from this edition - Fort Sam Houston - U.S. Army

PAGE 8 NEWS LEADER MAY 10, 2012FULL HOUSE FOR LEADERCAST 2012Col. Robert S. Bridgford, vice commander of the 502nd AirBase Wing and Joint Base San Antonio deputy commander,makes closing remarks at Leadercast 2012. The event wasbroadcast live from Atlanta to hundreds of sites throughoutthe nation, including well over 800 participants at all threeJBSA locations. This program focused on the power ofchoice. The diverse group of internationally-acclaimed authors,leadership experts and practitioners scheduled sharedinsights to help leaders empower and equip others at work,at home and in the community.Photo by Deyanira Romo RossellApproximately 200 civilian governmentemployees and militarymembers packed the Joint Base SanAntonio-Sam Houston CommunityCenter May 4 to watch Leadercast2012. The live broadcast featured10 renowned speakers, includingCNN anchor and special correspondentSoledad O’Brien, ESPN analystand former University of Florida headfootball coach Urban Meyer and NFLquarterback and Heisman Trophywinner Tim Tebow.Photo by Tiffany BoulezCHILE from P1the Dominican Republic fromMarch 19 to May 11.The first phase of PKO-A 2012was a battalion level trainingconducted March 19 to 23in Santo Domingo, DominicanRepublic. The second phase wasa junior leaders’ training April2 to 6 at the Military OperationUrban Training Facility in FortAguayo, Chile. The third phasewas a senior leader staff seminarin Santiago, Chile April 30 toMay 2.In addition to Chile and theUnited States, more than 300representatives from Argentina,Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada,Colombia, Dominican Republic,Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador,El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru andUruguay are participating inPKO-A 2012.According to exercise leaders,training together with partnernations is more effective thannations training individually.“This helps in developingcomprehensive knowledge and acomprehensive point of view sothat we all can work jointly andin a combined fashion,” Martinezsaid. “There are some thingshere that may be very new tosome but well known for others.”Ortiz said working side-by-sidewith partner nation counterpartsis not only about learning fromeach other, but strengtheningpartnerships.“I’m very proud to be herewith them in this internationalenvironment,” Ortiz said. “In myopinion, I think the most valuablething about this is to knoweach other for the future, bothprofessionally and personally.”The multinational exercisesupports the U.S. Departmentof State’s Global Peace OperationsInitiative, which encouragespeacekeeping efforts in Centraland South America and the Caribbean.This initiative developsand enhances national trainingcapabilities and equips potentialpeacekeeping units for deployment.The venue also enables participatingU.S. service membersto learn from nongovernmentalorganizations and civilian andmilitary experts from the participatingcountries.