School of the Americas Grouping

[Nkomo]

THis is a grouping I just bought off of a gentleman who served in Central America from 1983-1986. He was in and out of El Salvador during that time period. He did 179 day toursin El Salvador and then would go down to Ft. Gulick in Panama and train soldiers at the School of the Americas for awhile.

 

While in El Salvador he worked as an advisor at the CEMFA, the Centro de Entrenamiento Militar de las Fuerzas Armadas, in La Union. The students there were basic training recruits but they used active El Sa;vador battalions to conduct the training and thus refresh their skills (and give them a break from the field). The Belloso Bn. was there as well.

 

What you see in this thread are manuals that this USSF soldier used while training soldiers in El Salvador, Honduras, and at the School of the Americas. Basically, these manuals are Spanish translations of US field and training manuals designed specefically for the trainng of Latin American armies. These were used at the School of the Americas and used by Mobile Training Teams (MTT) in El Salvaodr and other countires in Central America to help train their militaries.

 

These manuals rarely come onto the market for sale and these are the first I've seen. I was so excited to get these manuals as Loco, Andrew, Justin, and Rob can tell you. Hope you enjoy looking at the pics. any comments and questions are welcomed.

Arch

[Nkomo]

more pics.

[Nkomo]

more pics.

[Nkomo]

more pics.

[Nkomo]

more pics.

[Nkomo]

more pics to follow later this afternoon.

[Nkomo]

more pics

[Nkomo]

There are a few more pieces of paper that go with this grouping, but I will spare you! This last picture is of a graduation program from July 6th, 1984 for the El Salvador soldiers who went through the Recon course taught at Ft. Gulick. There are plenty of names and I eventually will cross reference them with notorious graduates from the School of the Americas.

[Nkomo]

I was looking over this thread and realized I forgot to post four manuals. So here goes.

 

Something pretty neat about the Physical Eduacation manual. That manual belonged to the Special Forces medic that was part of ODA-7. ODA-7 was the team that was caught in a terrible fire fight between the Marxist FMLN and the El Salvador Armed Forces at El Bosque. The team was instrumental in helping the EL Sal Armed Forces from being overrun.

[Mr-X]

Gr8 items Arch.

Thanks for sharing them

[Polygon]

Great stuff!

[Justin]

Very nice!

 

Nice pick up Arch!

 

Justin

[ccmax]

In post #7, the "Minimanual del Guerrillero Urbano" was originally written in Portuguese by the head of a Brazilian communist party terrorist group in the 60's, Carlos Marighella. The text, a collection of self evident advice and other suggestions for the behavior of members of terrorist and guerilla organizations, was to become famous worldwide, being translated into several different languages. Marighella was eventually ambushed and shot to death in São Paulo in the late 60's. Once captured, examples of the manual were distributed to armed forces and anti-terrorist groups worldwide as an intelligence resource.

[VALERY]

Thank you to show us these interesting booklets.

TKS

Valery

[ccmax]

Up to this day, the School of the Americas is accused by the remaining Marxists of being a training center for violent interrogation tecnhiques and torture - as if Latin American armies needed any American assistance in this business. I had a good friend, a WWII veteran who took courses in the school in the 50's. All he received was training in jungle warfare operations.

[beezman]

Well the school recruited as teachers French officers who had used torture on a daily basis in Algeria. They probably weren't hired to teach the guys how to fasten their bootlaces

[beezman]

But that probably happened in the 60s, after your friend attended the school.

[ccmax]

During attempts at coup d'etats and insurgent warfare, torture of political enemies and violent interrogation methods had been common through Latin America well before the inception of the School of the Americas. Believe me, US and French officers had nothing to teach to the Brazilians and officers from neighbor countries in this regard. The guerilla manual shown above predates the adoption of the regretable counter measures of anti-guerilla warfare which became common in central and south America in the 60's and 70's. It were the Marxist guerilla groups who decided they had to seize power using violent means before security organizations reacted in a manner that disgusted any civilized person. In the course of a few years the determination to fight regardless of nasty means led to unseen brutalization on both sides.

 

The school of the Americas appeared in 1946 as a result of the perception that Latin American armies needed better training and professionalization in the early years of the cold war. It was fundamentally concerned with improving the military skills of attendees, rather than being a "center of indoctrination of capitalism and imperialism" which is the way Marxists and communists still paint the school nowadays. Too bad that the in the early 50's the Cuban army did not send enough of its officers to the school.

[Nkomo]

more pics

If you notice there is a manual that is entitled LA CONDUCTA EN COMBATE (post 7). This roughly translates into English as Conduct in Combat. This tells me that the soldiers/students who atteneded the School of the Americas were taught about how to act on combat operations. This also tells me the US advisors were teaching the Latin American armies how to conduct themselves in a professional manner.

 

Now, I am sure that not ALL soldiers who attended the school followed what they were taught. There have been accussations of alleged abuses against the armies and goverments throughout Latin America for decades by various human rights organizations. What I find so interesting is that many of the abuses committed by the Marxists is virtually looked over by the same organizations. Hmmmmmmmmmmm........

[BRIGADIANO]

The School of the Americas courses are the origin of Brazil's special operations. I am from a Militarized Police of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Extremo Sul of Brazil, Fronteira with Uruguay. My institution ( Brigada Militar) sent several Officers to the course in this School in the 60's. The Brazilian Army Warfare course in the Jungle also originated from the Jungle Expert course in Panama. The BOPE of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro can also trace its origin in the School of the Americas. In the 1970s, BOPE officers completed the course of COMANF (Commando Amphibian) of the Brazilian Navy, COMANF was made from the curriculum of the Counterguerrilla courses of the School of the Americas

[BRIGADIANO]

I have manuals from the Brazilian Army, I believe they were based on the photos above. I'll search and then send the photos here

[Spathologist]

Up to this day, the School of the Americas is accused by the remaining Marxists of being a training center for violent interrogation tecnhiques and torture - as if Latin American armies needed any American assistance in this business. I had a good friend, a WWII veteran who took courses in the school in the 50's. All he received was training in jungle warfare operations.

 

I was assigned to the SOA, I never taught anyone how to torture. On the contrary, the rules of war and human rights were a highlighted part of every curriculum.