Colombia Assuming Instructor Role for Other Militaries
03.06.2011 at 11:03am
Colombia Assuming Instructor Role for Other Militaries by Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times. BLUF: “We have a lot to learn from Colombia. We’re now going through what they have experienced for the last 20 years,” the 27-year-old Garcia said later of the drug-fueled violence plaguing Mexico. “What Colombian pilots know about night missions, flying over difficult terrain, and participating in joint task forces is invaluable to us.”
We’ve looked at the idea of sending Colombian trainers to Central America, and at having Subject Matter Experts from certain Latin American countries join USAF Mobile Training Teams (we call them Cooperation Teams) on visits to Latin America, but we’ve have found that USG security assistance programs are extremely inflexible as they are structured to provide bilateral training by USG personnel only. The only way we have found to fund any such multinational assistance is through FMS cases. If anyone has thought of other funding alternatives, I would be very interested in hearing about them.
I can think of three possibilities: (1) Have the US forces host an extended duration combined exercise, where the US paid for the the attendees costs. You would only need a single FAO/RAS officer to act as oversight and the other countries could use it as a training opportunity. (2) Use SOCOM funds. They have a variety of waivers and special authorities to conduct foreign training, it may be possible to outsource some of the training to a non-US third party. (3) Lobby for and get awarded a special training fund for this purpose.