at hand."

The construction project is the first of several SMEEs U.S. Sailors, Marines and Airman have planned during their nine-day engagement in Nicaragua. Additional SMEEs focusing on physical security, medicine, civil affairs and counter terrorism techniques are scheduled during the visit.

"We're focused for this mission, and committed to this cross training venture with our foreign counterparts," said Construction Electrician 1st Class Sammy Hill, NMCB detail bravo leading petty officer. "Today's the first day, and we've already learned a few things from the Nicaraguan sailors, which goes to show the importance of SPS."

SPS 11 is an annual deployment of U.S. ships to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission's primary goal is information-sharing with navies, coast guards and civilian services throughout the region.

Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (COMUSNAVSO) is the naval component command for U.S. Southern Command and is responsible for all naval personnel and assets in the area of responsibility.

COMUSNAVSO conducts a variety of missions in support of the U.S. Maritime Strategy, including theater security cooperation, relationship building, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, community relations, and counter-illicit trafficking operations.