[Kyobanim]

In Costa Rica, the demining operations are centered around the town of Los Chiles, which is six to seven miles from the border with Nicaragua.

"The Sandanistas laid the mines in the 1980s, which for us makes our job easier because they used a standard Warsaw Pact minefield pattern," Sgt. 1st Class Michael A. Thomas said. "Once one is located, we have a pretty good idea where others will be. But this is not always the case, and you can never depend on it to be the case."

As with the other demining locations, one of the areas the Special Forces soldiers are concentrating on is the quality of life for the MOMENCA soldiers.

"We've built latrines and are working on getting new tents for them," Staff Sgt. Tommy J. Rhodes said. "When we first get to a site this is usually a good way to let them know we are here to help them. And it works."

Demonstrating care for the well being of the soldiers and citizens of Central and South America helps 7th SFG(A) in its missions throughout the region.

"The local population has received us really well, and they appreciate our efforts in the demining mission," Fitchitt said. "This includes the people in Managua we've dealt with, also."

Using lessons learned from many past deployments throughout Central and South America, Mitchell organized a social gathering at the team's house in Danli. The gathering acted as an icebreaker among his team, local townspeople and members of the MOMENCA.

"It is very important not to just come in and do your mission, but to also try and do a little more," Mitchell said. "The social gathering was held to establish good rapport with the surrounding community. It is very important for them to know that you live like they live, speak their language and adapt to their customs and culture. The primary way to do that in Central America is through social gatherings. When you isolate yourself from the local community, then you just don't get the level of support you need."

Simpson echoes Mitchell's views.

"One of the things I learned at my Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course is that we would have an informal get-together after class to get to know one another and to know where everyone is coming from. Also, it builds rapport with the outside community and lets them know we are here to help."

Learning the language, customs, culture and lessons-learned from their vast experiences in Central and South America is one of the main reasons 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) soldiers were selected for the demining mission over conventional engineering units.

"It's one of those jobs where you could bring an engineering unit down here that speaks the language, and they could still do their job," Simpson said, "but on the other side, we are more suited to work one-on-one with the country and the soldiers. We've worked with them before, we know their culture, we know their language, so we kind of blend in better with these guys."

"The Special Forces soldier blends in more because he's more into the culture of the people, he speaks the language," Sgt. 1st Class Bradley E. Sosebee II echoed. "When the conventional troops come down, there is a barrier there as far as the customs and cultures are concerned, and most times, the language, also.

"In Special Forces, we have more freedom to work and do stuff on our own; whereas in the conventional units they want the officers to do everything and tell the troops what to do. In SF, the soldiers are more mature and trusted to do what we need to be doing to get the job done.

"At this point in time it is very important for SF to be involved in the demining mission," Mitchell added. "First of all, we are an economy of force, second is our language and customs skills. Conventional engineer units may be able to do this mission well in the future, but only during sustainment operations. But there should always be a Special Forces element involved, whether it be one or two men on the staff.

"You need a flexible force that can shift fires from one end of this mission to the other end, and right now that is SF."

Acknowledgements
Special thanks to SINE PARI magazine for agreeing to the reprint of this article, which was published originally in SINE PARI's November 1997 issue.