VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #4743/01 1802222
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 292222Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6707
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 9131
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ JUN LIMA 5203
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA 0426
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 5801
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//USDP ADMIN/CHAIRS//

UNCLAS BOGOTA 004743 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR PTER CO
SUBJECT: MILGROUP BOGOTA (2) -- CLOSING THE COLAR'S 
LEADERSHIP GAP 
 
REF: BOGOTA 2290 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  Personnel shortages in officer and NCO positions are a 
handicap to expansion of the Colombian Army's fight against 
the FARC.  With guidance from the U.S. Army Mission, the 
Colombians are piloting new faster-track training courses, 
drawing officer candidates from civilian college graduates 
and sourcing NCOs from among experienced professional 
soldiers.  Aside from addressing immediate leadership gaps, 
the programs will inject a broader cross-section of 
Colombians into command levels and increase mobility 
prospects for professional recruits to rise to NCO roles. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  This is the second in a series of cables profiling 
activities of the U.S. Military Group in Colombia.  Its 
missions (Army, Navy, Air Force, Logistic, and Air Component 
Coordination Element) provide equipment and advisory support 
to the respective service arms of the COLMIL.  Its Planning 
and Assistance Training Teams (PATTs) are units of two or 
three U.S. military personnel co-located with the Colombian 
Military, providing field training in combat skills and 
guidance to commanders and staff. 
 
------------------------------ 
Shortages of Officers and NCOs 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  Severe personnel shortages in leadership positions are 
jeopardizing the Colombian Army's capacity to expand its war 
effort against the FARC.  Due to rapid growth in its forces 
since 2002, the Army is short by 1,425 officers and 5,143 
non-commissioned officers (NCOs).  Roughly half of Army 
platoons are led by NCOs instead of officers, increasing the 
NCO deficit.  Moreover, the Army continues to create new 
units, mostly offensive mobile brigades (BRIMs) to attack 
FARC strongholds; officers and NCOs who lead these BRIMs are 
pulled from existing units, exacerbating the problem.  The 
current Army training system, both time consuming and 
expensive, does not produce sufficient leaders to man the new 
units, nor does it meet attrition levels of existing 
elements. 
 
----------------------------------- 
U.S. Leadership Training and Advice 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  The U.S. Army Mission (ARMIS) provides training courses 
to new Colombian Army (COLAR) officers and NCOs, and that 
cooperation has yielded a channel for strategic advice on 
leadership planning.  Within the officer corps, ARMIS sends 
about 40 top-performing COLAR cadets each year to a six-week 
course in tactical leadership, preparing them to command 
small units of troops.  Among senior NCOs, MILGP sponsors two 
courses annually across all branches of the Colombian 
military, jointly with other Latin countries.  ARMIS also 
maintains a full-time exchange sergeant at the COLAR NCO 
Academy who updates training doctrine per U.S. standards. 
This engagement in educating new leaders has led to a trusted 
counselor role with the Military Forces Commander and senior 
COLAR staff on career progression and leadership planning, 
using U.S. models.  Recommendations of more authority for 
NCOs, for example, have led COLAR to create the new senior 
NCO rank of Command Sergeant Major. 
 
----------------------- 
New Fast-Track Training 
----------------------- 
 
¶5.  Recognizing its urgent need to expand leadership ranks, 
and following MILGP recommendations, the COLAR is 
supplementing its traditional training with shorter-duration 
alternatives.  The Army Military Academy's standard officer 
course yields 550-600 line officers per year after a 
three-year program that is half academic and half military 
training.  Beginning in June 2007, the Academy will run a new 
course, of just one and a half years of only military 
training, for 160 civilians already holding undergraduate 
degrees.  For NCOs, the normal program involves 18 months of 
training followed by two years of duty with a (defensive) 
territorial unit before assignment to an offensive combat 
unit.  The NCO school is now piloting a new course of only 
six months targeted to 360 professional soldiers who are 
already seasoned combat veterans. 
 
------------------------- 
Greater Breadth, Mobility 
------------------------- 
 
¶6.  Aside from helping to address the COLAR's leadership gap, 
the new training courses represent paradigm shifts in 
commissioning of Army officers and sourcing of its NCOs.  By 
accepting civilian college graduates as officer candidates, 
the COLAR will expand the breadth of Colombian society in its 
command positions.  Sourcing NCOs from the enlisted ranks of 
professional soldiers grants a new channel of upward mobility 
for skilled and experienced fighters.  The parallel creation 
of the rank of Command Sergeant Major aims to increase NCO 
influence by placing key NCO leaders at brigades and 
divisions, an important cultural shift for the Colombian 
military. 
Drucker