Photo By Maj. John Quin | Maj. Gen. Mark Sears,(center) deputy commander for mobilization and reserve affairs of...... read more read more
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NACO, Honduras – The deputy commander for mobilization and reserve affairs of U.S. Southern Command paid a visit to Honduras to visit the soldiers, sailors and airmen working humanitarian missions there June 28.
The work the service members have done during the past four months is not only impressive, but will have an impact on life in the region for a long time, said Maj. Gen. Mark Sears.
“The actual construction is great,” Sears said. “Obviously the Soldiers getting the work done are doing a tremendous job.”
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen have been working in rotations since March, building schools and medical clinics, running dental, medical and veterinary clinics, and taking on local projects as requested. Task Force Tropic, which is headed by Missouri National Guard Lt. Col. Robert Jones, is in Honduras as part of U.S. Army South’s Beyond the Horizon exercise.
Maj. Jose Rodriguez, of Miami, accompanied Sears on his job site tour. At each location, Sears presented the site manager with a coin, which Rodriguez said was a huge morale booster.
Sears also took the time to visit the commander of the Honduran 3rd Infantry Battalion.
“The fact that a two-star general visited the commander showed the Hondurans that we care about them,” said Rodriguez, who serves with Detachment C, 260th Military Intelligence Battalion. “It shows that we respect our host nation, and are very grateful that they have invited us here.”
The vast majority of the service members in Task Force Tropic are National Guard or Reserve on their annual training. Sears, who spent much of his career in the New Hampshire Air National Guard, knows first hand the value civilian skills bring to exercises like Beyond the Horizon.
“The Guard and Reserve are especially valuable for these kinds of missions,” Sears said. “We bring not only our military occupational specialties, but what we do on the civilian side.”
Although Task Force Tropic is made up of personnel from three different branches, the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen have been functioning as a cohesive unit for months, Spears said.
“We all have slightly different systems,” Spears said. “But once people get here, and have a commander, and understand the mission, the team pulls together.”
That team has worked on more than 10 construction projects and seen thousands of patients during medical and dental readiness exercises. Although the American military members might still see each other as belonging to different branches, to the locals, they all seem like one unit.
“Folks down here work as a total force,” Sears said. “The local people down here don’t see different uniforms. To them, we all represent the United States.”
| Date Taken: | 06.29.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.29.2012 23:05 |
| Story ID: | 90903 |
| Location: | NACO, HN |
| Web Views: | 204 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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