Army South conducts Staff Talks in Chile

Maj. Gen. K.K. Chinn, U.S. Army South Commanding General salutes the Chilean honor guard that was present to welcome him

Leaders from U.S. Army South began bilateral staff talks with Chilean army leaders Oct. 24 in Santiago, Chile in order to promote the professional partnership and interaction between the two armies.

"It is always a pleasure to work with the Chilean army," said Maj. Gen. K.K. Chinn, U.S. Army South Commanding General.

“Events such as this one, as well as the regional leadership role displayed recently by the Chilean army during PANAMAX 2016, define the very special relationship between our two armies.”

 While there, Chinn had the honor of laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Chile located in the Plaza of the Citizenry in Santiago.

U.S. Army South is the executive agent for the Army for army-to-army staff talks with partner nation armies in Latin America. The Army conducts staff talks with several nations in the region to include Brazil, Peru, El Salvador, Colombia and Chile.

The last staff talks between Chile and the U.S. were held in November 2015 at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas with Army South hosting. One of the strategic goals for this year’s talks is to discuss issues of mutual interest, support U.S. efforts to improve interoperability, and provide an opportunity to engage our strategic partners in South America. Staff talks are also meant to reinforce institutional ties and enhance interoperability, strengthen bonds of cooperation, and increase the level of mutual trust.

“Our integrated talks help us to improve our training and create better practices, which leads to better efficiency,” said Chilean Maj. Gen. Miguel Alfonso, commander of the 6^th Armored Division of Chile.

“We are working at using many shared tools and doctrine, so when you come here you can see how we train, plan and focus to improve our forces,” said Alfonso.

The Chileans are well versed at taking the lead in military affairs as evidenced from this summer when, for the first time, the Chilean Army, in coordination with the United States Southern Command, directed the organizing and command of the ground component of the PANAMAX 2016 multinational exercise.

"We appreciate that SOUTHCOM and U.S. Army South trusted us to participate at this level from Chile. These challenges are the result of our maturing relationship over time," Chilean Army Maj. Gen. Luis Chamorro, commander of the ground component during the multinational exercise, told Diálogo.

            The work of the delegates throughout the weeklong staff talks is to form working groups to discuss and develop issues and objectives that ultimately result in agreed to actions in order to strengthen our partner nation relationships, develop collaborative solutions to regional problems and outline the engagement plan for the upcoming year. These agreed to actions translate into a signed contract by Chinn and Ricardo Martinez Menanteau, the General of Divisions commander for Chile, for mutual training agreements and events in the coming year.