By accomplishing the dual objectives of providing indispensable training for U.S. military personnel and furthering U.S. and host nation security goals through peacetime engagement, engineering exercise provide simultaneously for the readiness of U.S. forces for any contingency operations (including natural disaster relief assistance) and promote democracy in a region whose stability is vital to the United States.

SUCCESS IN EL SALVADOR IN 1993-1994 (AFTER ITS CIVIL WAR) AND BEYOND 

Following the conclusion of El Salvador's 12-year bloody civil war with the 1992 Peace Accords, the U.S. military began to conduct humanitarian engineering exercises in that country beginning in early 1993, at the invitation of the El Salvadoran government, as part of the reconstruction of the worn-torn infrastructure of that country. 

In February-April 1993, the Panama-based 536th Engineer Battalion (under U.S. Army South, Southern Command's Army component)  conducted -- for the first time in that country -- a small scale engineering deployment for training with Salvadoran armed forces.  With it having been well received, the Southern Command conducted a much larger two-phased Fuertes Caminos/Strong Roads combined engineering training exercise with El Salvador's Armed Forces and civilian organizations in response to a request by the government of that country.

In addition to supporting the process of democratization in Central America), the two-phase exercise's main objectives were to promote and assist in the development of El Salvador's economic infrastructure heavily damaged by the civil war and to conduct joint engineer training and humanitarian civic action programs, including the construction of 20 schools, 20 health clinics, and 7 water wells.  The first phase was conducted August to December 1993 by the U.S. Army South's 536th Engineer Battalion. The second phase was conducted May to August 1994, also by the 536th Engineer Battalion supported by units deployed from the United States. The  was coordinated by the Salvadoran ministers of health and economy and the National Association of Aqueducts and Sewers.

Despite some trepidations in the planning of the exercise, it was well received by the Salvadoran people who saw their government's armed forces, working with the U.S. military, in peaceful civil action projects for the benefit of the residents in the areas covered by the exercise.  Even one of the former guerrilla commanders (who was elected to the Salvadoran legislature following conclusion of the Peace Accords), after visiting one of the exercise sites early on, observed publicly that he felt that the exercise was providing great benefits for the people of El Salvador.  He only wished, he added, that the work could have been done by Salvadorans even though he felt the U.S. military were doing good deeds.

The U.S. military was invited back to El Salvador to conduct similar joint and combined exercises in 1995.  As noted in Chart 2 the exercise program has continued in El Salvador since then.

GUATEMALA

Also in 1993, HCA engineering exercises began in Guatemala, another Central American country which was ravaged by the longest civil war in Latin American history (from 1960 to December 1996 when a peace agreement was signed).  A Fuertes Caminos/Strong Roads exercise was conducted after inauguration of Ramiro de Leon Carpio as president followed by similar exercises in 1994 and 1995. A scheduled 1999 Nuevos Horizontes/New Horizons exercise for Guatemala was folded into a massive disaster relief effort in 1999 to four Central American countries following Hurricane Mitch (see below).  Additional New Horizons exercises were conducted in Guatemala in 2001, 2003, and 2004.

FIASCO IN COLOMBIA DEC 1993-FEB 1994

ROUTINE EXERCISES QUICKLY SWITCHED TO MASSIVE DISASTER RELIEF IN 1998-1999

Years of routine military engineer training exercises paid off big time in late 1998 and throughout much of 1999 as the U.S. military was tasked to be a major part of the massive U.S. disaster relief effort provided to Central America and the Caribbean area hit by the worst natural disasters in their history.  In the wake of devastating Hurricanes Georges (Sept 1998 which ravaged northeast Caribbean, particularly the Dominican Republic) and Mitch (Oct 1998 which did much of the same in Central America), Southern Command's planned New Horizons 1999 exercise program was quickly and significantly expanded to provide additional hurricane recovery relief to the nations that suffered the worst of the 1998 hurricane season.-- Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Originally planned for Honduras and Guatemala calling for about 4,000 troops, at a cost of $34 million, New Horizons 1999 scope was increased to more than 20,000 active-duty, National Guard and Military Reserve service members with costs increased to some $70 million. The U.S. Servicemen and women came from units in more than 45 states, Puerto Rico, territories and the District of Columbia, and Panama-based U.S. military units still in Panama at that time.  Projects conducted by the U.S. military in conjunction with host-nation military and civilian personnel included constructing medical clinics and schools, drilling water wells to provide safe drinking water for communities and providing civil engineer support and general medical care in the devastated areas.

In addition, military personnel rescued more than one thousand people trapped by flood waters and provided medical care and immunizations to over 35,000 people. They cleared major roads and bypasses, as well as erecting prefabricated bridges.

At the same time, U.S. military aircraft, including 53 helicopters, were deployed throughout the region to assist distribution and delivered more than 3.2 million pounds of food and more than 500,000 gallons of water.  In all, the U.S. military transported to the region almost 8 million pounds of food, clothing, medicine and other relief items donated by American citizens. [The White House, "The United States Responds to Hurricane Mitch, February 16, 1999]

Then Secretary of Defense William Cohen later noted of the military effort "The U.S. responded quickly and efficiently to help Central American nations deal with the devastation of Hurricane Mitch. Reserve forces played a key role in this humanitarian mission. They are an integral part of a Total Force solution to help our Latin American neighbors get back on their feet."

As shown in the following tables (listing the exercises by countries and years), this U.S. military humanitarian assistance program continues robustly today and well received..

In a region of scarce resources, these HCA engineering and medical exercises have significantly benefited countless people in remote areas of Central and South America and the Caribbean, while enhancing the capabilities of the U.S. Armed Forces -- principally the Army and Air National Guards and the Reserves (Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine), as well as active duty units and personnel -- to deploy and train in foreign environments in furthering U.S. and allied nations' national interests.