United States Army South (ARSOUTH) is the proud land component of United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). The SOUTHCOM area of operations (AOR) consists of Central and South America and the Caribbean. There are plenty of challenges in our AOR, and ARSOUTH incorporates the Chief of Staff of the Army's five imperatives to remain an effective and relevant force in our region.
Adaptive Leaders for a Complex World
ARSOUTH conducts and supports multinational operations and security cooperation in the SOUTHCOM AOR. Working side-by-side with allies and multinational partners on a daily basis provides us the opportunity to educate and develop our Soldiers and civilians to grow the intellectual capacity to understand the complex, contemporary security environment. As a result we have better leaders for Army, joint, interagency and multinational task forces and teams.
ARSOUTH is SOUTHCOM's land domain lead in an area that encompasses 31 countries, 15 areas of special sovereignty and covers roughly 15.6 million square miles. This environment presents unique challenges such as under resourced armies, unequal wealth distribution, ungoverned areas and corruption. It also poses a unique combination of significant security issues: transnational organized crime, illicit networks, mass migration and natural disasters. Through low-cost multinational operations and security cooperation in the region, the U.S. Army counters transnational threats and strengthens regional security in defense of the homeland.
Countering transnational organized crime is a critical component of the U.S. government's coordinated interagency regional security strategy to obstruct these criminal organizations ability to exploit transshipment routes for the movement of narcotics, precursor chemicals, bulk cash, weapons and special interest aliens along shipping routes. Drug trafficking represents the preponderance of illicit trafficking in the Western Hemisphere and is the principal means by which transnational criminal organizations obtain funding and increased power and influence in the region. Central America is a conduit for a broader range of transnational threats, including human trafficking, migrant and weapons smuggling, gang violence, forgery, and money laundering, which increasingly exceed the capacity of partner nation police and security forces. Narco-organizations and related illicit trafficking present an unmistakable danger not just to the AOR, but also to our homeland.
Successfully bringing nations together for the greater good of the region is attributed to the years ARSOUTH and SOUTHCOM have spent building partnerships in the region. A prime example of this is our close cooperation with the Salvadoran military to build capacity within their intelligence battalions to support the disruption of illicit narcotics into the country. Such actions are developed through Army staff talks which play a vital role in shaping the environment, building partner capacity and strong relationships.
The command conducts annual staff talks with the armies of Brazil, Chile, El Salvador and Colombia. The program provides bilateral forums to discuss mutual objectives with partner nations and helps the command and Army assist our partner nations in developing a roadmap for the future. As a result, the Colombian army has enhanced their capacity and capability and is now key to export that capacity throughout the AOR. ARSOUTH also participates with a Peruvian army working group and has planned activities with Peru through the next several years. Strengthening relationships with partner nation's armies through these talks and the resulting agreements has lasting effects on security and stability throughout the hemisphere.
Globally Responsive/Regionally Engaged
The SOUTHCOM commander stressed having "strong partners is the cornerstone of our engagement strategy and is essential for our national security." Today, as a result of building strong partnerships in our AOR, we conduct operations, multinational training exercises, bilateral staff talks, subject matter exchanges and key leader engagements with partner nations, all of which ensure access necessary to strengthen security in the region, while meeting the leadership's main objective of shaping the environment.
As part of the CSA's vision to strengthen relationships and improve interoperability with partner nations, Army South uses the Military Personnel Exchange Program. The exchange of personnel between the U.S. and partner nation armies and attendance at schools of other nations strengthens alliances and coalition partners by building partner capacity and maintaining, and enhancing, relationships in support of the Army's global strategy.
The command maintains depth through regional alignment with active, national guard and reserve units. The 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Georgia Army National Guard is SOUTHCOM's regionally aligned force for FY14, and they have been superb in training and building capacity for Guatemalan and Honduran army units assigned to support counter illicit network operations.
ARSOUTH's regional efforts are integrated with and complemented by 19 National Guard State Partnership Program units that maintain enduring relationships with 22 counterparts in the AOR. This combination of active, national guard and reserve forces provide a scalable, flexible, agile and responsive team with unique professional skills and unmatched experience that are having a positive impact in the region.
Additionally, Installation Management Command is regionally aligned with ARSOUTH and offers us critical expertise in support at Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Joint Task Force-Bravo, Honduras. Maintaining an alignment that maximizes efficiency at these forward deployed base operations is necessary for successful mission accomplishment.
Through these alignments ARSOUTH is prepared to conduct contingency operations and humanitarian missions throughout the SOUTHCOM AOR. Its Soldiers and Civilians are ready to meet our nation's challenges and have the unique capability and versatility, as envisioned by the CSA, to be flexible in executing a variety of missions to include humanitarian assistance, medical support, migration support, and full-scale contingency operations.
Ready and Modern Army
Maintaining a ready and modern Army is essential for the ability of units to rapidly deploy, fight, sustain and win against complex threats. As the Army reduces its size, prioritizing where money is spent is crucial so we look toward future solutions.
ARSOUTH has the ability, within 48 hours, to deploy a scalable headquarters element anywhere within the AOR. Our early entry command post leverages technology and economy of forces to provide reach back to our Headquarters and SOUTHCOM. The forward deployed element has the ability to rapidly transition to a full JTF HQs if needed.
Additionally, ARSOUTH leverages science and technology by playing a key role in the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Forward Element Command known as RFEC Americas. Scientists and engineers assigned to RFEC Americas are stationed throughout the AOR, explore international collaboration opportunities in scientific research and technology development--opportunities that will potentially close capability gaps for our partner armies.
Soldiers Committed To Our Army Profession
As Army professionals we've been entrusted by the CSA to enforce an environment across our Army, free of harassment that promotes and respects the individual dignity of all Soldiers and civilians. We must preserve the trust all Soldiers place in their leaders and in their chain of command.
ARSOUTH focuses on Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention because Soldiers committed to our Army profession are committed to combating this issue. Our profession demands equal weight on character, commitment and competence which is reinforced at every level by continuous education and training. These values carry into every area of the Army.
Earlier this year the Sergeant Major of the Army met some of our superb professionals who support detainee operations at Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay when he visited. He said, "The mission here is absolutely critical. Troopers are down here demonstrating what's best for our country and are doing a thankless job." He's proud of them and so am I. Despite attempts by some of the detainees to bait them, these incredibly disciplined Soldiers remind us all of the importance of remaining professional and taking the moral high ground.
Premier All Volunteer Force
"The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth," said Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. With conscripted military service ending more than 40 years ago, our nation has faced challenges and costs of an all-volunteer force but today's all-volunteer Army is a professional, well-trained force, as is our civilian workforce.
With proposed changes to the Army force structure we must retain the best personnel throughout the total force. Each play a critical role in supporting security cooperation and training. For example, as part of their annual training, military from the Missouri Air and Army National Guard provided engineer support to the command at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. Military from units in St. Louis and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. improved engineer plans to support a GITMO contingency operation. Their analysis helped determine necessary logistical, manpower and monetary needs for a humanitarian operation. This mission ran concurrently with the ARSOUTH-led, SOUTHCOM-sponsored Integrated Advance exercise, a biennial event involving more than 500 people that supports the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State in a mass migration crisis scenario.
The bottom line is ARSOUTH remains ready to meet the challenges in the SOUTHCOM AOR. Our most important resource remains our Soldiers and their ability to be adaptive, responsive, ready and committed. ARSOUTH Soldiers, coupled with our civilian teammates, validate our motto "Juntos Podemos" (together we can)!
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