Counter-Narco Operations [NEW Hi-Res] in Colombia 1993-98

[somebody]

Here are some photos, they give you the idea. These and MORE of the hi-res photos can be seen at: http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/

http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4STREAMPATROL.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4C130TURNAROUND.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/THDET4COLOMBIANWITHGRENLAUNCHER.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4CONSCRIPTCAMP.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4CONSCRIPTSRUNWAY.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4GORGE.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4GORGEFROMC130.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4GUARDTOWER.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4MEWITHTREE.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4RADARTOWER.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4TENTS.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4VEHICLES.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4WATERRUN.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET4WITHMACHETE.jpg
http://www.washingtonpark.org/dru/thDET9130.jpg

[djon]

cool cool cool ...thanks for your great pics ...... woot

[rindeee]

Care to give us a brief history (if you haven't already in a different post)?

[Marmot1]

THX... cool photos... did you ask Hood to create own gallery??? PM him since those photos are worth it...!!! woot woot

[Tate]

Thanks for sharing, nice pics.

[somebody]

Essentially, our job was to sit in the Amazon jungle in Colombia and use several different means to track drug runners and FARC movement. The first was primarily radar and more generalized electronic intel. The second is sketchy/classified and not something I think is worth talking about. Since the security issues posed by the second group of bad guys was our direct concern, we had to deal accordingly with those kinds of things. Sorry about being vague, but it goes with the territory.

The people who worked these outposts were a motley crew. Typically, there were some USAF technical people who worked mostly ground missions like these, some 7th SF guys who did a number of missions that I'm sure I am ignorant about, and colombian regulars who we interfaced with. The SF guys did foreign indiginous training with the host nation as their public mission. They also acted as a wealth of training and knowledge for me. They also were very proficient in the jungle.

I was one of the technical guys who taught and maintained some of the equipment. Strictly speaking, I was a technical advisor to the Colombian government. I came out of a ground unit in the AF, so I spent most of my time doing missions just like this in different parts of the world. This was the only combat zone I served in. In all, I deployed to Colombia around 9 times between 1993-98.

You may notice the strange absense of weapons in my pictures. This is because Colombia does not allow foreign soldiers on its soil, per their consitituion. Hence, we were not openly armed. The good thing about being in that mission was that we generally received the latest and greatest toys (e.g. thermal scopes, IR detection systems, IR cameras, P3 coverage, etc.) It was one of the only combat games in town for SouthCom at the time and so we got many of their resource at our fingertips.

I have read some of the allegations about what is going on in these operations and I find that they are mostly alarmist. Everything down there is a shady deal and covert operation, but the operations that I knew of were very simple and straightforward; catch bad guys. Some of the internet postings on places that I was at got every bit of information wrong or inflated. So I tend not to trust anything that smells of coup or drug funding caca.

Hope this helps,
Somebody

[fra80]

Hi somebody,

Having searched quite a lot recently for documents from inside the Colombian military, I must say, that for now, your pics are by far the most interesting I’ve seen!

Are you aware of any Colombian defence portal, with something different from the usual handcuffed guerrilleros (now terrorists) or Blackhawk helicopters in the sunset flying 1000m above the jungle?

Perhaps also a website with daily updates on terrorism, maps, statistics, etc. It probably exists but my successes have been quite limited with google in Spanish 

Thanks in advance for any info and great pics!


Ps: For a few days, I tried to get news on security related matters in the mainstream Colombian press (El Tiempo, etc.), but it seems that they are not allowing the subject so much space. In fact I found more news about high ranking FARC hostages in the European press than in the Colombian one. Perhaps are you aware if Colombians use other media for getting their information on that specific subject, such as “offline” local press or radio?