The US Southern Command sponsors a number of regionally oriented command post exercises and training seminars. The largest of these is the Fuerzas Aliadas series of command post exercise which brings together Caribbean and Central American security forces and provides training on regional responses and procedures for peacekeeping and disaster relief operations.
JTF-Bravo's primary mission is to conduct and support joint, combined and inter-agency operations in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to enhance regional cooperative security.
These objectives are accomplished largely through operations and exercises to develop personal and professional relations, reduce the threat of cross-border confrontations, structure permanent confidence-building measures, and build a common understanding of regional challenges.
Additionally, JTF-Bravo conducts and supports humanitarian and civic assistance, engineering and medical readiness exercises, as well as support to counterdrug operations.
Army South, stationed on Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, commands and controls Army involvement in theater engagement, contingency operations and counterdrug support throughout the Caribbean Island Nations, Central America and South America as a component to the U.S. Southern Command.
More than 135 Air Force and Army troops from Joint Task Force-Bravo joined almost 275 other U.S. and Central American participants in a multinational peacekeeping exercise May 20 to 31, 1995.
The exercise, Fuerzas Aliadas (Allied Forces) Central American Peacekeeping Operation (CENTAM '96 FA PKO) was hosted by the Honduran armed forces. Troops from Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the U.S. combined to study peacekeeping problems and solutions in the computer-simulated exercise.
The exercise scenario involved the fictitious country of Arcadia, which exercise planners said was experiencing devastating ethnic division resulting in economic collapse, armed conflict and other humanitarian problems.
As part of the exercise, the participants monitored cease-fire agreements, assisted Arcadian efforts to restore stability and conduct free elections and prepared the country for follow-on forces.
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