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Southern Partnership Station 13 Concludes in Guatemala, Next Stop Honduras

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS130401-04
4/1/2013

Air Force Master Sgt. Chris Stagner, Southern Partnership Station 13 public affairs

SANTO TOMAS DE CASTILLA, Guatemala (NNS) -- Southern Partnership Station 2013, a 4th Fleet initiative designed to strengthen civil and maritime capabilities with regional partner nations in the Caribbean and Central and South America, ended three weeks of joint training and partnership building here April 1.

Sailors and Marines worked closely with their host-nation counterparts in the areas of explosive ordnance disposal, land navigation, live-fire exercises, river operations and arrest procedures.

The sharing of information and field exercises allowed U.S. and Guatemalan service members to improve their joint tactics.

"Regional challenges require cooperative solutions," said Cmdr. Bob Poling, SPS 13 mission commander. "We're being provided the opportunity by our friends here to develop and test regional civil and maritime capabilities while keeping open vital lines of communication."

The service members attached to SPS 13 took their work in country beyond the scope of military operations. Seabees from Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202 supported Guatemala and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's ability to counter maritime drug trafficking in the region.

The Seabees, with their ability to work as a self-sustaining engineering force, bring resources and capabilities to improve infrastructures that can't be found in Guatemala, said a DEA special agent in charge of maritime interdiction.

Now that the mission is complete in Guatemala, service members supporting SPS 13 will move forward to Honduras.

"We'll continue the successful trips we've had to Belize and Guatemala during this SPS into the Honduran leg of our mission," said Poling. "We're excited to continue positively highlighting U.S. support to our partners in the Caribbean and Central and South America and improving our ability to support regional maritime security."

COMUSNAVSO/COMFOURTHFLT supports U.S. Southern Command joint and combined full-spectrum military operations by providing principally sea-based, forward presence to ensure freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain, to foster and sustain cooperative relationships with international partners and to fully exploit the sea as maneuver space in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.