Nosotros110324

Serving the U.S. Southern Command military family in South Florida, the Caribbean, Central and South America and the surrounding seas

Volume 1 Issue 5 March 24, 2011

— N E W S —Quality of Life ................ p2

Flags at 1/2 Mast ............ p3

Homebuyer Credit ........ p3

NEO from Japan ............ p3

Eye Surgery Expert ...... p5

Fused Response ............. p8

Cigarette Butts ........... p10

S E C T I O N SFeedback INFO .................. p2Around the Americas ........ p6After Hours ........................ p7

Child Development Center To Open March 28

Tradewinds is an annual exercise composed of more than 20 na-tions designed to enhance stabil-ity and security in the Caribbean.See the story on page 10.

Arthur McQueenUSAG-Miami Public Affairs

U.S. Southern Command hosted the an-nual meeting of the U.S. National Section, Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH), at the Conference Cen-ter of the Americas, on March 10-11.

The meeting took an interesting turn when news of the severe earthquake in Ja-pan was heard early Friday morning.

NOSOTROS was fortunate enough to interview Bruce Presgrave, Geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. and ask him about his office’s role in assessing the potential effects of the quake.

“I am the supervisor of the group that does the 24/7 earthquake monitoring,” he said. “It was my group that was responsi-ble for reviewing this earthquake and get-

ting out the initial information.”The USGS’ role is to start the pro-

cess of notification, relief and recovery, get the information out quickly, perform an ac-curate assessment of the severity of the event and determine if it can be handled by local re-sources, or needs na-tional or international assistance.

Presgrave was not called back to Colorado “since I was already here. I had a quiet night – but my cell phone was going nuts.”

“SOUTHCOM is a major beneficiary of PAIGH research in the area of natural disasters, a critical part of the command’s mission,” said Dr. Bradley Coleman, SOUTHCOM historian and member of the U.S. National Section.

How big is big?The quake in Haiti seemed much dif-

ferent in effect. NOSOTROS asked why some quakes generate tsunamis and others

don’t? Why isn’t S. Fla. underwater?“In the first place the Haiti quake was much smaller. It was a magnitude 7 (on the Richter scale), this earthquake was

an 8.9,” he said.If you are rating good

looks, that might sound like a matter of opinion,

but on the logarithmic Richter scale, the difference is

significant. “Every factor of ten differences from say, magnitude

7 to 8,” Presgrave said, “is ten times the amplitude on a seismograph – but it is 30 to 33 times the energy. So another way of thinking about it is, an “8” is effectively 33 magnitude 7 quakes all wrapped up into one.”

Quake Rocks PAIGH Conference

... see QUAKE, page 4

Arthur McQueenUSAG-Miami Public Affairs

DORAL, Fla. -- U.S. Army Garrison-Miami will be open-ing the doors to the military community’s first Child De-velopment Center March 28. The soft opening will start with 40 children and work up to the maximum capacity of 100 children as qualified staff is added.

The new director of the CDC, Denise Gonzalez, comes to Miami from Ft. Campbell, Ky. Running the CDC at a large fa-cility is different, she said, but here in Miami, she appreciates the challenge and the oppor-tunity to “educate the parents about what we do in child care – that it is not just ‘dropping off’ your child.”

“What we do is get your child developmentally ready for school through creative curric-ulum, which we develop based on the needs of the child,” she said.

“For example if we notice that the child has difficulty putting blocks together, we know we need to work on hand

... see CDC, page 9

PLAY CORNER: An interactive play area in the new Child Development Center features activities designed to prepare children for school.

Arthur McQueen

2 Nosotros • We • Nou • NÓS • NOUS • Volume 1 Issue 5 • March 24, 2011 • U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Army Garrison - Miami

SOUTHCOM CommanderGen. Douglas Fraser, USAF

Director, Public AffairsCol. Scott Malcom, USA

Chief, Internal InformationRaymond Sarracino

EditorArthur McQueen

NOSOTROS Office Address:

9301 NW 33rd St. Room A1423 Doral, FL 33172

Phone: (305) 437-2685Web: http://www.southcom.mil

“NOSOTROS” is an authorized internal bi-weekly publication intended for: uniformed mem-bers of the Department of Defense, US Government civilians, contractors and liaisons working for U.S. Southern Command or in its Area of Responsibility and their dependents. The contents of “NOSOTROS,” including listings

of public events or services, are not necessarily the official views of, or constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Army Garrison-Miami, Installation Manage-ment Command, U.S. Southern Command, DoD or the U.S. Government. The content of this publication is solely the

responsibility of the SOUTHCOM and USAG-Miami Public Affairs Offices.

Like/Dislike NOSOTROS? Want to share Ideas? Feedback? Do your colleagues deserve notice? Let us know! Contact Public Affairs at 305.437.1213, or visit us on: Facebook: southcomnosotros; Twitter: SCNosotros or E-mail: southcomnosotros@

gmail.com. Submissions to NOSOTROS should be received by the Friday preceeding the publication date.

As we continue our important work with our partners in the Americas, it’s im-portant to reflect on the tragedy unfolding in Japan after the devastating 11 March earthquake, the subsequent tsunami, and their ongoing nuclear power plant crisis. Japanese society is resilient and well-prepared for emergencies, but the scope of the disaster is difficult to comprehend. During my career, I’ve worked closely

with members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. I’m confident in their ability to meet the demands of this disaster and offer my sincere condolences to those affected. The United States Armed Forces are steadfast friends to the Japanese Self Defense Force and the Japanese people, and through U.S. Pacific Command are pro-viding disaster relief support to help Japan recover.

In a similar manner, when a natural disaster or other crisis strikes, depending on the size of the crisis and the requests for support by the affected country, the DOD will designate a senior U.S. military officer to form and command a joint task force to respond to the

situation. To prepare generals and admirals for this role, the chiefs of the military services established the Joint Flag Officer Warfight-ing Course at Maxwell AFB, Ala. This two-week course provides potential joint task force commanders with insights into forming and operating joint task forces in a variety of situations, within the various combatant commands, and together with U.S. interagency partners and international partners. I had the pleasure to talk to the current class this March about joint task force operations from a USSOUTHCOM perspective.

This was not the only chance I had to discuss Latin America and the Caribbean -- recently, along with the other Combatant Com-manders and the Service Chiefs, I had the high honor to meet with the President, and, along with my wife, dine at the White House with him and Mrs. Obama. The timing was fortuitous as the Presi-dent took his trip to the USSOUTHCOM AOR two days afterward.

The President and First Lady looked forward to their visit to Bra-zil, Chile, and El Salvador, and strengthening our ties with these important countries and with the rest of Latin America.

General Doug Fraser

Commander’s Call A Thought for Japan, and Discussing Latin America and the Caribbean

U.S. Army Garrison - Miami hosts first SOUTHCOM Quality of Life MeetingSpecial to NOSOTROS

The Garrison recently held their first Quality of Life meeting to discuss SOUTHCOM issues. This is an optimal forum for the junior members of our com-mand to make their voices heard.

We should encourage our newer mem-bers to provide input as this may be the only way they can voice their concerns to senior leadership.

– Gen. Fraser agreed with Sgt. Maj. Es-pinal’s recommendation that ALL HANDs meeting be scheduled quarterly.

– The Sgt. Maj. also recommended

that we schedule quarterly quality-of-life meetings, several weeks before the ALL HANDS, so that the commander can ad-dress special issues.

– A rumor alleging that training holidays may be canceled is wrong. The command schedules training holidays as a means of recognizing the your hard work. The com-mander has stated however, that everyone needs to be appreciative of training holi-days when requesting time off.

– Better Opportunities for Single Ser-vicemembers. Sgt. Maj. Espinal has asked Sgt. Maj. Geressy to ensure that BOSS is getting visibility with our younger enlist-

ed members.– He is also considering a weekly meet-

ing with all Senior Enlisted Leaders – and possibly some civilians – to ensure infor-mation is flowing throughout the chain.

– Effective immediately the “Head-quarters Update” on the portal has been changed to “HQ Update/QOL Issues.” We will use this venue to provide feedback to the command on issues and improve ser-vices to the SOUTHCOM family. We need representation from the Directors/Chiefs at these meetings.

For questions, please contact Col. Hilton, Mr. Snodgrass or Sgt. Maj. Espinal.

3Nosotros • We • Nou • NÓS • NOUS • Volume 1 Issue 5 • March 24, 2011 • U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Army Garrison - Miami

Personnel Security Clearance ProcessImprovements

Authorized departure of Eligible Family Members from the Island of Honshu, Japan

The State Department has approved voluntary authorized departure of eligible family mem-bers from U.S. Embassy Tokyo, Foreign Service Installation Yokohama, and Consulate Nagoya for a period not to exceed 30 days.

All three installations are located on the island of Honshu, Japan.

This memorandum authorizes Department of Defense (DoD) EFMs located on Honshu to voluntarily depart. The designated ‘safe haven’ location is the United States.

The authorized departure status will remain in

effect until terminated by DoS. EFMs who leave under this authority may not return until the au-thorized departure is terminated.

Travel to the island of Honshu for all DoD de-pendent personnel in all categories is suspended until DoS terminates authorized departure.

Dependents of uniformed personnel will be processed for Safe Haven allowances in ac-cordance with Joint Federal Travel Regula-tions (JFTR), Chapter 6, Part A. Eligible family members will be processed as indicated in Joint Travel Regulations, Chapter 6, Part C.

Ray SarracinoU.S. Southern Command Public Affairs

March 15 brought SOUTH-COM staffers arriving to work to find the flag at half-mast, leaving many scratching their heads and wondering why.

Here at NOSOTROS, we de-cided to conduct a completely unscientific research project, asking random people on the SOUTHCOM campus if they knew why the flag was at half mast.

Most had no idea.Tech. Sgt. Mario Barillas

of J-2 responded, “Maybe be-cause of Japan?”; when asked if she knew why, Seaman

Heather Hefflemire of J-2 di-rectorate had “no idea,” while Gilbert Garcia of J-6 thought it may have something to do with the recent anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, and Milton Centeno of TCSC said it was the first he’d heard of it.

While not correct, these were reasonable responses, consid-ering that there isn’t a mecha-nism in place to inform people of the reason for flying the flag at half-mast

While true that it’s not usual-ly publicized, there are numer-ous web-based resources avail-able to learn why the U.S. flag is flying at half mast. Promi-nent among these is halfstaff.

org, an unofficial compendium of days the federal government has scheduled to honor specific people and events.

However, it’s not just about honors, there are other resourc-es available to help with proper display and etiquette for the national ensign, these include:

www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html

www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30243.pdf

www.va.gov/opa/publica-tions/celebrate/flagdisplay.pdf

And by the way – the flag flew at half-mast on March 15 in honor of the late Cpl. Frank Buckles, last surviving Ameri-can veteran of WWI.

Over the past four years, DoD has worked with several offices to streamline processes, make changes to policies, in-troduce extensive information technology improvements, and eliminate a backlog of approxi-mately 100,000 pending secu-rity clearance cases.

These improvements led to a 72 percent reduction in the time it takes to process an in-dividual’s security clearance - from an average of 165 days in 2006 to 47 days today.

The improvements led the Government Accountability Office to remove this process from its “high risk list,” the first time GAO has removed any DoD area since the lists 1990 inception.

“The improvements made in the quality of our clearance decisions will ensure that we better safe-guard our nation’s critical secrets.” said Deputy Chief Management Officer Elizabeth McGrath.

David R. McDonald, Jr.Special to NOSOTROS

There is still a time for mili-

tary, foreign service and intel-ligence personnel that qualified for the extension to the home-buyer tax credit to take action – significant to active and reserve folks that deployed in 2009 or 2010.

In the IRS Form 5405 instruc-tions it says you have additional time to purchase a home and qualify for the tax credit if you

(or your spouse if married) if:– You were on duty outside

of the U.S. at least 90 days be-tween Jan. 1, 2009 and May 1, 2010 as a member of the uniformed military services, foreign service or intelligence community.

If you meet these criteria, you must be under contract to buy a home before May 1, 2011 and complete the purchase before July 1, 2011.

If you do so, you qualify for an $8,000 tax credit (not de-

duction – credit, meaning it is money in your pocket) as a first time home buyer (cannot have owned a home for the last 3 years) – or $6,500 if you are a long-time resident of the same house (owned and used as a main home) for a consecutive five-year period in the last eight years.

If you are considering a pur-chase and qualify – it is clearly worthwhile to consider doing it quickly enough to get the extra $8,000 or $6,500.

Homebuyer tax credit extension

Why is the flag sometimes flying at half mast?

Ray Sarracino


This meant that at almost a magnitude 9, the Japan quake is almost a thousand times bigger than the quake in Haiti in terms of the energy released.It’s not the size of the quake; it’s the motion of the ocean

Big earthquakes are more likely to pro-duce tsunamis, said Presgrave. The mech-anism, the way the earth ruptures, also has a big effect on whether there is a tsunami potential or not. “For the most part, the Haiti earthquake was a horizontal motion, called strike-slip motion,” he said. This helped cause the collapse of many build-ings.

“There was some vertical motion, but to create a tsunami, you have to have a big earthquake, in shallow water, that displac-es vertically large masses of water.”Cooperation.

Part of the Organization of American States, PAIGH promotes cooperation among countries of the Western Hemi-sphere through projects in the fields of cartography, geography, geophysics, and history.

“The two organizations share common goals and objectives—stability, security, and prosperity in the Americas—and we used this event to strengthen the relation-ship between SOUTHCOM and PAIGH,” Coleman added.

While being interviewed, Presgrave was watching for news on the tsunami wave heights off the coast of Hawaii.

We asked, what is the significance of a tsunami, when there are 30-foot waves off the coast of Hawaii on a regular basis?

“Good point,” he said. “We often hear of people saying they want to surf a tsunami, but it’s not that type of wave (more like a storm surge) and you don’t want to surf it because there is so much debris in it.”

He described an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Even though it was a smaller quake, it occured right un-der the city and produced stronger effects than expected. Presgrave explained that location is everything with earthquakes. “If it is near a city and shallow, it will pro-duce dangerous effects.”

Much criticism was leveled at the gov-ernment of Haiti regarding building codes, but Presgrave said that doesn’t always matter in the end.

“Something to remember is that with the earthquake in Haiti, the building con-

struction issues turned a disaster into a catastrophe, but the earthquake itself pro-duced shaking that can cause damage to well-built buildings – it would have been a dangerous earthquake in any city in the world.”Did Florida get lucky last year?

Presgrave says with good humor, “We very often get calls after a quake that say, ‘My wife says we’re moving to a place that doesn’t have earthquakes! – tell us some-place that doesn’t have them.’” He chuck-les again. “When I mention that Southwest Texas and North Dakota are the least seis-mically active places in the contiguous US, they’ll think about that for a while, and say, ‘How about just … fewer earth-quakes than southern California?”

Even though Japan is a very developed and prepared country, an earthquake of this size can produce devastation so that it would need assistance from foreign agen-cies. Why is earthquake prediction hard?

“Most of the time there are no fore-shocks,” Presgrave said. “Just yesterday (March 10) there was a magnitude 7 in Japan, but that is an exception; Haiti – no foreshocks, Chile – no foreshocks, the 1964 Alaska quake (9.2) – no foreshocks.”

There is ongoing research looking for indicators, but effectively scientists cannot predict earthquakes.

“What we can do, and Japan is very good at doing,” he said, “is that we know the east coast of Honchu is very prone to

earthquakes and build earthquake-resis-tant buildings. It’s one of the things we see in Chile vs. Haiti. You saw many pictures in Chile of buildings where there was some superficial damage but the building was intact. If you keep buildings from collaps-ing, that will increase the survival rate.”Are we near an earthquake zone?

The closest seismic zones that Presgrave knows of are Charleston, SC and along the south coast of Cuba. Those are the closest plate boundaries, he explained.

“It is important to understand that small earthquakes can happen anywhere in the world,” he said, but noted Florida is not an area that is considered a risk -- at least for earthquakes.

“One of the things we try to stress is that you need to be aware of the natural hazards in your area. The most important thing is that people should listen and fol-low the directions of their local civil de-fense officials,” he said.

Members of SOUTHCOM are among the 200,000 subscribers to the earthquake warning system. “We also inform the UN Office of Disaster Relief in Geneva and the White House Situation room,” Pres-grave said. “We are not directly involved in the relief efforts, but we trigger those responses.”

“Looking forward, I expect even greater cooperation between SOUTHCOM and PAIGH because of this meeting in Miami,” said Coleman. “It’s a natural partnership.”

... QUAKE, from page 1

Bruce Presgrave, Geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. speaks during the meeting of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History at the Conference Center of the Americas, on March 10-11.

Juan Chiari


In June 2008, Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Health in-dicated that cataract backlog existed of more than 5,000 patients, and that timely and efficient cataract surgery was a serious need for the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. The three priority areas in which assistance was discussed were: cataract surgery, spinal surgery and prostate surgery.

U.S. Army South scheduled a Cataract Medical Readiness Training Exercise for July 24 to Aug. 7.

This MEDRETE was to fo-cus on a distinctive cataract surgery technique spearheaded by Dr. Geoff Tabin from the University of Utah Medical School.

“This guy is a rock-star,” said

Chief Master Sgt. Daniel T. Condon, U.S. Embassy, Trini-dad and Tobago Military Liai-son Office.

U.S. Army ophthalmologists were trained and were going to utilize this technique to help reduce the backlog of patients in Trinidad and Tobago.

In March 2010, two Trinidad ophthalmologists, Dr. Ronnie Bhola (Eric Williams Medi-cal Service Center at Mt. Hope - EWMSC) and Dr. Anil Ar-moogum (San Fernando Gen-eral Hospital), traveled to the country of Nepal to train in this technique. Dr. Tabin pro-vided this training in Nepal to Doctors Bhola and Armoogum gratis. They were both sched-uled to assist and participate in the scheduled MEDRETE.

The MEDRETE was can-celled in July, 2010 due to un-certainty amongst the Trinidad and Tobago ophthalmological community on whether the MEDRETE should take place.

Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Chang of the U.S.Army 807th Medical Command, realizing the mag-nitude of the cataract backlog and the ex-clusive skills possessed by doctors Bhola and Armoogum, visited Trinidad in December to discuss the potential opportunity of a cataract subject matter ex-pert exchange (SMEE) to be hosted in Trinidad. This pro-posal was well received by the U.S. Ambassador, Minister of Health, and Minister of For-eign Affairs. Subsequently, Gen. Chang persuaded doctors Geoff and Jean Tabin to partic-ipate, via an invitational travel order sponsored by U.S. Army South to facilitate the SMEE. Doctors Geoff and Jean Tabin (Mrs. Tabin specializes in

trauma eye care) traveled to Trinidad and Tobago, Feb 20th to commence the SMEE.

This SMEE is designed to perfect the existing cataract surgery model in Trinidad and teach current advanced eye care (corneal transplant, retina procedures, and emergency eye care) to the local eye care/

ophthal-mological community. All Trini-dad ophthal-mologists, nurses, and eye care personnel were invited

to attend a Continuing Medi-cal Education (CME) Seminar hosted by doctors Tabin and Tabin at no cost. The CME seminar took place at EWM-SC, February 21st.

Doctors Bhola and Ar-moogum are expected to be-come proficient in this surgi-cal procedure, as this SMEE was designed to be a “train the trainer” event, making Trinidad and Tobago a Center of Excellence for cataract eye care in the Caribbean Region.

Cataract Surgery Expert Visits Trinidad

Courtesy of the Moran Eye Center Dr. Geoffrey Tabin with the University of Utah’s Moran Eye Center receives the Unsung Heroes of Compassion award from the Dalai Lama in 2009.

“This guy is a rock-star,”

Chief MSgt. Daniel T. Condon,U.S. Embassy, Trinidad and Tobago

Military Liaison Office.


WRESTLER: Chief Petty Officer Rodrigo Celones, master-at-arms, demonstrates mechanical advantage control holds and takedowns to Ecuadorian soldiers participating in a week-long subject matter expert exchange in support of Southern Partnership Station 2011. SPS-11 is an annual deployment of U.S. ships to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility in the Caribbean and Latin America

BUILDER: SAN LORENZO, Honduras -- Navy Builder 1st Class Clifton Horn and Builder 2nd Class Joshua Helton, assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 28, install security bars in a Southeast Asia hut at Escuela Eneas Avarado during a Southern Partnership Station 2011 subject matter expert exchange.

Aroundthe

AMerICAS

Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jeffery Tilghman Williams

Shoshona Pilip-Florea

COMFORT: The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort departs Baltimore for the five-month Continuing Promise 2011 deployment. Continu-ing Promise is a humani-tarian assistance mission to nine countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean.


Family and MWR announcements may be found on the portal under “Command Announcements.”

Are you on facebook? Go to our official facebook page, USAG-MIAMI FMWR, and click “LIKE” for information on tickets, trips events!

To be placed on the Family and MWR e-mail list, send your name, phone number and e-mail address to [email protected].

Classes:n SPANISH CLASS The Relocation Program will offer intensive Spanish classes taught by Atlantis University. This 48-hour course meets, March 15 through May 31, three times a week, 9-11 a.m. The curriculum is specifically designed to fit the needs and requirements of our civilian, military and family members. For more information and to register, call Roxanna Acosta at 305-437-1958, or e-mail [email protected].

Tickets offered by the Information, Tickets and Registration (ITR) Office, 305-437-1595 or 305-437-2400

n MIAMI HEAT April 6 – Milwaukee Bucks

300 level seats, $50–$70, limited tickets available.

n FLORIDA PANTHERS Ticket prices start at $20.

n ZOO MIAMI ( f o r m e r l y Miami Metro Zoo) tickets now available. Adult: $14, Child: $10. Save up to 18% per person.

n BE THERE! THE FAIR! Miami-Dade County Fair & Expo Mar 17 - Apr 3. General Admission: - $8, 22 Coupon Ride Sheet: $17, P*O*P Ride Card: $20.

n n DISNEY ON ICE – LET’S CELEBRATE, Thurs., Mar 24, 7:30 p.m. Opening night, Fri., Mar 25, 7 p.m., Sat., Mar 26, 11 a.m., 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. Sun., Mar 27, 1 p.m. & 5 p.m. Bank Atlantic Center. Opening night: $21, regular tickets: $26, rows 18 & up, $31, rows 9-16. Seats in lower level.

n WET N’ WILD MILITARY APPRECIATION DAYS Free admission for military. Get a free one day admission ticket valid for active duty or retired military service members with valid military photo ID from now until Mar 31. Buy extra tickets for your friends and family for $32 adults and $26 children.

n FLORIDA MARLINS OPENING NIGHT Fri., Apr 1, 7 p.m. Join the Florida Marlins in their season opener as they play The New York Mets at Sun Life Stadium. Bullpen box seats, $28.

n WICKED Sun., Apr 10, 7:30 p.m. Winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy and three Tony Awards, WICKED is Broadway’s biggest Blockbuster and a cultural phenomenon. Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Mezzanine seats, $70.

n Florida Grand Opera presents DON GIOVANNI Sat., Apr 30, 8 p.m. Considered by many to be the most perfect opera ever written, Mozart’s Don Giovanni continues to thrill audiences today as it did at its premiere in 1787! Adrienne Arsht Center, right tier 3 seats, $40.

n WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT Now through Sep 28 active and retired U.S. military personnel (including active and retired members of the United States Coast Guard, National Guard and Reservists) or their spouses can purchase:

• Disney 4-Day Military Promotional Tickets with Park Hopper Option for $135 each

• Disney 4-Day Military Promotional Tickets with Water Parks Fun and More Option for $135

• Disney 4-Day Military Promotional Tickets with Park Hopper and Water Parks Fun and More Options for $162 each

• Disney Military Promotional Tickets (including any options) expire and may not be used after Oct 1. Disney 4-Day Military Promotional Tickets (including any options) for the Walt Disney World Resort may not be used on the following blackout dates: Apr 17-23 at all Walt Disney World Theme Parks and other gated attractions and Jul 4 at Magic Kingdom Park.

Sports & Fitnessn INDOOR SOCCER LEAGUE begins in March at the Fitness Center. Teams of 5-to-8 players. Family and MWR will provide t-shirts, refs and trophies. Games will be played on Saturdays and Sundays, Two games per day. Games will consist of 4, 15 minute quarters. The number of games depends on the number of teams. Must wear indoor soccer shoes and chin guards. Team captains contact Jill Hauser, ext. 1682 or Coach Franklyn, ext. 1373.

n SOCCER LEAGUE Family and MWR sports will register a SOUTHCOM team in the Doral Soccer League at Doral Meadows Park. Games will be Saturday and Sunday mornings. Contact Jill Hauser or Coach Franklyn.

n FUNCTIONAL FITNESS 6-7 a.m., 1130 a.m.-1:00 p.m. and 3-7 p.m., Mon.-Fri. For more information, call Frank Same, ext. 1152, Jill Hauser, ext. 1682 or the fitness center front desk 0123/0124.

n Join the FAMILY AND MWR INDOOR WALKING GROUP. Meets every Mon., Wed. and Fri., at 11:30 a.m. on the indoor track. To join, contact Angie Williams, ext. 0123.

n MERCEDES-BENZ 2011 CORPORATE RUN Apr 28, Bayfront Park. Family and MWR Sports and Fitness will enter a SOUTHCOM team. www.Mercedesbenzcorporaterun.com. Contact Jill Hauser.

South Florida Community Eventsn Discounts

n TRATTORIA DAL NONNO, 10802 NW 58th St., Doral offers

a 20% discount to all members of SOUTHCOM (all federal, state, military agencies.) Show ID. 305-477-8804, www.trattoriadalnonno.com

n AAAA UNIVERSE, 7800 NW29th St., Miami, FL 33122, 10% discount

or discounted price “B” to military on brand name

electronics and appliances. Come in uniform or show them your

military ID. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun., 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Call to verify hours. 305-688-1000.

Conference Center of the Americas: n On 31 Mar 2011 from 1000-1130 in the Main Conference Room of the CCA -- “Venezuela’s Petro-Diplomacy: Hugo Chavez’s Foreign Policy” Over the last decade Venezuela has exerted its influence on the Western Hemisphere and on global international relations. In considering the reasons for this influence, one must take into account the country’s vast petroleum depos-its. Since coming to power, President Chavez has used the windfall of high oil process to remake Venezuela internally along the model of Twenty-First Century socialism and to rewrite global relations by directly challenging U.S. in-fluence. Professors Ralph S. Clem and Anthony P. Maingot, authors of a new book, offer fresh, authoritative insights into a wide array of ques-tions hanging over Venezuelan foreign policy and the leadership of Venezuela’s president.

Speakers: Anthony P. Maingot, Ph.D. - Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology, Florida International University Ralph S. Clem, Ph.D. - Professor of International Relations, Florida International University

Combat Infantrymen’s Badge and Bronze Star Ceremony CCA Main Conference Room Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 2 p.m. WW2 Veteran John Beaugard served as a Riflemen and due to being Medically Evacu-ated he never received the decorations he was awarded for his service in World War II. We are honored to recognize the service of this hero here at SOUTHCOM.

The following Awards will be presented:

1. Bronze Star Medal 2. Combat Infantryman Badge 3. Ardennes-Alsace Campaign 4. One additional bronze service star to be af-fixed to previously awarded European - African - Middle Eastern Campaign medal

After Hours:Family & Morale, Welfare and Recreation activities and events


Sgt. 1st Class Alex LiceaSOCSOUTH Public Affairs

SANTO DOMINGO, Do-minican Republic - It was all about teamwork and communi-cation during this year’s Fused Response exercise, a U.S. and Dominican special operations forces military exercise held March 7-11 in Santo Domingo.

The purpose of Fused Re-sponse, which involved ap-proximately 250 Special Opera-tions troops from the U.S. and Dominican forces, was to allow both nations to train on skills, such as personnel planning, reconnaissance, joint integra-tion, as well as improving the interoperability and increasing the capacity to confront com-mon threats such as illicit traf-ficking, organized crime, and terrorism.

To support the exercise, Spe-cial Operations Command South personnel provided key logistic, operational, medical and staff support.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jason Stahl, the lead planner for Fused Re-sponse, stated that the focus of the exercise is to ensure both countries’ military forces are comfortable and confident working with each other as they face common threats.

“The focus of the exercise is how to deal with threats such as drug trafficking,” said Lt. Cmdr. Stahl. “This exercise helps build rapport between the two nations as we work together and establish new relationships. By cross-training, they are learn-ing from each other and, at the same time, building friendships that last a lifetime.”

From planning, tactical opera-tions, and logistics movements, the weeklong exercise chal-lenged troops from both mili-taries to perform at a high level in a short amount of time.

“This exercise is an extremely

rapid process and truly takes a combined effort to make ev-erything work,” said Lt. Cmdr. Stahl.

At the tactical level, U.S. and Dominican units conducted room-clearing procedures, close-quarters battle training and personnel recovery opera-tions. The battle staff also re-ceived key training as both U.S. and Dominican military leaders learned how to work together as part of a joint task force.

U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Daniel Flaherty, the senior enlisted advisor for the SOCSOUTH training and exercise section, said that Fused Response al-lows both nations to see which skill sets are strong and which ones need improvement.

“The whole thing about the exercise evaluation process is that you get another set of eyes watching you from planning to execution,” he said. “You get all the great training tools you need because it identifies all the areas that you need to train in.”

Sgt. Maj. Flaherty also said that a training event such as this one is vital to enable both part-

ners to build upon their existing relationships and be prepared to work together in the event of an actual crisis.

“We know who we are go-ing to be working with, so if a real-world situation were to evolve, we are not starting from scratch. You have a rolodex of people to contact and you know what to expect from the partner nation,” he said.

From the Dominican Re-public’s role in assisting Haiti relief efforts, to hosting Fuer-zas Comando 2010, which is a major Special Operations skills competition with 23 participat-ing countries, the Dominican Republic is viewed as an in-valuable security partner in the region.

Dominican Maj. Ambrocio Castillo-Volquez, the Com-mander of the Ministerio de Es-tado de las Fuerzas Armadas, known as the MIFA, said that he and his commandos have been working with the Ameri-can military for the past three years and that the training has helped them improve as a mili-tary organization.

“Our unit is more profession-ally developed and there has been improvement in areas such as planning. The entire opera-tional climate has improved,” said Maj. Castillio-Volquez. “Our interoperability with our soldiers and the American Sol-diers is excellent and we are like brothers,” he added.

Prior to Fused Response, an Operational Detachment-Alpha team (ODA) assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group has been training with members of the MIFA for the past couple of months.

The officer-in-charge of the ODA stated that the Dominican Soldiers are capable of defeat-ing any threat.

“They are well-trained and are consistently improving,” he said. “The goal is for them to develop their own training pro-grams.”

“This exercise is very impor-tant for us,” said Rear Adm. Brown. “We are grateful for the Dominican military, their friendship, and look forward to working with our partners again in the future.”

Exercise Fused Response 2011 Fosters Continued Partnership

A U.S. Army Noncommissioned Officer assigned to Special Operations Command South advises Dominican Commandos on the best methods to exit a helicopter. The training is in preparation for Fused Response 2011, a combined U.S. and Dominican military exercise designed to increase the capacity to combat terrorism and illicit trafficking.


and eye coordination. We will concentrate on that and get the child ready.”

Strong Beginnings Pre-K is an Army initiative designed to prepare children for kindergar-ten. The program has a greater academic focus covering sci-ence, math, language/literacy, social studies and physical fit-ness, preparing the whole child for school success.

The process for engaging the CDC is simple. “We try to make it as convenient as possible,” said Gonzalez. Reg-istration forms are available on-line; parents then make an appointment to get registered, look in the rooms and see what is available.

“If there is space you can be placed right away, otherwise you will be placed on a wait-ing list.” Those on the wait-ing list will not be left without care. “We have centers around Miami that you will be able to bring your child to that are ac-credited,” she said. “So you will not be left alone, we will take care of you.”

When space opens up parents can come back to the CDC or stay with the facility they had been using.

Gonzalez pointed out that the main advantage to having a child on post was convenience.

“They are both great, I can’t tell you anything negative about the outside facilities, they are accredited, work with us hand-in-hand, and follow a lot of the same regulations that we do.”

Customers know that the Army is very strict about clean-liness and safety – there are 50 cameras in the facility that are recording constantly, so there is peace of mind, says Gonza-lez – “if anything happens we can always retrieve the video.”

The center is required to be “hospital” clean. Additionally,

all of the staff must go through an extensive background check through both local and nation-al databases, to ensure that it is safe for them to work with children.

All of the rooms have glass panels to monitor the kids, and everyone participates in yearly Child Abuse Prevention train-ing.

Just visiting the center is very restrictive, said Gonzalez.

“When you walk into a child development center, we need to know why you are there if you’re not a parent. If you want to register, you can’t just walk to the rooms, you will be escorted to look around, be identified and sign in and out. One of us will be with you at all times.”

“We should have about 15 staff and 40 children lined up for the start,” she said.

Parents already on the wait-ing list have been contacted to get registered and completing an orientation to explain and gradually fill up the center as it is staffed.How to Apply

Dual Military, Single Mili-tary, and DoD Civilians where both parents are employed are the highest priority.

Documentation is required: Copy of the LES or other Proof of Income, copy of orders as-signing them here, an identifi-cation card, or birth certificate for the children. Cost?

DoD has 9 pay categories based upon total family in-come. The bottom rate for school-age services is very competitive. That will open in summer, for now the team is focused on opening the CDC.

The normal operating hours are Monday-Friday, 6 to 6, which is full time.

Hourly care is something that is being evaluated for the time the center is open. “We are simply not funded for anything

extra outside of those hours,” she said.

The CDC will have children up to 5, and School Age Ser-vices which starts this sum-mer, will take children up to 11 years old.

This will begin with a sum-mer camp, a program for Christmas and Spring break, and the staff will assess the needs of the command to de-termine the demand for after-school care. Many schools outside the command already offer programs.

As far as other military or-ganizations in the Miami area, the CDC cannot accept ad-ditional children, for example

from the Recruiting Battalion, but through the Outreach pro-gram, the staff can make them aware of child care providers that are suitable.

“I’m extremely excited, the center looks beautiful, the staff is getting trained,” Gonzalez said.

The staff is also developing a mobilization and contingency plan for hurricanes or anything else that can happen in the building.

“We are here to support the mission, we’re here to support the families – and we can’t wait for people to come by, check out the center and register their children,” she said.

... CDC, from page 1

Stairs on changing tables allow toddlers to walk (with assistance) up for changing, increasing confidence and reducing lifting of larger children.


SAINT JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbuda - The second day of Ex-ercise Tradewinds 2011’s fleet track field training exercise began on the morning of March 15.

The scenario in place had three vessels, the Barbados Coast Guard Ship Trident, the Trinidad and Tobago Ship Gaspar Grande and the Dominican Republic Coast Guard Ship Canopus patrol-ling just off the Coast of Saint John’s, Antigua and Barbuda.

Once in their designated positions, the lookouts onboard each ship were instructed to keep a sharp eye out for any suspect ves-sels. The designated “illicit traffickers,” role played by FBI small boats, we reportedly in the area and if discovered, the ships were supposed to launch a boarding team and observer from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Diligence.

Onboard the Gaspar Grande, the lookout spotted the target of interest at about 11 a.m., and immediately alerted the ship’s cap-tain. The maritime law enforcement officers onboard sprang into action, putting on the proper equipment and checking each other to ensure the boarding team’s safety.

The rest of the ship’s crew started making preparations to lower the small boat. The ratchet straps holding the boat down were re-moved and each tending line was held before the boarding team climbed into the boat. Radio communications frequencies were confirmed and an up to date position of the target vessels was passed to the boat crew.

Once life jackets and helmets were donned, the boarding team and Ens. James Heuser, a boarding officer from Diligence, were hoisted into the air and swung out over the water. As soon as the boat hit the water, the coxswain started the engines and the Gas-par Grande’s deck crew tossed the lines connecting the two boats into the air. Boat crewmembers secured each line and the roar of the engines filled the air as the boarding team shot across the water toward their targets.

This evolution was the first time that information and tactics shared by personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and the other in-volved nations would actually be used in a simulated boarding. After coming alongside the target vessel, boarding team members scrambled onboard and asked, “without reaching for or touching, do you have any weapons” and conducted an Initial Safety In-spection, a quick search of the vessel that ensures the safety of both the boarding team and the vessel’s crew.

“They did very well out there,” said Heuser. “They took the things we talked about during our discussions on land and actu-ally used those procedures in the field.”

Once their boarding was complete and all objectives had been met, Gaspar Grande’s law enforcement officers returned to the ship and Heuser met with them and the command for a de-brief and critique.

“That was an extremely well done job,” he told the team. “Ev-erything followed proper procedures and had this been an actual field operation, you would have everything needed to detain the suspects and build a strong case against them.”

Petty Officer 3rd Class George Degener ST. JOHN’S, Antigua -- A boarding team from the Trinidad and Tobago Ship Gaspar Grande and an observing boarding officer from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Diligence conduct a boarding on FBI small boats role playing as possible smugglers as part of the fleet track of Exercise Tradewinds 2011, March 15. Tradewinds is an annual exercise composed of more than 20 na-tions designed to enhance stability and security in the Caribbean.

Multinational Vessels Conduct Counter-Illicit Trafficking Training During Tradewinds Exercise

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