FORT BENNING, Ga. — U.S. Army South led the “Programa Integral para Suboficiales de Alta Jerarquía,” or PISAJ, concluded yesterday after 11 days of training, tactical demonstrations and cultural outings here on base.

“Over the past two weeks, our partner nation’s sergeant majors have been focused on building the skills of senior leaders and the need for joint operations in our complex world,” the command sergeant said. Maj. Ronald J. Graves, the senior enlisted adviser to the Southern Army. “I challenge this class to leverage what they have learned here to strengthen our partnership and improve all of our NCOs.”

PISAJ is a biannual military engagement conducted with the Colombian military and other invited participants under a semi-annual U.S.-Colombia agreement focused on noncommissioned officers and designed to increase capacity and regional collaboration between the two military.

With this year’s goal in mind, students attended information sessions on equal opportunity, sexual harassment/response and assault prevention, gender mainstreaming, human resources, as well as briefings from the joint forces of the US Southern Command and its components, the Inter-American Air Force Academy and the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

The class also visited several schools and training centers at Fort Benning, including the Security Force Assistance Brigade.

The 43 Colombian, three Brazilian and one Mexican NCOs were pleased with the content of this iteration, as it will help them in their personal military development as well as in the development of their army in general.

“One lesson I want to take away is the level of trust leaders have in their subordinates to perform their duties and accomplish the mission, and in turn, the subordinates will have confidence in their leader,” the soldier said. Mexican Army, 1st Sgt. Alvaro Lobato Juarez. “I’ve been to WHINSEC before and thought I learned everything I could from the US military, but I realize there’s so much more.”

One of four female senior NCOs participating in this iteration of PISAJ, Colombian Army soldier, Sgt. Maj. Olga Lucía Velasco Carabali was grateful for the support of the U.S. Armed Forces through collaborative activities with partner nations like this and said the experience was invaluable.

“I gained a lot of experience, knowledge and motivation from PISAJ 16,” said Velasco. “What I learned from this experience is how to pass on knowledge and skills to my subordinates to help our commander and our soldiers. It has been a very positive experience and it will be a very important tool that we can use in our home units. »

While the experiences and lessons learned have been invaluable, Graves envisions expanding our partners’ involvement and planning with a greater emphasis on joint operations.

“Our goal is to continue to participate with Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, while attracting additional partners from other Caribbean, Central and South American forces from all branches of the military” , Graves said. “We asked Sgt. Colombian Army Maj. William Cuellar Duarte to give us five priorities where he wants to continue developing his NCO corps and senior sergeant majors. Then we will focus our sessions information, our discussions and, for the first time, we will introduce working groups while having sergeant majors from the United States and partner nations work together to develop courses.