Photo By Staff Sgt. Tristan Biese | Members from the General Directorate of Civil Protection present their work during the...... read more read more
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Members from Joint Task Force-Bravo, including El Salvador members from the fire brigade, military, national civil police, Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Civil Protection, Preparation and Response Department, and several other agencies, gathered in San Salvador, El Salvador to conduct a two-day humanitarian assistance and disaster relief tabletop exercise named Jaguar Sentinel, previously named Sentinel Watch.
Jaguar Sentinel is a tabletop exercise aimed at maintaining partnerships within the Central America region, exchanging subject matter expertise in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and bringing partner nations together to collaborate in one combined exercise.
“A big portion for us is to sit and watch how the host nation initially responds and then build on their response so that we can educate ourselves on where we can fit,” said U.S. Army Maj. Frank Glutting, JTF-Bravo deputy director for civil military operations. “But then for their side, they get exposure to what it's like to work with U.S. military personnel. So we provide that avenue for them to do that, which then helps their internal responses and mitigates the need for external aid ultimately reduces the loss of life and damage.”
The exercise involved several experts from El Salvador along with JTF-Bravo members to work together on a simulated earthquake that registered a 7.3 on the Richter Scale. Across four hours of time within the scenario the earthquake caused severe damage to infrastructure, fires, mudslides and communications capabilities.
“It has been shown that the more you exercise a plan, the better the plan,” Glutting said. “But with [exercises] like Jaguar Sentinel, when we get the host nation together and they practice their plan, they are able to see what works, what doesn't and what they need to add to it.”
Day one started off with participants presenting on their capabilities and fielding questions to strengthen everyone's knowledge on crisis response. Day two, members broke off into three teams where they discussed their standard operating procedures on how to respond to the scenario and learned from each other on how to better operate together during a complex emergency or disaster.
“This exercise is very important because we need many priorities related to the preparation and response to every emergency in El Salvador,” said Luis Alonso Amaya, Director General de Protección Civil. “This exercise represents a great opportunity to strengthen our capabilities, to share knowledge, to share experience and to share new forms to develop responses during emergencies. It is the best tool for solving problems. This is an opportunity to talk, to establish future links of coordination and, to be able to give continuity to each of the tasks that within the framework of the National Plan of Civil Protection is mandated to each of the institutions. I definitely want to thank the Joint Task Force-Bravo.”
JTF-Bravo is the U.S. Southern Command’s regional presence and is committed to supporting their partners through humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions to help save lives and promote security throughout the region – and exercises such as Jaguar sentinel allow JTF-Bravo to do just that.
| Date Taken: | 02.12.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.18.2025 17:11 |
| Story ID: | 490974 |
| Location: | SAN SALVADOR, SV |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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