Latin America and the Caribbean send their top forces to compete in Fuerzas Comando 2010

Paraguayan Special operations team members carry an inflatable Zodiac boat, which weighs more than 450 pounds, for 400 meters during the Fuerzas Comando aquatic event. [SGT. SHANE HAMANN/U.S. ARMY]

A Dominican Republic Special operations member begins the swimming portion of the Fuerzas Comando aquatic event, one of the most challenging physical and psychological exercises. [SGT. JOEL WAGNER/U.S. ARMY]

A Trinidad and Tobago Special operations Soldier fires his weapon during a critical skills evaluation exercise. [ISIDRO P. ALMONTE/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PUBLIC AFFAIRS]

Latin America and the Caribbean send their top forces to compete in Fuerzas Comando 2010

The lush tropical nation of the Dominican Republic served as the backdrop for Fuerzas Comando 2010, an elite competition between top military and police Special Forces teams in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Amid gunfire, close-quarters combat, a rucksack march and the echoing of combat boots on a 5-mile run, the best Soldiers from the region built camaraderie and honed their skills in team competitions.

In its seventh year, the U.S. Southern Commandsponsored event was hosted by the Dominican Republic and featured special operations military and police teams from Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Uruguay.

In its seventh year, the U.S. Southern Commandsponsored event was hosted by the Dominican Republic and featured special operations military and police teams from Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Uruguay.

Ecuador was the overall winner of the tactical competition, which was composed of a grueling regimen that required physical strength, endurance and a high level of special operations expertise. The Dominican Republic finished in second place, and El Salvador finished third in the competition.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Hector E. Pagan, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command South, and Brig. Gen. Pablo Cavallo Feliz, 1st Infantry Brigade commander for the Dominican Republic Army, presided over the award ceremony to bestow trophies and medals to the winners and to congratulate the participants in the tactical skills competition.

“I am convinced that all of you will depart with great memories of this event and you will always be welcomed in our country,” Cavallo told participants. “You will leave satisfied knowing that you are working for the greater good.”

Special Forces teams from 18 nations stand in formation during the opening ceremony of Fuerzas Comando. [SGT. 1ST CLASS ALEX LICEA/SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND SOUTH]

A member of a sniper team sets his sights on a target during the Fuerzas Comando sniper evaluation. [FUERZAS COMANDO COMBINED PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE]

Many regional threats such as kidnapping, international gangs, terrorism and drug trafficking are transnational by nature and cannot be defeated by traditional military means alone. Cooperation with regional partners in exercises and competitions such as Fuerzas Comando paves the way for combined operations in the future and helps militaries develop the skills and abilities needed to defeat common threats. To address the growth of these dangers in the region, the exercise also included an executive leadership seminar focusing on terrorism and fighting transnational threats.

Initiated in 2004, the Fuerzas Comando exercise is a friendly competition designed to promote militaryto- military partnerships, increase training knowledge and improve regional security. The two-week competition tests the skills of each country’s team in techniques and procedures with assault team and sniper competitions. The competition also tests participants’ physical and psychological endurance.

The sniper team exercise consisted of five events that included physical fitness tests, marksmanship, shoot-and-move, range estimation, and stalk-and-shoot drills. To make one of the sniper team exercises more stressful and simulate real-life situations, obstacles identified as noncombatants were placed in the vicinity of the shooter’s target. Soldiers started in the standing position with their rifles and transitioned to pistols as the event advanced — something that proved to be tough for many of the competitors.

“Most people think it’s easy if they shoot one weapon, but transitioning from one to the other really makes you think,” a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Special Operations team said.

The assault team exercise consisted of a series of events that included physical fitness tests, a confidence course, close-quarters combat, a rucksack march, an aquatic event and an obstacle course.

“We see Fuerzas Comando not only as a competition but as training and the bringing of troops from the Western Hemisphere together in unity and working in one cause for the good of each country,” a Brig. Gen. Pablo Cavallo Feliz Jamaican Defense officer said.