MIAMI --
From the early years of warfare, pride and military
service are seemingly synonymous, as the experience of U.S. Marine Corps Forces
South’s Security Cooperation Team continues to demonstrate.
For the past six months, the SC Team has traveled throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean training partner nation marine corps and naval
infantries in a variety of military classes and tactics.
The course structure the Marines provide is aligned
to accomplish the theater cooperation objectives of U.S. Southern Command.
According to Capt. Ryan Jarrell, the officer in
charge of SC Team 2, essentially what they provide to their partner nation
counterparts is the opportunity to “train the trainer.” This methodology is used to allow
partner-nation militaries to stand up in their own defense and to effectively
combat transnational organized crime, said Jarrell.
The
training starts with basic military knowledge and skills. Basic infantry tactics, patrolling, hand-to-hand
combat, marksmanship and first aid are just a few formal courses the SC Team
provides, said Jarrell.
“We’ve
got a lot of positive feedback from the Dominican Republic Commandant and the Marines
down there,” said Jarrell. “An officer
with [Guatemala’s Fuerzas Especiales Naval] said this
is the first time he has learned new skills that he hasn’t seen before.”
Jarrell said that this type of feedback is a good to have because some
of the units trained are either relatively young or have limited resources,
which limit their capabilities.
“The [Dominican Republic Marine Corps] is new and they typically don’t
have the ground experience,” said Jarrell.
Jarrell believes the skills his Marines provide will
help the partner nations train locate and close with their most immediate
threat—the narco-terrorist.
The SC Team’s first step in training partner nations
is not based from a manual, but from appearance and attitude, according to
Jarrell.
Jarrell
said that in each country they visit, his Marines talk to them about taking
pride in what they do for their country.
After
talking to the Marines from the Dominican Republic, Jarrell said that you could
see the change.
“One
day you would see them in different shirts and the next, they would still be in
different shirts, but in all the same color.
By the end of the week they were all in the same uniform,” said Jarrrell
From
simple uniformity to picking up on Marine Corps combat tactics, Jarrell’s
Marines saw a transition in their partner nation counterparts.
“It
is one of the proudest moments of my career,” said Jarrell. “That helps build their confidence and
pride.”
Jarrell said they training they provide and the
example his Marines set from Day One is what is expected of U.S. Marines. What surprised him most was not how well his
counterparts in the Dominican Republic or Guatemala had taken to the training,
but how their partners’ chests puff out a little more, and their formally
mismatched appearance changed to spit and polish as the training regiment
progressed.
“They
take a lot of pride in being the ones trained by the U.S. Marines,” added
Jarrell.
“It’s
a continuing effort. Every time we
engage, it’s been positive with the [Fuerzas Especiales Naval] and the Dominican
Republic,” said Jarrell. “The Dominicans
said we are brothers in arms, and they are proud to be serving with us.”
The
Security Cooperation Team has trained forces in more than five countries in the
last six months in an effort to build partner nation marine corps and naval
infantries’ capacity to counter transnational organize crime within the
region.
Editor’s Note: U.S. Marine
Forces South is the U. S. Marine Corps Service Component Command for U. S.
Southern Command. Commander MARFORSOUTH, commands all Marine forces assigned to
Commander, SOUTHCOM; advises the Commander, SOUTHCOM on the proper employment
and support of Marine forces; conducts deployment and redeployment planning and
execution of assigned, attached Marine forces; and accomplishes other
operational missions as assigned.
U.S. Marine Corps Forces South personnel are continuously engaged
in planning, coordinating, and executing the involvement of Marine forces in
Foreign Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief, Counter-Transnational
Organized Crime, and other operations and activities in support of U.S.
Southern Command theater strategic objectives.