U.S. Aviation Assets and Medical Supplies arrive in Costa Rica for Humanitarian Assistance Exercise

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA

04.23.2009

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army South

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Two C-17 Globemasters landed yesterday at San Jose International Airport to deliver three UH-60 Black Hawks and medical equipment for use in Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias exercise in Costa Rica.

FA-HUM is a U.S. Southern Command sponsored Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief field training exercise and U.S. Army South is the executive agent. New Mexico National Guard will join other soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guard personnel and civilians from USSOUTHCOM, U.S. Army South, U.S. Joint Forces Command, and U.S. Air Force South.

With the arrival of the helicopters, soldiers of the NMNG rev up to begin operational support for the exercise. U.S. Army Capt. Paul Saiz, Commander of Charlie Company, 1-171st General Support Aviation Battalion, New Mexico National Guard, said, "This is a great opportunity for us to work with our Costa Rican partners and are glad that we are able to respond during our annual training to help them with their national emergency training."

U.S. Coast Guard Commander Mark Camacho, Chief, U.S. Office of the Defense Representative, U.S. Embassy, Costa Rica, was at the flight line to meet the arrival of the aircraft and he actively engaged with the national and international print and broadcast media members who covered the event.

To show the level of importance that the government of Costa Rica attaches to the FA-HUM exercise, Marcela Chacon, Vice Minister of Public Security, attended the event on behalf of the minister of Public Security. Chacon expressed great pride by saying, "The relationship that government of Costa Rica has nurtured with U.S. government counterparts has evolved into the realization of the arrival of two C-17s and three helicopters to support FA-HUM 2009."

Speaking about the special nature of the participation of the NMNG in FA-HUM 2009, Camacho said that he was very excited because this was the first time that the State Partnership Program has been able to deploy aviation assets for the purpose of executing a disaster relief exercise on a medical mission. Camacho added, "We are looking forward to the results of this exercise since it is the largest exercise that U.S. Southern Command has ever conducted in Costa Rica."

Saiz spoke about the mission of the NMNG, by saying, "Our mission is not only to transport medical personnel, but to also respond to medical emergencies and national disasters, and to do all the scenarios that will help the host nation National Emergency Commission exercise their search and rescue capacity."

Saiz also said, "This is a joint operations event, with the involvement of multiple U.S. military organizations, like the U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Army South, NMNG, Air Force South, and ODR, Costa Rica. We've all gelled as one team and it's really like working together and it is coming along really well. We want to thank the government and people of Costa Rica for inviting us to participate in this important event. The have been stellar in their acceptance of us and it's just a great nation and a great people."

• Date Taken: 04.23.2009
• Date Posted: 04.23.2009 00:32
• Story ID: 32745
• Location: SAN JOSE, CR