RELEASE NUMBER: 140723-01
DATE POSTED: JULY 23, 2014
Fuerzas Commando 2014 set to take place in Colombia
FORT TOLEMAIDA, Colombia (USASOC News Service, July 23, 2014) - Special operations forces from 17 countries are ready to participate in Fuerzas Comando 2014 at the Colombian National Training Center in Tolemaida, July 23-31.
Special operations and commando forces from Belize, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Uruguay will participate in the competition.
The opening ceremony for the 10th Fuerzas Comando exercise will kick off the competition, July 23.
Prior to the start of the competition, the teams spent two days validating the events and their equipment in preparation for the exercise.
The grueling eight-day competition will test the elite forces in areas such as physical fitness, weapons marksmanship, aquatic skills and tactical capabilities. The exercise concludes with a multi-national airborne operation and wing exchange ceremony, July 30, and the closing ceremony, July 31.
The Countering Terrorism Fellowship Program or CTFP will take place simultaneously during the competition. This year, senior military and government officials from more than 20 nations will gather in Bogota, July 28-30, to discuss regional challenges such as transnational organized crime and illicit trafficking. The Fellowship Program is designed to improve military-to-military relations and provides a collaborative environment for regional military leaders.
Both the exercise and Fellowship Program are aimed at enhancing training and strengthening regional and multinational cooperation, mutual trust, readiness and interoperability of special operations forces in the Western Hemisphere.
Colombia is the host of this year’s competition and Fellowship Program, which is sponsored by the United States Southern Command, headquartered in Miami, Fla. Special Operations Command South, headquartered at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., is the lead U.S. executing command for the exercise. SOCSOUTH serves as the special operations component for U.S. Southern Command.