McALLEN, Texas –
Fuerzas Amigas 2022, a binational disaster-response exercise between the U.S. and Mexican militaries, began Oct. 17 and runs through Oct. 21 along the U.S.- Mexican border.
The annual exercise will work to improve disaster-response readiness and strengthen the two nations’ cooperative relationship. The training will feature response efforts to a notional major hurricane making landfall near Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, creating a natural disaster affecting Texas and Mexico concurrently. U.S. and Mexican service members will work together, sharing best practices in humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
The exercise is a coordinated response effort to a catastrophic incident. It builds on partnerships with Mexican, federal, state, and local responders while integrating search and rescue efforts on cross-border disaster response operations. The coast along the Gulf of Mexico is prone to tropical weather events, such as major hurricanes. U.S. Army North continuously works with the Mexican Army to enhance disaster response and readiness of both nations.
The exercise is conducted by U.S. Army North and the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense, or SEDENA. Joint Task Force Civil Support serves as the command-and-control element of U.S. forces as they train alongside Mexican soldiers from Military Region IV, 8th Military Zone.
During genuine disaster-response efforts, the U.S. Department of Defense supports the lead federal agency responding to the disaster by using its unique military capability, agility, and surge capacity to enable broader, immediate national and international relief efforts.