Photo By 2nd Lt. Jorge Intriago | Colombian army Maj. Gen. Guillermo Arturo Suarez Ferreira, senior Colombian army...... read more read more
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COLUMBIA, S.C. - The South Carolina Army National Guard was host to one of the Colombian Army’s top military engineers this past weekend who observed the organization’s first Best Engineer competition and delivered the keynote speech at their annual Engineer banquet.
Colombian Army Maj. Gen. Guillermo Arturo Suarez Ferreira visited Guard members Aug. 22, 2015, supporting the state partnership between the South Carolina and the Republic of Colombia established in 2012. The program is part of the National Guard Bureau’s initiative began in 1992 to form relationships with different nations.
During the engineer competition, Suarez observed Guardsmen demonstrating their skills not only as engineers, but with basic infantry skills common to all Soldiers.
“Competition is very good. We would be very interested in having something like this in Colombia, or even have some of our engineers join in the Best Engineer competition next year. It promotes team work, and that is very important when working under pressure,” said Suarez, who has more than 34 years professional experience in construction management, civil works, maintenance, equipment operation and management systems in engineering, as well as fighting as an infantryman and combat engineer.
Competition events were broken down into nine training lanes with various Soldiering tasks each engineer team had to accomplish. Some skills tested included effectively operating an M2 .50 caliber machine gun, military operations in urban terrain, and land navigation.
“Operating in an urban area can be very difficult. This is good training where the professional non-commissioned officers are so important,” said Suarez.
Suarez later delivered a speech at the Army Engineer Association Palmetto Chapter Castle Rally dining-out banquet, held at the Columbia Convention Center. The banquet provided an opportunity for the engineers to gather and recognize unit excellence demonstrated during the competition. Suarez joined the adjutant general for South Carolina, Maj. Gen. Robert E. Livingston Jr. during the presentations of the prestigious De Fleury Medal, an award named for François-Louis Teissèdre de Fleury, a French engineer in the Continental Army. This award recognizes individuals who have provided significant contributions to Army engineering.
“It is the deepest honor to have Maj. Gen. Suarez join us at the Castle Rally,” said Livingston. “He epitomizes the professional engineer who has that vision and understands the vital impact engineers have to improve the quality of life for the Colombian people as they prepare to transition from more than 50 years of war.”
During Castle Rally, Suarez shared a presentation highlighting the capabilities of the Colombian engineers with the 300 plus attendees that showcased the importance their army is placing on transitioning from a wartime mission to improving their country. Some of the elements focused on making areas safe by clearing land mines and expanding road networks to connect remote areas.
“Having Maj. Gen. Suarez speak in a social setting at Castle Rally was an opportunity to expose the engineers and their families to the state partnership program, present training ideas and get them excited about our relationship with Colombia,” said Col. Brad Owens, Director of Joint Staff, South Carolina National Guard, who is also an engineer.
Owens hopes that South Carolina and its personnel will serve as a resource for Colombia during their transition from wartime to one of rebuilding. Suarez’s visit with the engineers helps foster the relationship and presents the opportunity for future SPP ventures.
A joint engineer mission between the two countries is already being planned, when a team of South Carolina Army National Guard engineers will visit Colombia to study Colombian engineer projects and learn advanced demining techniques.
“We’ve been focused on one part of the world for 13 years. We need to expose our Guardsmen to other environments,” said Owens. “Because of their war, the Colombians have a lot we can learn from, including demining and different types of engineering.”
“As the Colombian government transitions to peace, engineers are going to be critical to expand the confidence of government for the Colombian people in this post conflict period, said Lt. Col. Dave King, state partnership program director, South Carolina Army National Guard. “The South Carolina National Guard wants to be ready to assist the Colombian engineers with whatever they need as they transition to meet these new challenges and continue to demonstrate our commitment to the Colombian military and the citizens they support.”
| Date Taken: | 08.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2015 12:02 |
| Story ID: | 174179 |
| Location: | COLUMBIA, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 289 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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