Underwood Sailors Conduct Subject Matter Expert Exchange with Colombian Navy

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stuart Phillips, Southern Seas 2012 Public Affairs

BAHIA MALAGA, Colombia (NNS) -- Sailors assigned to the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Underwood (FFG 36) spent time working alongside their Colombian counterparts as they made repairs on the Colombian cutter Valle del Cauca while moored in Bahia Malaga, Colombia July 3.

The Colombian and U.S. Sailors were able to achieve a number of goals as they combined their experience and expertise to address electrical and mechanical issues aboard the cutter over a period of three days in port in Bahia Malaga.

"We went over to the Colombian ship to work with them as they repaired some of their equipment," said Electrician's Mate 2nd Class (SW) Aldo Rodriguez, who volunteered to help out on the Valle del Cauca. "We worked on their capstan, their air conditioning, their carry, hold and transit [sewage system] and a couple of their gauges."

Sailors from the two navies also worked together restoring lights on the Valle del Cauca's flight deck.

"We brought their flight deck lighting up to about 80 percent, so now they'll be able to conduct night operations on their flight deck," said Electrician's Mate 3rd Class (SW) John Prokop, who also volunteered to work with the Colombian sailors.

The subject matter expert exchange has been an opportunity for sailors from both navies to learn more about their own job specialties from each other.

"I think working with the Colombian navy has helped strengthen our partnership," said Prokop. "We traded expertise as we taught each other a lot of things on the electrical side about different systems they have on their ship and I've also been able to show them some in-depth things that I know about electrical schematics, tracing out wires and performing troubleshooting and repairs."

Working side-by-side with their Colombian counterparts proved to be a good way for the U.S. Sailors to get to know members of another country's navy.

"We talk about our families and the differences between our navies as we work together," said Rodriguez, who speaks Spanish fluently. "But I think my favorite part has been the food they have shared with us. It is outstanding. Even the rice just seems to have so much more flavor. They have a dish called 'sancocho' that is like a soup comprised of beef, chicken, potatoes, corn and rice. It reminds me of home cooking."

"My favorite part of this has been the experience of going over to a different navy's ship," said Prokop. "I went over in a RHIB [rigid-hull inflatable boat] one of the days and just going over and seeing a different type of lifestyle and getting to work with other sailors as they make repairs on their ship was a good experience that I'm going to keep with me for the rest of my life."

Underwood is deployed to Central and South America and the Caribbean in support of Southern Seas 2012.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet (COMUSNAVSO/C4F) supports USSOUTHCOM joint and combined full-spectrum military operations by providing principally sea-based, forward presence to ensure freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain, to foster and sustain cooperative relationships with international partners and to fully exploit the sea as maneuver space in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.

Southcom, Partners Prepare to Respond to Natural Disasters

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

MIAMI , June 22, 2012 – Putting lessons learned from the 2010 earthquake response in Haiti into practice, U.S. Southern Command has entered this year’s hurricane season ready to provide timely, effective aid should another disaster strike the region, command officials reported.

“We remain deliberately prepared,” Southcom commander Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser reported to Congress in the lead-up to hurricane season, which kicked off this month.

“As we look at the hurricane season, we prepared for that, not only within our own headquarters, but with our partners in the region,” Fraser said.

Southcom’s area of responsibility, which includes Central and South America and the Caribbean, is no stranger to natural disasters. The largest earthquake recorded worldwide in the 20th century occurred in 1960 in Valdivia, Chile. Mount Pelee’s 1902 eruption in Martinique caused more than 30,000 deaths, and the 1985 Nevada del Ruiz eruption and mudslide in Colombia killed 25,000 people. Major flooding in northern Venezuela in 1999 left more than 20,000 dead.

Haiti has been tormented throughout its history with cyclones, hurricanes, tropical storms, torrential rains, floods and earthquakes. Haiti’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake in January 2010 left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. That disaster sparked the Southcom-led Operation Unified Response mission in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Relief.

At the peak of that mission, Joint Task Force-Haiti included 22,000 service members -- 7,000 land-based and the rest operating aboard 33 Navy and Coast Guard vessels, 262 fixed-wing aircraft and 57 helicopters. They reopened the heavily damaged international airport at Port-au-Prince, repaired port facilities and delivered 2.6 million bottles of water, 2.9 million food rations, 17 million pounds of bulk food and 149,000 pounds of medical supplies into Haiti.

The task force also provided one of the largest medical outreach efforts in history, with humanitarian and engineering support continuing long after the six-month disaster response in Haiti concluded.

The mission proved to be a “tremendous learning experience” for Southcom that underscored the importance of close interagency and non-governmental cooperation, Army Maj. Gen. Gerald W. Ketchum, Southcom’s director of theater engagement, told American Forces Press Service at the organization’s headquarters here.

The response effort led to revisions in the command’s disaster response plan, increases in its disaster-response capabilities and expanded disaster-preparedness outreach across the region, Ketchum reported.

Coincidentally, the Southcom headquarters was getting a demonstration of a new computer-networking tool to promote collaboration in the event of a natural disaster the very day Haiti’s earthquake hit. The All Partners Access Network, initially introduced at U.S. Pacific Command, provides a standardized platform for coordinating efforts between the various interagency, non-governmental organization, international and military responders. The scenario being used to demonstrate the APAN system was a notional hurricane hitting Haiti and taking out its emergency response command-and-control capabilities.

But based on real-life events, the Southcom staff quickly took the demonstration live and hundreds of organizations began using APAN to coordinate a faster and more efficient relief response that saved lives. Southcom is now using the system as part of an improved framework for military support to civilian-led disaster relief operations, Fraser noted in his command’s 2012 posture statement.

Meanwhile, Southcom is collaborating with regional partners to increase their ability to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Fraser described a three-part effort through Southcom’s humanitarian assistance program, disaster preparedness projects and annual humanitarian assistance exercises.

Last year, those efforts included building disaster-response warehouses, wells, potable water systems and emergency operations centers, he said. In fiscal year 2011, Southcom also conducted 169 projects designed to increase disaster preparedness in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

In addition, the command supports the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, a regional effort to increase disaster resilience and response capabilities among the 18 Caribbean nations involved.

A new project Southcom sponsored in the wake of the Haiti earthquake involves forward-staged kits that provide disaster-response teams with essential services, including potable water, hybrid renewable power, communications and situational awareness.

“Past experience has demonstrated that one of the biggest challenges in providing an effective response is the ability to accurately assess the situation on the ground after communications go down and transportation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed,” Fraser noted in his commander’s blog.

Pre-positioned Expeditionary Assistance Kits, or PEAKS, developed in partnership with the National Defense University, “enable decision makers to gain a better understanding of how best to deploy relief efforts,” he said.

The kits underwent a joint capability technology demonstration last year at Soto Cono Air Base in Honduras, less than a year after the program’s inception, Fraser noted. Joint Task Force Bravo in Honduras, Southcom’s main expeditionary organization, and members of Honduras’ military and civil-relief agencies, put the kits to the test under realistic field conditions.

Meanwhile, Fraser emphasized the importance of training to ensure the Southcom staff is prepared to support USAID, the lead federal agency for international disaster response, if called upon. This includes a joint operations course it hosts, with classes presented by USAID.

“This recurring training guarantees that when disaster strikes, U.S. Southern Command is ready to assist,” Fraser said.

And to ensure regional nations are as prepared as possible for disasters when they occur, many Southcom-sponsored exercises incorporate disaster-response scenarios or training activities that enhance capabilities and cooperation, Ambassador Carmen Martinez, Southcom’s civilian deputy to the commander, explained.

The Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias annual exercise series, sponsored by Southcom and executed by U.S. Army South, helps bring together regional militaries, civilian disaster management agencies and first responders to train in disaster relief and recovery efforts. The 2011 exercise, held in Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala, included 640 participants from 27 nations to practice the national and international response to an imaginary earthquake.

Martinez credited these efforts with building partner-nation capability, noting that no U.S. military forces were called on during last year’s hurricane season to provide support.

“I think that is the direct result of the constant training and exercising and assisting of these nations, that they were able to take care of things themselves,” she said. “And I think that’s a real tribute to the host nations. But it is also a tribute to the programs that U.S. Southern Command has conducted in the region.”

Southcom Exercise Program Promotes Stability, Security

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

MIAMI, June 20, 2012 – Several military exercises that just wrapped up or are under way exemplify U.S. Southern Command’s robust exercise program, one that officials consider integral to regional stability and U.S. national security.

Exercise Tradewinds 2012, which kicked off in Barbados June 15 and continues through the upcoming weekend, is focused on what Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, the Southcom commander, calls the most pressing regional challenge: transnational organized crime.

U.S. Marine Forces South is leading the exercise, which has brought together defense and law enforcement from the United States, Canada and 15 Caribbean countries for the 28th year to enhance their ability to work together against a common threat.

Speaking during opening ceremonies in Bridgetown, Barbados, Marine Corps Col. Michael Ramos, MARFOR-South chief of staff, emphasized the benefit of Exercise Tradewinds to participating nations. “We recognize the value of working together to confront these common security challenges,” he said. “We are truly united through our collaboration and collective efforts to fight terrorism, illicit trafficking and transnational criminality in all forms and in being prepared to effectively respond to natural disasters.”

Another exercise that concluded last week in Colombia, Fuerzas Comando 2012, brought together special operators from 21 regional countries for a grueling counterterrorism and special operations skills competition. That event, sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command South, was designed to promote military-to-military relationships, increase interoperability and improve regional security.

“This is the one forum that we have annually where we can come together as a region and talk about ideas, [about how to] increase our effect, collectively, against these dangerous non-state-actor threats we face,” Navy Rear Adm. Thomas L. Brown II, commander of Special Operations Command South, told American Forces Press Service.

These are just two examples of a broad Southcom exercise program that last year alone included hundreds of training and educational events, 12 major multinational exercises with regional partners and 56 medical readiness training exercises in 13 countries, according to Army Maj. Gen. Gerald W. Ketchum, the command’s director of theater engagement.

“You don’t want to show up on game day for the big game, when you have never practiced together,” Ketchum told American Forces Press Service at the Southcom headquarters here. “And that is really what the exercise program is all about.”

Toward that end, the exercise program centers on four basic pillars: security and illegal migration and illicit trafficking, peacekeeping, counterterrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The annual Peacekeeping Operations-Americas exercise that wrapped up last month brought together the United States and 15 partner nations to train in skills needed to serve as peacekeepers in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

U.S. Army South sponsored the four-phase exercise, conducted over the course of three months in Chile and the Dominican Republic in support of the State Department’s Global Peace Operations Initiative.

U.S. Ambassador to Chile Alejandro Daniel Wolff emphasized the importance of building the skills and interoperability needed for militaries to conduct vital peacekeeping roles. “Exercises like this offer the opportunity to learn from each other and to become more capable in our tasks to create a safer future for everybody,” Wolff said during the May 11 closing ceremony in Santiago.

Other Southcom exercises focus primarily on humanitarian assistance. These efforts, Ketchum explained, give military members an opportunity to use their skills while leaving behind tangible improvements in host nations. Sometimes it’s a new or renovated school, a newly dug well or new building to serve as an emergency operations center in the event of a natural disaster. Other exercises provide training for host-national medical staffs or desperately needed care in local communities.

For example, Army engineers and medical professionals currently deployed to Honduras and Guatemala for Beyond the Horizon 2012 are providing medical, dental and engineering support. Participants in another joint humanitarian exercise, New Horizons 2012, are providing training, free medical care and critical infrastructure in poor areas of Peru.

Officials said the efforts help address critical needs while showing U.S. support and commitment to the region. For many of the participants, the reward is getting to make a visible difference in others’ lives.

"My favorite part of this exercise is seeing the work getting done," said Army 1st Lt. Johnny Robey, commander of the Missouri National Guard’s 1140th Engineer Battalion, supporting Beyond the Horizon 2012 in Honduras. "I enjoy going to the sites and seeing the immediate impact of what we're here to do.”

Among Southcom’s array of multinational security exercises, PANAMAX remains the largest. The annual exercise focuses on supporting the Panamanian government in defense of the strategic Panama Canal.

Eighteen nations participated in last year’s exercise, working to improve the interoperability of their military and civil forces to guarantee safe passage through the canal and ensure its neutrality.

“This is a theme that is embraced by virtually everyone in the region: free and open access to the canal and flow of goods through the Panama Canal,” Ketchum said. “Everyone recognizes that it is clearly something of great value to the entire hemisphere to ensure that.”

Ketchum cited the growing success of the exercise as partners in the region step up to assume major leadership roles. Colombia took on the land component commander role last year, and will retain it during this year’s PANAMAX, in August. “They have embraced this role, and done a wonderful job,” Ketchum said. “Ultimately, that’s good for all of us, because we need interoperability and we need to be able to communicate with each other.”

Meanwhile, Brazil is preparing to assume leadership of the maritime component role during the upcoming PANAMAX, Fraser told Congress earlier this year. Fraser called the move “an important step in strengthening the expanding partnerships in the hemisphere.”

With expansion efforts under way at the Panama Canal that will increase the seaborne traffic it handles, close, regional cooperation will be more critical than ever, Fraser told the Senate Armed Service Committee in March. “I don’t see a direct change to the threat or to the concerns as we look into the future, but our PANAMAX exercise will remain critical to that effort,” he said.

Ketchum said the capabilities built and relationships strengthened through the exercise program have a direct impact on regional stability and U.S. national security.

“We truly believe that it takes an international approach to address the challenges we face in the region, and that these engagements are supporting that effort, he said. “We want to be the security partner of choice, and we look forward to continuing to work with our partner nations in the region.”

(Army Sgt. Sarah E. Lupescu, from the Missouri National Guard; Army Sgt. Alysia Jarmon, from the 65th Public Affairs Operations Center; and Robert Ramon from U.S. Army South contributed to this article.)

Regional Challenges Drive Southcom’s Agenda

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

MIAMI, June 18, 2012 – Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command, regularly tells members of Congress, audiences around the region and members of his command that events in South America, Central America and the Caribbean affect U.S. national security.

“The hemisphere is our shared home,” Fraser noted in his Command Strategy 2020 “Partnership for the Americas” document issued in July.

“We are all Americans” in the region, he added.

While a mere glance at a map underscores the obvious physical connection among the hemisphere’s nations, Fraser cited other bonds that cross economic, cultural, ideological and security lines.

“Latin America and the Caribbean are vitally important to the security and future of the United States,” he said. “The nations of the region are inextricably linked, and we face common challenges to our security and stability.”

With globalization unfolding at lightning speed over the past decade, transforming commerce, culture, trade and technology, it’s had a profound impact on security as well, the general noted in his 2012 Southcom posture statement, released in March.

Fraser said he’s particularly concerned about “the parallel globalization of organized crime, violence, murder and kidnapping related to illicit trafficking.”

He noted that in many parts of the hemisphere, particularly in Central America, transnational organized crime has evolved to become a “volatile and potentially destabilizing threat to both citizen and regional security.”

These sophisticated networks operate across national borders and dividing lines for U.S. geographic combatant commands, demanding an unprecedented level of cooperation among those attempting to counter them -- regionally, nationally and across U.S. agencies, he said.

“The challenge for United States Southern Command is to find creative ways to enhance the interagency, public-private and partner-nation cooperation as we plan, train and operate with regional military to address the predominant security concerns in the region,” Fraser said.

Fraser recognized other persistent challenges facing the region, including poverty, crime, corruption, institutional weakness, illicit trafficking and terrorism. “These challenges complicate our collective efforts to secure the hemisphere,” he stated in his 2020 command strategy. “At the same time, security helps provide the very means to address these issues.”

He cited the vulnerability of much of Latin America and the Caribbean to humanitarian crises, mass migrations and natural disasters.

Southcom works closely with partner nations to strengthen their humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities, Fraser told the House Armed Services Committee in May. “And we remain ready to respond should our assistance be requested,” he added.

Meanwhile, Southcom watches for potential geopolitical turbulence that could affect U.S. citizens and military personnel in the region, he said in his posture statement. He cited Cuba, Haiti, Bolivia and Venezuela as areas of particular interest.

Frasier noted the yet-to-be-seen long-term effects of Cuba’s market reforms under Raul Castro’s leadership. Haiti, while making slow but steady progress, remains vulnerable to natural disasters and economic hardship, the general said.

Meanwhile, he added, public demonstrations in Bolivia related to low wages, high food prices and energy shortages are likely to continue until the Bolivian government addresses these issues. And in Venezuela, Fraser recognized continuing uncertainty about President Hugo Chavez’ health, as well as continued economic instability and escalating violence that he said place increasing demands on that country’s government.

Adding to the list of concerns, Fraser pointed to Hezbollah supporters operating throughout South America and the fact that the region has become home to a small number of violent extremist organizations.

“We remain vigilant for the potential radicalization of homegrown extremists,” he said. Fraser noted that Sunni extremists, while small in number, are actively involved in radicalization efforts.

Jamaica’s Shaykh Abdullah al-Faisal, for example, was convicted in the United Kingdom for inciting terrorism, he said. Al-Qaida senior operative Adnan el-Shukrijumah has held valid passports for the United States as well as Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, where he has family and associates. And despite recent convictions in the 2007 plot to attack the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, one of the alleged co-conspirators remains at large in Guyana.

Meanwhile, Fraser noted, Iran represents a troublesome influence in the region, attempting to circumvent international sanctions through ties with Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba. “We take Iranian activity in the hemisphere seriously, and we monitor its activities closely,” he said.

In presenting his command priorities, Fraser emphasized four major objectives:

-- Strengthen regional partnerships;

-- Increase partner capability;

-- Confront regional challenges; and

-- Support humanitarian and disaster response, as required.

Fraser called partnership-building “the cornerstone of our strategic approach.” It ensures the forward defense of the United States, he said, by promoting capable regional militaries that share in the responsibility of hemispheric security and stability.

“What we focus on in the region is building partner capacity and security cooperation, collaboratively, with willing nations,” Navy Vice Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, Southcom’s military deputy commander, told American Forces Press Service at the command’s headquarters here. “We endeavor to plan extensively with them, ensuring that our efforts to help build their security in ways they believe are helpful to them.”

These efforts are coordinated closely with the State Department and with full respect for each partner nation’s sovereignty, Kernan said.

“We truly want to be the security partner of choice,” said Army Maj. Gen. Gerald W. Ketchum, director of the command’s theater engagement directorate, who oversees many of the programs designed to build those partnerships. “And as we work to build them, we want those partnerships to be enduring.”

In establishing new ties and strengthening existing ones, Kernan said, Southcom is demonstrating the deep U.S. commitment to the region.

“We have to pursue a persistent, welcomed presence with countries in the region,” he said. “That is what builds lasting relations and mutual respect. We need to be able to stand alongside our partners and talk about collectively addressing common security problems.”

Fraser said efforts to strengthen and enhance partner nations’ ability to respond to domestic and regional threats -- individually and collectively -- will pay off in long-term security for the region.

“We envision a hemisphere characterized by nations working together to address the emerging security challenges of the coming decade,” he said.