They are helping to solidify peace through Partnership for Peace initiatives. In Romania and Latvia, in Lithuania and Bulgaria, our soldiers are showing the armies of these nations how militaries function in democracies. In Africa, our soldiers are part of the African Crisis Response Initiative, a training plan to prepare African military units to support limited peacekeeping or humanitarian relief operations on their continent. In Latin America our citizen-soldiers support humanitarian missions. They are building trust and cooperation through medical training missions and regional cooperative security programs.
Soldiers drill wells and build roads and health clinics.
Recently, in a remote village near the Pacific side of the Panamanian coast members of the 99th's 463rd Engineer Battalion, from Wheeling, W. Va., built a school for children who before had to travel miles to receive an education. When Hurricane Mitch devastated parts of Central America it was an Army Reserve unit, the 99th's 1185th Terminal Transportation Brigade that loaded the first ships with relief supplies bound from Guatemala and El Salvador. At home, Army Reserve soldiers perform vital missions during disasters. Ask them what they have done in the past couple of years. In Florida, they will talk about fighting fires.