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HSV 2 Swift Teams with Chile During Southern Partnership Station 2011

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS101129-01
11/29/2010

From High Speed Vessel 2 Swift Public Affairs

CONCEPCION, Chile (NNS) -- High Speed Vessel Swift (HSV 2) arrived in Valaparaiso, Chile, Nov. 27 to participate in Expo Naval, Nov. 29–Dec. 2.

The embarked crew of Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force personnel are in the middle of a five-month subject matter expert exchange (SMEE's), information sharing venture and joint operations exchange with local military and government agencies in support of (SPS) 2011.

Sailors from Maritime Civil Affairs Security Training Team, Navy Medical Training and Field Operations Team, and Marines from Marine Training and Advisory Group and a Marine Engineering Regiment have participated in classroom sessions and practical field application sessions in the nine-nation mission.

The training sessions have included small arms firing, field medical operations, practical self-defense courses, vehicle inspection training and variety of joint military and medical training exercises.

"We are focused on knowledge and expertise exchanges, as well as the opportunity for joint operations with our partner nations to improve and strengthen our communication and working relationships," said SPS 2011 Mission Commander, Cmdr. Mark A. Becker. "We are committed to enhancing these relationships, and this visit displays that commitment."

The complement of service members embarked on Swift are scheduled to conduct training and subject matter expert exchanges with partner nations in Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru.

SPS is an annual deployment of U.S. ships to the U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility in the Caribbean and Latin America. The mission's primary goal is information-sharing with navies, coast guards and civilian services throughout the region.

Commander, U.S. Navy Forces Southern Command (COMUSNAVSO) is the naval component command for U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) and is responsible for all naval personnel and assets in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.

COMUSNAVSO conducts a variety of missions in support of the U.S. maritime strategy, including theater security cooperation, relationship building, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, community relations, and counter-illicit trafficking operations.