One of the most popular of the U.S. military’s programs in Latin America and in the Caribbean in terms of having significant impact on the local people in remote areas and economy of many countries has been humanitarian engineering exercises conducted by active-duty military units and tens of thousands of citizen-soldiers of the Army and Air National Guard and Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Reserve forces from all over the United States since 1984 under the aegis of the U.S. Southern Command.  Such exercises (conducted under various names, primarily "Fuertes Caminos/Strong Roads" and "Nuevos Horizontes/New Horizons" are humanitarian and civil assistance missions designed to provide meaningful real-world training for the National Guard and Reserve forces as well as foster goodwill and improve relations between the United States and the nations in the region.  

BEGINNINGS

The genesis of this highly successful military exercise program was due to the efforts of General Paul Gorman, commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command (1983-1985) and his Army component commander, then Brigadier  General Fred F. Woerner, commanding general of the 193d Infantry Brigade (Panama) (1982-1986, later SouthCom commander in chief (1987-1989).  It was also the first major expansion of the Army's new Partnership program implemented in late 1979 calling for Army National Guard units to be paired with active-duty Army units for training, exercises,  and other purposes.  Southern Command's Army component -- 193d Infantry Brigade (Panama) -- was one of the first Army units in this pilot program and was paired with 53rd Infantry Brigade of the Florida Army National Guard and the 92d Infantry Brigade of the Puerto Rico Army National Guard in December 1979. 

The first engineering exercise was originally planned for Costa Rica in early 1984. However, the Costa Rican national legislature did not approve the exercise (only a few weeks before it was to begin) shortly after a U.S. official in Washington, D.C., inadvertently used the term "combat engineers" in a press conference explaining the exercise.  Very shortly thereafter, Panama agreed to host the exercise. 

Thus the new exercise program -- the first unit-size engineering exercise and the first time Army National Guard units deployed to Latin America -- began in late January 1984 in Panama with the construction of an initial part of a farm-to-market road in the western part of Veraguas Province in Panama, stretching from Mariato and Ponuga near the Inter-American Highway south to Quebro and Arenas. About 750 members of the Puerto Rico Army National Guard and Florida Army National Guard made up the Joint Task Force commanded by Colonel William Navas of the Puerto Rico Army National Guard that participated in the first phase.  The road with 14 bridges was completed in 1985 by about 10,000 Army National Guard personnel principally from Puerto Rico and Florida National Guards and other Guard units from several other states.  Most of the personnel rotated into Panama for their annual two-week Guard training, with about 750 in Panama at any one time.   

FIRST ENGINEERING EXERCISE CONDUCTED IN LATIN AMERICA 1984-1985 IN PANAMA

CONGRESS LEGISLATES HUMANITARIAN AND CIVIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

In 1985, Congress authorized such assistance within the regional commands (such as the Southern Command) to help build or repair a country's infrastructure (e.g., roads, clinics, and schools) and provide limited health care to rural populations. That action was attributable in part to growing U.S. interest in events in Latin America (including the insurgency in El Salvador and the Contra war in Nicaragua) and in part to the civil war in Afghanistan,  The National Security Council asked the Department of Defense (DoD) to study ways the U.S. military could provide nonlethal assistance to factions believed to be in support of democracy. The Secretary of Defense initiated a study that concluded that DoD assistance for certain humanitarian assistance activities would be appropriate ( "Role of the DoD in Humanitarian Assistance" Hearing, House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services, April 19, 1994,Washington, DC: USGPO, 1995, p.50).  Establishing the Humanitarian and Civic Assistance (HCA) program under Title 10, United States Code, Congress recognized the need for an interagency approach to an essentially military program, since clearly the aid provided went far beyond strictly military relationships into sectors of civil society that were within the purview of the Ambassador and the Department of State. The basic law permitted military HCA under two conditions: the assistance must advance the security interests of both the United States and the host nation, and it must also enhance the operational skills of the military members involved. Beyond that, to ensure interagency planning, coordination and cooperation, the lawmakers wrote guidelines mandating Secretary of State approval of HCA activities in foreign countries and requiring that the HCA complement (but not duplicate) other United States government assistance, and that it meet the basic socio-economic needs of the local populace. It provided for HCA, and the money that went with it, for use in civilian projects only, specifically forbidding its use for "…any individual, group, or organization engaged in military or paramilitary operations. (From Text of United States Code Title 10, Chapter 20, Section 401.) 

The Southern Command fully embraced HCA. It proved an effective, efficient way for SouthCom to engage Latin American militaries, building up bilateral relationships while meeting its stated theater strategic objectives. The Command found that working in conjunction with an allied nation's government to build needed infrastructure directly contributed towards its objectives of strengthening democratic institutions and supporting continued economic and social progress. Working side by side with allied military engineers and/or appropriate civilian agencies. United States military engineers would demonstrate by their example the proper roles of professional military forces in democratic societies. Extensive use of citizen-soldiers of the U.S. National Guard of virtually all the states and the Reserves over time further emphasized the importance of that message.

These engineering exercises conducted in Latin America and -- since July 1997 -- also in the Caribbean area, like other Department of Defense exercises conducted in the region, are directed by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and sponsored by the Southern Command (based in Panama until September 1997, in Miami since then). (Prior to 1997, such exercises conducted in the Caribbean were sponsored by the then U.S. Atlantic Command, headquartered at Norfolk, Virginia, which until the 1996 change in the Joint Chiefs of Staff Unified Command Plan, had operational responsibility for U.S. military activities in that area.)  Following invitation by the host nation government through the U.S. ambassador, each exercise is approved by the U.S. Department of State, Department of Defense, and the host nation involved, and supports the U.S. Ambassador’s Country Plan objectives in the host nation. (The Director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency is the DoD approval authority for all HCA projects coordinated through the interagency.)  Each such exercise must promote the security interests of both the United States and the country in which the activities are to be carried out; and the specific operational readiness skills of the members of the armed forces who participate in the activities.

This long-standing training and humanitarian program has long represented an outstanding opportunity for the U.S. military and Reserve Component (National Guard and Reserve) units to receive excellent real-world training (the primary required objective from the U.S. perspective) in planning for and deploying overseas and setting up and operating in remote, austere areas, working closely with host nation military and/or civilian government agencies in horizontal and vertical construction projects, and redeploying to their home stations after completion of the projects.. Medical specialists, an integral part of such exercises, provide basic medical care to the units involved in the exercise and help people who have compelling needs. Such projects have touched the lives of thousands of people in remote areas of Latin America and, more recently, also the Caribbean area by opening remote areas to new markets (through farm-to-market roads and bridges) and providing routine, but much needed medical, dental, and veterinary services (the latter through concurrent medical readiness training exercises).  

Since 1984, more than 100,000 Reserve Component (Army and Air National Guards and Army, air Force and Navy Reserves) and more than 10,000 active duty military personnel from throughout the United States and (until 1997 some from Panama-based units) have rotated in and out of Latin America to conduct engineering-oriented and related support training, most of them for their two weeks of annual active duty training. As a by-product of their training and construction activities, new or repaired farm-to-market and other access roads and new or repaired bridges, schools, medical clinics, sanitation facilities and water wells are left for the benefit of the most needy people of the host nations involved.