The family and I are off to Spain for four days Friday. We’ve visited Spain previously, stopping and staying at Naval Air Station Rota, on the west coast. Rota’s weather is beautiful and the accomodations were fantastic. We flew on military space-available travel and had zero issues. The trip was also our first without our young daughter.

Despite pristine weather comparable to my hometown San Diego and a schedule of activities that kept us running from one side of the country (south, mostly, in to Gibraltar) to the other; then north of Rota, toward Seville) in our Twingo. We also reveled in a litany of July 4 activities on base, hit the naked people beach, caught a cool local market and much more. Still, we missed our daughter. And during our proposed 10-day stay, we discovered as much. It went like this:

[list style="info"]

• Day 1: We made it to Spain. It’s beautiful! Can’t wait to get started! Wonder how AB is doing?
• Day 2: This is so great, I bet AB would love this. Too bad she couldn;t have come, but she’s with your Mom, so all is well. But maybe we should call.
• Day 3: Wow, I really miss AB. She would have loved that fireworks display. And Gibraltar … man. She’d have been all over the Rock.
• Day 4: I miss AB. Let’s go home
• Day 5: Home

[/list]

Admittedly, AB was too young to go withus that time around and keeping her home was a good idea. Being gone as long as we thought we would was not. She travels with us everywhere now and we’d rather have it that way. She’s old enough to remember the places, people and things she discovers in Europe and beyond. I think she’ll dig this trip, too.

What are your plans for Memorial Day weekend?

(Note: I didn’t disclose the specific location in Spain for security purposes. If you’re a friend on Facebook, you’ll find out there.)

Image: Ronda, Spain by cloudsoup@ Flickr Creative Commons

(Originally published by DefenseLink.mil April 15, 2009)

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, April 15, 2009 – Rare will be the occasion when the U.S. military will operate by itself. Instead, it will rely on partnerships with other nations going forward, the U.S. Army in Europe’s top officer said here today.

Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army, told about 150 students at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies that the United States taking action unilaterally would be a “highly unusual” circumstance.

“Building partner capacities” is one of the tenets of how the Army operates in Europe and beyond going forward, the general said, talking about operations and conditions across the theater.

U.S. forces operate with 41 countries in Afghanistan, 32 countries in Kosovo and 25 in Bosnia.

“We will go forward with our allies and partners, developing common tactics, procedures and policies,” Ham said. “We do it because we cannot conduct operations as a single nation any longer.”

The U.S. Army presence in Europe is growing smaller, slashed from a Cold War high of 200,000 to a current size of about 70,000 soldiers. Ham indicated the goal for troops in Europe is about 32,000, which he said presents numerous challenges. Those include NATO Article 5, which says an armed attack on one member nation is an armed attack on all; operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; activity in the Balkans; theater security cooperation; and training exercises in Europe.

“The challenge is this: How I can accomplish the mission with less people and capability while operating with the same capacity?” Ham said. “We’re concerned about sustaining the level of commitment to joint exercises throughout the theater. And we think we can sustain it by building partner capacity.”

In building partnerships, the 33-year Army veteran said, the relationship between the United States and other countries is not senior to junior. “That’s just not the case,” he said. “We will learn as much from our partners as they will learn from us.”

When asked about the “why” of building partnerships, Ham offered three reasons.

First, he said, “the more nations involved, the more legitimacy it has, along with involvement from organizations like the United Nations.”

The second is geographic proximity. “Some nations are very difficult to access,” Ham said. “For example, we rely on Afghanistan’s surrounding neighbors for support.”

Third, as other nations are willing and able to contribute, he said, “that means less U.S. personnel that have to be part of that fight.”

In speaking with the students gathered from 45 countries such as Afghanistan, France, Ukraine and others, Ham talked about keys to success during disputes and discussed the role a military plays in the plan.

“In most cases, the military is an essential, but nondecisive, aspect to success,” he said. “It is the rare circumstance where the military is the decisive instrument.”

In building partnerships, there will be pitfalls, Ham acknowledged. For instance, he said, U.S. and partner militaries work “great” on an operational level, but face challenges on the tactical level. Exercises and education are keys to success, he said, but he added that time, money and resources are precious because of war and struggling economies.

“We have to be persistent about developing tactical relationships,” he said. “There are great challenges, but the U.S. is not alone.”

By Jason Tudor
Special to American Forces Press Service