Photo By Cmdr. Michael Cody | U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Karla Pelayo, from the Air Force’s Language Enabled...... read more read more
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GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – Eight interpreters from the Air Force’s Language Enabled Airman Program, known as LEAP, supported CENTAM Guardian 2025 in a first for the annual multinational exercise, held from May 12 through May 23 at various locations in Guatemala this year.
Supplementing a civilian interpreter contract, the LEAP members in CENTAM Guardian provided military perspective in training events and significant savings in the exercise budget. Further, they served as unofficial ambassadors for the U.S. military, helping to develop lasting relationships with service members from partner nations, according to those who worked closely with them.
CENTAM Guardian 2025 is a U.S. Southern Command- and Guatemalan Ministry of Defense-sponsored exercise that involves military units and civilian agencies from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Honduras, as well as the United States and Guatemala, with the aim of fostering strong partnerships by enabling combined forces to effectively address shared security challenges.
Run by the Air Force Culture and Language Center at Air University, LEAP identifies and develops proficiency in 87 languages among officer and enlisted service members from most career fields to meet global requirements.
“I don’t know why anyone would not want to accept assistance from the LEAP program,” said Marine Master Sgt. Chad DiBiase of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, which employed two Air Force interpreters while training with Guatemalan paratroops, known as paracaidistas, at a base near Guatemala City.
The LEAP members assigned to the Marines were Master Sgt. Elio De Los Santos and Tech Sgt. Mark Fain. De Los Santos’ background in the Air Force security forces proved valuable when the Marines and the paracaidistas engaged in live-fire training with half a dozen weapon systems, from pistols to machine guns.
“Without the assistance of Tech Sgt. Fain and Master Sgt. De Los Santos, we easily could have had a safety incident,” DiBiase said.
De Los Santos, who was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in Michigan, said he saw himself not just as an interpreter but as a filter.
“As you may know, the U.S. military has a distinct way of communicating and answering questions,” he said. “I act as a buffer to make sure that the message is received in a way that is culturally appropriate and understood by the partners.”
On the range, as the Marines gave commands, De Los Santos checked with the Guatemalan soldiers to ensure he conveyed the commands in a way they understood. “Ready to fire” became “disengage the safety,” for example.
Rather than translating literally, “I needed to craft language so the partners could understand exactly how we wanted to run the range and make sure nobody was injured,” he said.
CENTAM Guardian’s relationship with LEAP came about after the command surgeon for U.S. Southern Command saw the lead exercise planner wrestling with the exercise budget. In rapid order, a suggestion became an inquiry, and a LEAP team was assembled.
Among the first LEAP members to arrive in Guatemala was Tech Sgt. Rodolfo Falero Maldonado, an aircraft armaments systems specialist who was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Assigned to the advance party and the exercise logistics cell, Falero interpreted regularly for Army Lt. Col. Eddie Christ of the 167th Theater Sustainment Command and Col. Carlos Rene De La Loma Pop, the commander of Mariscal Zavala military base, where many events were to be held and where the exercise headquarters was established, along with temporary billets and working spaces.
While his main job was to convey communication clearly, Falero didn’t hesitate to show initiative. One day, hearing from a Guatemalan officer that the minister of defense was going to visit the base, he proposed a meeting with Christ. That led to a meeting with the lead exercise planner and the exercise director – at which Falero served as the interpreter.
“More often than not, we’ll go the extra mile,” he said of himself and other LEAP members. “That’s the biggest thing: our buy-in, to make the mission happen.”
De La Loma Pop said he was determined to treat the U.S. service members in Guatemala as well as Guatemalan service members in the United States are treated. To that end, he wanted Christ to get everything he needed.
Thanks to Falero, he felt an immediate kinship, he said.
“It was easy to establish friendship and coordination,” De La Loma said. “It was a wonderful experience, and I’m sad you are leaving so soon.”
Things didn’t start so smoothly in the land forces headquarters, called the Combined Task Force, where Guatemalan soldiers reading documents translated before the exercise by an unknown party gathered that their country was being attacked by a private business.
Chief Master Sgt. Karla Pelayo, a LEAP member assigned to the headquarters, soon cleared that up, as well as a misunderstanding in which the soldiers were waiting for guidance that their advisor, Army Maj. Brian Hotchkiss of the 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade, was certain he had provided.
Without a military interpreter, “Things would move much slower,” said Hotchkiss, who happens to speak French but not Spanish.
Even with an interpreter, “You can’t go combat speed or American speed,” he said, explaining the importance of patience: The training objective isn’t to complete a task as quickly as possible but for partners to enhance their capabilities and build interoperability.
“From the beginning, there was perhaps a lack of communication,” said Col. Victor Argueta Oscal, the Combined Task Force commander. “Then the interpreters arrived. … After that, it started to flow. The interpreters helped to build that bridge of partnership to accomplish more together.”
Maj. Irene Fernandez, the LEAP troop commander in CENTAM Guardian, is a health-care administrator who also was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She often found herself in Jutiapa, where medical professionals from five U.S. units were training with civilians and military members from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Honduras.
Because of her background, she could interpret confidently when the governor of the Department of Jutiapa took a tour of the field hospital that had been set up for the exercise, she said.
As the officer in charge explained the patient flow and processes to his visitor, Fernandez hardly had to think about the words because she understood the process already.
It’s true that many of the U.S. medical professionals involved in the exercise speak Spanish, and that did help with mission accomplishment, but there was a risk to that, she said: being pulled away from regular duties.
“There is a reason for them being here,” Fernandez said. “Their job is not to interpret.”
Fernandez said she is proud of the LEAP members for making a hard job look easy and making an important contribution to CENTAM Guardian’s partnership-building objectives.
“Even if it is a small part of it, I know it has made a difference,” she said. “You can tell as soon as a Spanish speaker hears someone speaking Spanish, they light up. It’s a palpable, visual difference in their demeanor when someone speaks their language.”
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2025 17:14 |
| Story ID: | 498764 |
| Location: | GUATEMALA CITY, GT |
| Web Views: | 244 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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