HONDURAS and GUATEMALA — Boots are dirty again.  National Guard, Navy and Air Force reservists along with a handful of active Army support Troops are on the ground in Honduras and Guatemala this spring and summer.  About 250 are deployed in each country at any given day.  They are engaged in an exercise known as “Beyond the Horizons”.

These engineer-heavy task forces are oriented on construction tasks, building new or renovating existing schools and clinics in small villages throughout the countryside.  Some new construction is targeted to replace infrastructure lost to Hurricane Mitch – more than 13 years ago, and leaving villages without local services ever since.

The tasks are clear.  The plans are drawn.  The Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors are getting the job done.

For many younger Troops, this is a first trip out of the United States.  Veterans find themselves in different circumstances than offered by previous deployments.  A few have done both and reminisce about humanitarian and civic assistance missions they’ve been a part of over the years.

At a town hall meeting with Soldiers, the usual topics don’t present themselves.  Usually, people want to know about promotion processes, changes in the kinds of units and the ability of the state to pay for certain kinds of schools.  This town hall is different.  The focus here is laser-like and oriented on what more can be done to help the local people.

On the work sites, the spirit of cooperation between US and local citizens is alive and easy to see.  The transformation of young US Soldiers and young host-nation Soldiers, local children and adults alike is ongoing right before our eyes.  It is a magnificent sight to see.

It’s at this point where an otherwise casual observer, who, if he takes a little effort to look just a bit closer, can begin to see an intangible, but important element beginning to appear.

It won’t be immediately known, nor, hopefully, may it ever need re-emerge in a life-time, but it is there – forever.

It is the element of doubt.

The element of doubt is a crucial by-product of the goings on during these engineering exercises in our neighboring countries.  The element of doubt all parties come away with from this place may far save more blood and treasure than is ever invested in a small village school or clinic.

When the day comes – and it likely will, the element of doubt installed here will be used to formulate the questions and to create the tone of tolerance or acceptance of similar, but diverse cultures.  “Are you sure?” the now 12-year-old, then thirty, may ask, “I don’t remember the Americans being that way.”

“I doubt that’s true,” they may say.  They can say it because they’re armed with the personal experience necessary to say it.  Similarly, the Soldier who sits in the coffee shop and reads the headlines years from now thinks the same… “I doubt that’s the case.”

The first-hand experience is far more credible and powerful than the second or third-hand “information” conveyed by mass media outlets who formulate the daily news or simply relay the messages of populist, power-hungry, self-centered leaders.

Then, the rest of the questions will come.  Others, who find “those in doubt” more credible than the television news, can then join the dialog with their own doubts and questions.  Incomplete or misinformation becomes more questionable and harder to comprehend.

Engagement in such a meaningful measure as we see now and in decades past in Honduras, Guatemala and other places around the world can be, in fact, far more powerful than the meager investment of taxpayer dollars here may seem to suggest.

If power were measured solely in dollars or mere tangible evidence left behind such as a small village school, the Beyond The Horizons exercise series could not statistically match the tangible loss of life and trillion dollars of national treasure expended in open, hot conflict.  Engagement in the form of Beyond The Horizons, and activities like it, would seem powerless to do anything meaningful at all.  The opposite is true.

At the end of the day, the Soldier’s spirit is renewed.  The same is true for those who now have come to know us.

To be certain, not all can be resolved or prevented with dirty boots, dirty fingernails, sweat, a shovel and a smile between new friends.  However, the opportunity to sweat together in cooperation can be far more positive, meaningful and powerful than our fully demonstrated ability to bleed in opposition to one another.

I have no doubt.

This element of doubt may be a key to peace.

This summer, it has been effectively installed here in these critical places – the minds of all touched: US, Guatemalan and Honduran alike.

This blog is courtesy of Capt. Ken Huenink, the Missouri National Guard state Fitness Coordinator.

Soldiers at the Operational Fitness Trainer Course at Ft. Hood learn how to use the TRX suspension system. Operational Fitness Trainer Course instructors emphasized the … Continue reading →

In the files of the Civil War records of the Missouri Adjutant General’s Office is a report of the commanding officer whose regiment had a couple of weeks before fought in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 16, 1864. The officer mentions that he has seen no account concerning his regiment’s part in the battle which he supposes results from the fact that “we have no correspondent to do our ‘puffing’” and then to continue further using his own words “we are able to write our own history with the sword and bayonet and are willing for others to pen is for the perusal of our friends and future generations.” Continue reading →

This blog is courtesy of the Museum of Missouri Military History and is the first in a series of blogs about the Civil War by former Missouri National Guard archivist Gilbert Knipmeyer.

Without experience in military affairs, General John C. Fremont … Continue reading →

Commanders, Officers, Sergeant Majors and First Sergeants, NCOs,
As the state leadership continues to emphasize individual Soldier and Airman readiness (ISAR), unit-level leaders begin to feel the pressure to implement programs, operate within TAG intent, and to improve their unit’s readiness … Continue reading →

Teammates,
In Florida, they call the hurricane season the “mean season” for obvious reasons.  This year in Missouri, we’ve had a mean season of our own.  The Missouri National Guard has operated under an almost-continuous, Governor-declared state of emergency since December … Continue reading →

Leaders,
No matter our position of assignment, we operate with three intertwined elements – responsibility, authority and latitude.  To keep this short and sweet, I’m going to ask you to consider “latitude”.
We understand we have the responsibility to “do the right … Continue reading →

Today’s guest blog comes from Sgt. Jon E. Dougherty, with the 70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.

As a member of the Missouri National Guard, I’ve had many humbling experiences.
Most of them have come from helping people in need, whether … Continue reading →

Usually when you hear that an organization is leaning forward, the idea that comes to mind is that the future operational climate is being considered and the subsequent events and task associated with the pending change are … Continue reading →

Teammates,
We protect good people from bad people and bad things.
We can’t escape this simple purpose for our being.
No matter the situation, especially if it’s a bad situation, the first uniformed person on the scene – owns the scene.
If you’re traveling … Continue reading →

• Leadership on the Objective: Installing the Element of Doubt
• What is Physical Readiness?
• A Missouri Regiment Set Extraordinary Record During Civil War
• General Puts on Grand Display during Civil War in Missouri
• Leadership on the Objective: Delegate, Empower, Expect, Inspect

• Leadership on the Objective: Head Space and Timing (17)
• Leadership on the Objective: Curbing The Long Post-APFT Slide (17)
• Leadership On the Objective: Soldier Transition Points (15)
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• Leadership on the Objective: Valuable Intangibles (11)

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