Sixty-six students from the Army Command & General Staff Officer Course (CGSOC) class 2016-2017 offered in Spanish at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), visited U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (USNAVSO) headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida, Feb. 27.

WHINSEC invites international students from various Latin countries to train side by side with U.S. CGSOC Army counterparts on military doctrine, history, human rights and senior officer leadership development.

Navy Capt. Ryan Tillotson briefed on the diverse duties of the command, its strategy and the partners involved in the security cooperation program. He explained the importance of building partners throughout the world, as no single nation or agency is capable of defeating a threat on its own.

"The relationships that we build are the most important thing we develop in the AOR [Area of Responsibility]," said Tillotson.

During the conference, Tillotson shared some of the upcoming combined training events with world partners. This year USNAVSO, as part of the southern partnership station, is anticipating conducting diving operations with Chile and Colombia.

Maj. Eric Espino, a Panamanian police officer and WHINSEC student who was previously assigned to Panama's Presidential Guard prior to attending the yearlong course, asked Tillotson about the command's criteria to select the country which will act as the main effort and exchange interoperability during a combined exercise with USNAVSO. Tillotson responded that if a country has the desire to lead the exercise, then they will be encouraged to take the lead. "We want all our partners to have everything they need to take the lead," assured Tillotson.

At the end of the conference, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jada Johnson, a student attending the CGSOC course at WHINSEC, presented a certificate of appreciation to Tillotson for taking the time to speak to the WHINSEC students and sharing the intricate nature of the Navy's security cooperation efforts. Johnson was handpicked by the U.S. Navy to attend CGSOC at WHINSEC in Fort Benning, Georgia, alongside her Army counterparts. Johnson is a dedicated Navy officer; her next assignment upon graduation will be as a foreign area officer in Honduras.

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