Guatemala City, Guatemala – CENTAM Guardian 2023 (CG23) officially opened with the opening ceremony on March 18, 2023 attended by the Guatemalan, Honduran, El Salvadoran and US Armed Forces.
CENTAM Guardian is an annual, joint, multinational U.S. Army South exercise held at various locations in Central America and the Caribbean. The exercise addresses shared security threats, further develops information sharing between the multinational coordination cell, and strengthens regional stability and interoperability with allied forces, also benefiting the people of Guatemala.
The opening ceremony included the commander of the land component of the Arkansas Army National Guard; Brig. General Leland Shepherd, USSOUTHCOM J79 Director of Exercises and Coalition Affairs; Kevin Bostick, Deputy Chief of Staff of Guatemala, Department of Defense; General Ardany Bautista Fuentes and the Coronel de Infanteria DEM; Raul Anibal Pineda Penat.
General Ardany Bautista Fuentes addressed those present: “As a military member, I can say that there is nothing better than participating in this training exercise. I want to thank the US military for their support and the training skills our military is gaining. This training proves that the US military and other surrounding countries have good intentions to keep moving forward and stop all threats affecting the world.”
CG23 brings military advisers and interagency partners from across the U.S. to Guatemala to train with military partners from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to enhance rapid security operations in multiple areas and strengthen hemispheric cooperation and collaboration between U.S. military and security forces USSOUTHCOM Area of Responsibility (AOR).
Soldiers and interagency partners conducting the exercise will use specific job skills such as special operations, naval warfare, military intelligence, K-9 handlers, cyberwarfare, medics, civil affairs, aviation and support personnel to deploy real world-based scenarios for the partner nation’s militaries to Exercise, evaluate and update tactics and procedures.
Brig. Gen. Leland Shepherd ended his comments by saying, “The training opportunities associated with CENTAM Guardian create a legacy of partnerships and help build personal relationships that will endure for years to come. They allow us to overcome any challenge and continue to build trust together, counter threats together and build our teams together.”
Phase one of CG23 concludes after the culmination exercise and closing ceremony on March 28th.
Date Recorded: 2023-03-18 Published Date: 2023-03-19 2:15 PM Story ID: 440712 Location: GUATEMALA CITY, GT Web Views: 31 Downloads: 0 PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, CENTAM Guardian 23 begins with an opening ceremony by SFC Iman Broady-Chin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown at https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/EVPOVIXHEVNAXMUVK5GU2654I4.jpg?resize=390&w=390 "Mexican President Calls US State Department “Liar” After Human Rights Report")
