CUCUYAGUA, Honduras – Guard members with 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, returned to homes all across Georgia after deploying to Honduras for a few months to help the Honduran military build its capacity and capability to defeat drug trafficking organizations and transnational criminal organizations.
“We were there to train the Honduran military on Combat Life Saving techniques; the 13 basic combative maneuvers (in case someone struggles during an arrest); and conduct weapons training from the four basics of marksmanship (breathing, body position, site picture and trigger control) all the way through a live-fire shoot-house event,” said Capt. Jacob Stimson, company commander for Alpha Company, 1-121 IN.
The 1-121 IN worked with U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Army South as one of the first National Guard units to execute missions under the Department of Defense’s regionally aligned forces program. Regionally aligned forces are prepared to support the Department Of Defense with mission-ready forces and capabilities that have cultural, regional and language training.
“I enjoyed the weapons training the best because we worked with Honduran troops who were right out of basic, making them motivated to learn,” said Stimson. “In fact the Hondurans would take the training we conducted earlier in the day and would practice outside their barracks at night, whether it was marksmanship drills, combatives, or practicing clearing their own barracks as a fire team.”
Staff Sgt. Eric Hunt, a Guard member with A/1-121 IN, works full time as a police officer in DeKalb, Georgia. Hunt served on active duty for five years with two and a half of them being deployed to combat prior to joining the National Guard. His military and civilian experiences help him train others.
“My patrol area is so culturally diverse, it has prepared me to communicate will with diverse groups in stressful situations,” said Hunt. “While in Honduras, I was in charge of the marksmanship range and our team was able to help some of the Honduran Soldiers, who previously had only fired 20 rounds, become expert shooters.”
Training overseas gives the entire chain of command practice at mobilizing troops and keeps staff officers’ skills fresh in case larger mobilizations are directed from the Department of the Defense. Training overseas also provides a unique cultural experience for Guard members.
“We sent over four waves of Georgia Guardsmen [about 60 at a time] so we could expose more Citizen-Soldiers to this training opportunity,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth Hutnick, 1-121 IN’s battalion commander. “We trained hard for the last two years to be ready and were fortunate to have so many volunteers for this mission.”
“Living and working side by side with the Honduran soldiers in Cucuyagua was an amazing experience for me and my team,” said Hutnick. “We finished the training during the first bracket of the world cup, and it will be hard to forget watching those soccer games with a country that loves that sport so much.”