Beyond the Horizon exercise begins in El Salvador

Photo By Mark Wyatt | U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Scott Simons transports equipment from a staging yard to the Tactical Operations Center on Detachment Military No. 6 as Roman Antonio Magana, left, holds opens the gate during Beyond the Horizon at Sonsonate, El Salvador, March 21, 2013. Beyond the Horizon is a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed, U.S. Southern Command-sponsored joint and combined field training humanitarian exercise in which troops specializing in engineering, construction and health care provide much-needed services to communities in need while receiving valuable deployment training and building important relationships with partner nations. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Mark Wyatt/Released)  

SONSONATE, EL SALVADOR

03.28.2013

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army South

By Tech. Sgt. Mark Wyatt
Beyond the Horizon Joint Task Force Jaguar Public Affairs

SONSONATE, El Salvador – After months of preparation, Joint Task Force Jaguar arrived in El Salvador along with more than 75 other service members to finalize plans for the comprehensive joint exercise, Beyond the Horizon El Salvador 2013.The effort of operations right now is ensuring the task force is prepared to meet mission requirements once units begin arriving.

“Our primary focus right now is preparing our life support system and getting our operations set-up so when rotational units begin arriving we can hit the ground running,” said Lt. Col. Raymond Valas, Joint Task Force Jaguar commander. “There are folks working all day and night to get this place operational. We have moved nearly 100 pieces of cargo from the port to DM6 (Military Detachment 6) over the past week, which is no small feat.”

Doing all that is a difficult process that requires a great deal of coordination by operations personnel.

“The operations staff is occupied ensuring containers and personnel are coordinated successfully,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Szczepkowski, operations noncommissioned officer for the task force. “Right now, personnel safety and successful transfer of containers are of the highest priority.”

Beyond the Horizon is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored, U.S. Army South-planned and led annual humanitarian and civic assistance exercise. The exercise provides construction and medical assistance to partner nations throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean. The exercise generally takes place in rural, underprivileged areas and is a major component of the U.S. military's regional engagement efforts and it affords a unique opportunity to train U.S. service members alongside partner nation personnel, while providing needed services to communities throughout the region.

• Date Taken: 03.28.2013
• Date Posted: 03.28.2013 10:41
• Story ID: 104230
• Location: SONSONATE, SV