In the News: SWIFT Visits Colombia

U.S. Navy, Marine Corps Training Teams Arrive in Colombia
Posted On: Jan 27 2009 8:35AM
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Daniel Ball
Southern Partnership Station Public Affairs

CARTAGENA, Colombia (Jan. 26, 2009) – High speed vessel Swift (HSV 2) arrived here Sunday for the first of two instruction evolutions in Colombia during Southern Partnership Station (SPS).

Southern Partnership Station is an annual deployment of various specialty platforms to the U.S. Southern Command area of focus in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission goal is primarily information sharing with navies, coast guards, and civilian services throughout the region.

Training teams from Navy Expeditionary Training Command, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Marine Corps Training and Advisory Group began their courses Monday with students from the Colombian Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and National Police. The courses provide instruction in a variety of topics such as junior and senior enlisted leadership, port security and nonlethal weapons.

Training began Monday in classrooms set up on Swift and at Colombian military facilities.

"We’re teaching about 45 students about nonlethal weapons techniques,” said Marine Sgt. Geormon Elder from Douglasville, Ga. “They’ll learn about different ways of dealing with crowds and mobs. We’ll cover riot formations, hand to hand techniques, riot batons, crowd control munitions and pepper spray. The students will leave with a better understanding of crowd control and crowd dynamics, which helps promote safety and security.”

The Colombia stop comes on the heels of the SPS visit to Bridgetown, Barbados. While there, instructors taught 96 members of Barbados Royal Defense Forces and servicemembers from St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada on maritime topics including small arms marksmanship, port security, small boat repair and small boat coxswain techniques.

Colombia is the fifth stop for SPS. After Colombia, SPS is scheduled to visit Panama, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

The mission is coordinated through U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet (NAVSO/ 4th Fleet) with partner nations to meet their specific training requests. As the Naval Component Command of SOUTHCOM, NAVSO’s mission is to direct U.S. Naval Forces operating in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions and interact with partner nation navies within the maritime environment. Various operations include counter-illicit trafficking, Theater Security Cooperation, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, military-to-military interaction and bilateral and multinational training.

Fourth Fleet is the numbered fleet assigned to NAVSO, exercising operational control of assigned forces in the SOUTHCOM area of focus.

Article Source: http://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/news.php?storyId=1535