Photo By Vanessa Adame | Maj. Jose Ricardo Gastiaburu, 837th Training Squadron, gestures with his hands during...... read more read more
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --
One can say Maj. Jose Ricardo Gastiaburu of the Inter-American Air Forces Academy, has had military blood coursing through his veins his entire life. He grew up in Lima, Peru, immersed in a military environment as the son of a military officer, surrounded by numerous relatives serving in the Peruvian Air Force.
Like many children of military parents, Gastiaburu spent his childhood on a military base – accustomed to the sight of military aircraft flying overhead.
“My brothers and I would see my father at work, and it helped us understand his passion for the military, his passion for service, and his love of the country,” Gastiaburu recalled.
At 17 years old, Gastiaburu and his friends – all sons of military officers – joined the Peruvian Air Force. More than one year later, as a sophomore at the air force academy in his country, Gastiaburu received a scholarship to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. In June 2008, he and 14 other international students joined a class of approximately 1,200 students at USAFA. It was his first time in the United States.
“My time there was amazing, I learned a lot,” Gastiaburu said. More than a decade later, he’s returned to work with the USAF as a Partner Nation Instructor for IAAFA, It’s a long way from when he first stepped foot in the US in 2008. Prior to that, his knowledge of the U.S. military had been limited to watching action movies on television.
“I found it was different than what television showed. The most complicated thing was trying to understand people and what they meant,” Gastiaburu said. “I remember being confused when leaders said, ‘sound off,’ I thought it meant don’t talk, but I later learned it meant ‘speak up.’”
Gastiaburu credits the sponsor family he was assigned to for helping him navigate the challenges associated with life at the Air Force Academy. He leaned on them, as well as other foreign students and his U.S. classmates to learn English. He graduated from USAFA in 2012 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and a deeper understanding of the importance of building partnerships with countries across the globe.
“Attending the Air Force Academy is an investment from Peru and the U.S.,” he said. “It serves to produce international military officers, so we can go back to our home countries and serve as a link between our country and the U.S.”
The relationships built at USAFA proved helpful a few years ago, when a U.S. military aircraft experienced unexpected mechanical issues while in Peru. The pilot of the aircraft recognized Gastiaburu as a fellow U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and reached out to him for assistance. Gastiaburu helped put him in contact with members who could help, and in turn, saved time and money to get the aircraft operational again.
“That is my goal,” Gastiaburu said. “That students who come to IAAFA can form bonds with instructors and fellow classmates so that later, if the time comes that someone needs assistance from our U.S. or Latin American partners here, they can get that help.”
Gastiaburu’s experience at the Air Force Academy also paved the way for him to work in a variety of key roles in maintenance, manufacturing, marketing and training – in Peru and in different countries as a representative of the Peruvian Air Force.
Today, as a Partner Nation Instructor at the Inter-American Air Forces Academy, he helps lead the Aircraft Maintenance Officer Course, teaching international military students from Partner Nations in his native language.
“I consider myself an asset because I understand how South America works,” Gastiaburu said. “So, I can communicate in English with IAAFA personnel, with the U.S. Air Force, and I can make these links to help the Air Force understand how South America is organized, what are the expectations, how they can reach them and communicate what's important to them. I can also help South America understand the perspective of the United States Air Force and what the expectation is. This is how you play a part in this big security cooperation role.”
As he walks the halls at IAAFA, more than 3,000 miles away from his home country in Peru, he’s also following the path his father once walked as a student here in the late 90s. Although the younger Gastiaburu is carving out his own path, he reflects on the lessons he learned from his father.
“I actually learned how to be a military member and a professional by seeing him every day, and even the way he put on his uniform,” Gastiaburu said. “Riding along in his car with him to work I saw how he treated younger officers, enlisted members and civilian employees — he treated everyone with respect, no matter who they were.”
Like his father, Gastiaburu is working to leave a legacy. In the two years he’s been at IAAFA, he has earned top awards such as Company Grade Officer of the Squadron in 2023 and Company Grade Officer of the Group that same year, then competed at the wing level in 2023. He’s also briefed high-ranking officials from the U.S. and Partner Nations and continues to build bridges in security cooperation.
“I want to go back into an instructor role and impart back everything that I've learned,” Gastiaburu said. “So maybe in the future there will be another Major Gastiaburu here in 10 years coming from Peru, with all the good preparation to continue the work I started, and to continue to strengthen the relationship between Peru and the U.S. and our Latin American allies.”
The Inter-American Air Forces Academy is part of the 37th Training Wing. IAAFA teaches professional military education, technical training and aircrew training. It is the only Air Force institution that teaches courses in Spanish to more than 23 partner nations across the Western Hemisphere.
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.24.2024 15:43 |
| Story ID: | 476929 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USAFA grad enhances security cooperation between U.S. and Latin America as Partner Nation Instructor, by Vanessa Adame, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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