Improving human capital, maintaining and increasing operational readiness, and strategic planning are the challenges General Javier Eduardo Iturriaga del Campo, commander of the Chilean Army, outlined as he assumed command on March 9, 2022.
The defense of the environment and the preservation of natural resources is the primary role of the Brigade Against the Illegal Exploitation of Mineral Deposits. Its focus is to stop criminal organizations responsible for environmental destruction due to the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits to finance their illicit activities.
Major Fernanda Kozlowski Görtz is a pioneer in the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). She graduated in 2006 from the first class of women at the Brazilian Air Force Academy (AFA) and is the first woman chief of Operations of the Special Flight Inspection Group (GEIV), a position she holds since January 2021. Maj. Fernanda Görtz talked with Diálogo about her professional career and the challenges of her mission.
As commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District, headquartered in Miami, Florida, Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson is responsible for all Coast Guard operations in the southeast United States and the Caribbean Basin, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Seventh District encompasses an area of 4.6 million square kilometers and shares operational borders with 34 nations and territories in the Western Hemisphere.
Noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in Colombia are highly regarded regionally for their professionalism and hard work. Their leadership and experience in managing troops come with the great responsibility of being the commander’s right-hand man.
Strategic military operations such as Sodom (2010) and Armageddon (2012) have earned Joint Task Force Omega national and international recognition. The force has some 8,000 troops from the Colombian Army, Navy, and Air Force to protect citizens and territory in the departments of Meta, Caquetá, and Guaviare from the criminal activities of residual organized armed groups (GAO-r) and other criminal organizations.
Colombia has a new military command to confront narcotrafficking and transnational threats — the Command Against Drug Trafficking and Transnational Threats (CONAT, in Spanish).
U.S. Army General James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) is committed to several lines of effort as the command drives toward full operational capability, including strengthening relationships, attracting new partners, and building and maintaining a competitive advantage.
Protecting two seas, nine maritime borders, and confronting Colombia’s internal and external threats are Colombian Navy Commander Admiral Gabriel Alfonso Pérez Garcés’ main tasks. This is possible, he says in conversation with Diálogo, thanks to the personnel’s high level of professionalism, the institution’s national and international prestige, its technological means, and suitable naval and river fleet. The institution, he says, also has a broad capacity to support the population with humanitarian aid.
The Inter-American Defense College (IADC) is turning 60 this year. To celebrate the date, Diálogo visited the educational institution, located at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., to talk to its director, U.S. Army National Guard Major General James Taylor.
The Brazilian Air Force (FAB, in Portuguese) has a woman at the command of an operational unit for the first time. On January 26, 2022, Brazilian Air Force Major Márcia Regina Cardoso assumed command of the First Communications and Control Group’s First Squadron (1º/1º GCC, in Portuguese), based at Santa Cruz Air Base, in Rio de Janeiro. The officer’s pioneering spirit also accompanied her when she joined the FAB and graduated from the Air Force Academy (AFA, in Portuguese) in 2006, as part of the first class of female aviators. Maj. Márcia spoke with Diálogo about the challenges of her new role.
The mission is clear: to make Colombia a country free of suspected antipersonnel mines. This is the task of the Army’s Humanitarian Demining Engineer Brigade, which seeks to clear and decontaminate Colombian territory from the threat of antipersonnel mines planted by illegal armed groups. In Colombia, the Navy’s Marine Corps Explosives and Demining Group and five civilian organizations also carry out humanitarian demining.
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