I never thought they were
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Schmedlap
...I am surprised to see DC at the top. I knew that there was a drug problem in DC, but I always figured that they were smoking crack, judging by the legislation.
that refined...:mad:
Colombia Confronts Drug Lord’s Legacy: Hippos
Colombia Confronts Drug Lord’s Legacy: Hippos, by Simon Romero. The New York Times, September 10, 2009.
Quote:
DORADAL, Colombia — Even in Colombia, a country known for its paramilitary death squads, this hunting party stood out: more than a dozen soldiers from a Colombian Army battalion, two Porsche salesmen armed with long-range rifles, their assistant, and a taxidermist.
They stalked Pepe through the backlands of Colombia for three days in June before executing him in a clearing about 60 miles from here with shots to his head and heart. But after a snapshot emerged of soldiers posing over his carcass, the group suddenly found itself on the defensive.
As it turned out, Pepe — a hippopotamus who escaped from his birthplace near the pleasure palace built here by the slain drug lord Pablo Escobar — had a following of his own.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...hippo2_650.jpg
Pepe bears a resemblance to his owner.
Colombia, FARC & insurgency (merged thread)
I recently returned from an interesting visit to Colombia. The government is working to consolidate its gains against the FARC and establish government services in formerly lawless areas. Colombia has developed the Policy for the Consolidation of Democratic Security (http://www.mindefensa.gov.co/descarg...c_Security.pdf) which is supported by the United States’ Colombian Strategic Development Initiative.
Both plans focus on delivering enduring economic opportunity and government services to formerly ungoverned or FARC controlled regions. Both plans shift resources from the primarily security heavy efforts of the last decade while maintaining extremely successful and unrelenting intelligence based targeting of the FARC leadership. With continued US support and Colombian political will, Colombia could prove to be an example of successful government consolidation following an internal conflict.
General Freddy Padilla de Leon’s analysis “Beyond Victory: The Future of the Armed Forces of Colombia” also provides some interesting insights into the way forward in Colombia. http://www.world-military.net/IMG/pd...RY_padilla.pdf
Developing the Colombian military
Mike,
Good catch and although rather laudatory in places I liked the following:
Quote:
Our vision is to develop men and women in our armed services with this exceptional character:
* We need the future members of the military class to be thinkers. This is the only alternative, not only so that they will have the necessary criteria for making good operational decisions, but also so that they can deal with a strategic scenario that is characterized by a growing uncertainty.
* We also want officers and soldiers to share a solid military ethic as the only response for guaranteeing legitimacy in the context of the dramatic dilemmas inherent to war.
* We require Colombian officers to behave as doubly excellent citizens who are capable of setting an example for their countrymen while being aware of their duty to their service.
* Moreover, we expect armed service officers to develop an informed vision of the world and discernment to be able to assume the role of defense intellectuals capable of understanding society’s security needs beyond the current conjuncture.
* We demand that armed forces members be imbued with the character of leaders who can conduct the institution in battle, and also lead it and make it grow in times of peace.
* As is natural, the officer corps must incarnate military ethics such as discipline, determination, and the values that make them the nation’s greatest resource at the times of greatest difficulty.
I wonder if TRADOC have read the speech?
davidbfpo
The famous/infamous NCO problem
The is heresy for all my SF friends. Latin America doesn't have an NCO problem. It also doesn't lack a middle class, so that isn't the source of the civil service problem.
Back to NCOs. What the LATAM militaries lack is a first level supervisor. We use NCOs for that purpose. The Soviets and the LATAM militaries used/use junior officers. In LATAM the problem was too few LTs and a culture that said/says that officers don't get their hands dirty. El Salvador never solved the problem during the war and few, if any, LATAM militaries have.
John Waghelstein tried to solve the problem with an OCS course that produced a lot of LTs but ran into the problem of the regular officers not seeing the OCS products as real officers and seeing them as a threat. So, that approach died. Nobody ever tried my proposed solution which was to create a class of Warrant Officers - the requirement would have been a high school diploma and reserve, not regular status. This would have taken advantage of El Salvador's middle class...
Cheers
JohnT