Photo By Sgt. Mahlet Tesfaye | Maj. Gen. John F. Nichols (left), Texas National Guard adjutant general, speaks with...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas - The State Partnership Program has been successfully building relationships between the U.S. and countries all over the world for more than 20 years through humanitarian operations, disaster relief efforts, emergency response exercises and multi-echelon command and control exercises executed at the operational and tactical level.
The SPP is a military-to-military engagement administered by the National Guard Bureau, and executed by the state adjutants general in support of security cooperation objectives and foreign policy goals.
U.S. Army South hosted a summit Jan. 21 at its headquarters for the adjutants general (TAGs) of select U.S. Army National Guard forces participating in the SPP to facilitate a direct interaction between participants focused on meaningful and participatory dialogue regarding theater engagement and security cooperation strategies within U.S. Southern Command area of operation.
“The purpose was to bring together select adjutants general from the National Guard SPP to sit down with the commander of Army South to discuss mutual support in security cooperation with in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” said Col. Larry Dotson, senior National Guard adviser with Army South.
The SOUTHCOM/Army South area of responsibility encompasses 31 countries and 15 areas of special sovereignty in Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
During the summit, Maj. Gen. Joseph P. DiSalvo, Army South’s commanding general, stressed the importance of constant communication between the state TAGs and Army South on the different SPP activities with partner nations for better visibility and coordination.
“There are a lot of well intended activities going on down range in our respective AORs. I think we all are in agreement; the best way we can be effective is by being better coordinated on what’s happening,” said DiSalvo.
Army National Guard TAGs from Arkansas (Guatemala), Louisiana (Haiti), Missouri (Panama), New Hampshire (El Salvador), Puerto Rico (Dominican Republic), South Carolina (Colombia), Texas (Chile), West Virginia (Peru), and Wisconsin (Nicaragua); and representatives from National Guard Bureau (NGB), SOUTHCOM, Special Operation Command South, Marine Corps Forces South, and Army South senior staff attended the summit.
One of the participants, Maj. Gen. John F. Nichols, Texas National Guard adjutant general, believes in the importance and benefits of the SPP and works with Chile in support of SOUTHCOM’s mission.
“I like this because we are meeting with Army South and combining our efforts to make sure all we are doing in SPP supports the needs of America and our partner countries,” said Nichols.
One of U.S. Army South’s missions is counteracting transnational threats and strengthening regional security in defense of America. In order to sustain its mission, Army South and its supporting units conduct and support multinational operations and security cooperation in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility through enduring relationship with partner nations.
Operation Unified Response in Haiti; Beyond the Horizon, a humanitarian and civic assistance operations provided to the people of Central and South America; Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias, a regionally oriented emergency response exercise; and PANAMAX, an operational exercise focused on the defense of the Panama Canal by a Multi-National Task Force, are some of the operations Army South has been involved with partner nations through the SPP.
The summit was focused on how to better share information to inform mutually supporting activities and in the spirit of sharing, representatives from each state discussed past, present and future projects with partner nations.
“The most important take away that I captured was the SPP offers enduring access and valuable informative insights to the Army and Air Force and being able to collaborate on shared security objectives helps everybody involved in security cooperation,” said Dotson.
DiSalvo commended the SPP participants for their great work on fostering and maintaining relationships with their partner countries in support of security cooperation.
“You all in your respective states do a good job with your partner countries,” DiSalvo said to the TAGs. “For us at the Army South and SOUTHCOM levels to have visibility into that is very important.”
| Date Taken: | 01.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.29.2015 10:46 |
| Story ID: | 153026 |
| Location: | FORT SAM HOUSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 168 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Army South hosts National Guard State Partnership Program summit, by SGT Mahlet Tesfaye, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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