I just returned from several days in the heart of Texas, visiting Major General Keith Huber, who leads our U.S. Army teammates at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.  After spending some time with them, I came away – as always – deeply impressed with their professionalism and dedication to security cooperation in the Americas.

Let’s start with Keith Huber – a 1975 graduate of West Point, Keith speaks Spanish and Portuguese coupled with an extraordinary record of service throughout the region.  Of note, he is a former commander of Joint Task Force Bravo, our helicopter-equipped unit in Honduras which specializes in disaster relief. 

While in Honduras, he pioneered cooperative training solutions with our partner nations in Central America.  He has served several times here at U.S. Southern Command, most recently as the director of operations.  Keith also served as the President of the Inter-American Defense College, and as the most recent U.S. president of the Inter-American Defense Board, the regional security organization headquartered in Washington, DC.

There simply is not another officer wearing a U.S. military uniform with a more positive service record and deeper personal connections throughout the Americas.  Today, Keith is bringing all of that experience to bear as the leader of U.S. Army South, whose motto is “defense and fraternity.”  This team of professionals is engaged in a wide variety of positive activities throughout the region including:

-         “Beyond the Horizon” a series of humanitarian training activities including medical and disaster relief activities

-         Preparing for possible migrant relief operations in case of a mass migration in the region

-         PANAMAX, a security exercise with more than 20 nations participating in a defense of the Panama Canal from terrorists

-         Staff integration between our team and friendly nations to the south

Keith Huber and his team were also the lead in repatriating our three U.S. hostages after their extraordinary rescue by the Colombian Military from a terrorist group in the Colombian jungle just before the 4th of July of this year. 

Immediately after their rescue, Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Tom Howes were flown to Fort Sam Houston and checked into the reintegration program at the Brooke Army Medical Center, led by Brigadier General and physician Jim Gilman.  Together, Keith Huber, Jim Gilman and their teams worked with Marc, Keith, and Tom to ensure that their return provided everything our nation could offer.

Shortly after their return, Marc, Keith, and Tom were reunited with their families after five and a half years of captivity, and are all doing very well today.  One light-hearted moment occurred on their first night of freedom, just after their arrival, when the medical staff recommended a dinner that was similar to the fare they had eaten with the terrorists – rice, beans, and a little chicken.  Marc, Keith, and Tom said, “No thanks!  We’re home now – please get us some cheeseburgers and fries.”  Which the medical staff happily did.

I’m very proud of U.S. Army South and all they are doing.  It was an excellent visit, indeed an inspirational one for me.

As I walked around historic Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, I reflected on the deep linkages and shared history of the U.S. Army throughout our society and this region.  The beautiful, stark posts of the “old west” like Fort Riley, Fort Sill, Fort Bliss, and San Antonio’s Fort Sam Houston seemed to echo the long-ago shouts of the men and women who literally built our nation and constructed the bridges, towns, and cities that today connect us with the world to the south.

Fort Sam Houston is not much over a stone’s throw from the Alamo -- site of the iconic battle of 1836.  The Fort was built in the 1870s, and the fierce Apache warrior Chief Geronimo was held in its central tower before moving on to his confinement to a reservation in Oklahoma.  The adobe and dusty brick of the old fort’s quadrangle shadow deer, peacock, geese, and duck who wander the courtyard below.

In the end, I concluded that Fort Sam Houston and the U.S. Army South team represent a combination of both the lessons of history and the vibrant energy of today – both so necessary to tackling the challenges of this unfolding and unsettled 21st century.