raft, visitors from the Colombian army observed and took part in the process.
Flechas had many questions about the technical details and employment of the unit’s bridging equipment.
Since 2012, the Colombian military and the South Carolina Na- tional Guard have been partnered in the Department of Defense National Guard State Partnership Program, which pairs Guard elements with partner nations worldwide for mutual training and subject matter expert exchanges.
“The questions were about the actual platform,” he said. “How do they deploy them? How do they use them? It’s interesting to know the actual technicality of the equipment.”
But meeting with and working alongside unit members was also key, he said.
For Hohe, the Colombian observers were a welcome presence.
“It’s very important for the interchange of not just knowledge and experiences, but to interact so that for any catastrophe that may happen, we’ll work together and we’ll be ready,” Flechas said.
“It’s valuable for our Soldiers to be able to see, hey, we have partners around the world who are doing this exact same thing,” she said. “This is how we can integrate, and this is how we can share our knowledge.”
Hohe agreed.
Hohe also learned key points from her Colombian counterparts.
“You know, this mission that we have, it’s worldwide,” she said. “Everyone has got different circumstances, and we can all learn from each other.”
“They have some capabilities, like they have a lot of fixed bridging assets, that we don’t have,” she said. “And it’s good to learn about those from people who are constantly using that equipment.”
The training also ensures the unit builds generational readiness within its ranks.
For Lt. Col. Jorge Flechas, with the Colombian army’s engineer command, the exchange was similarly beneficial.
“My main job here is to make sure that those people who are hot shots and know how to do this task are making sure they’re leveraging all that training so we have the next generation of people who can continue to come out,” said Hohe.
“Personally, I’m very grateful for this invitation to be part of this training,” he said.
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