Word: salvadorans
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...Salvadoran military did not see things that way. Says a senior U.S. military officer: "By our standards, the Salvadoran army is just plain bad." That criticism does not extend to ordinary Salvadoran soldiers, whom a U.S. expert describes as "physically hard, readymade soldiers who like to be told what to do." But, says the expert, "the officer corps is bewildered. There are so many things wrong, you don't know where to start to fix them...
...more than a year, U.S. advisers fretted about the army's "9-to-5 war," in which Salvadoran officers took their units on fruitless guerrilla chases during the day, then returned to their garrisons at night, leaving the Salvadoran countryside to the rebels of the Faraibundo Marti National Liberation Front (F.M.L.N.). As a result, the guerrillas have held the initiative in the war, using hit-and-run strikes, mobility and economic sabotage to wear down the battered country...
Above all, the Americans have had trouble convincing the Salvadoran officers that, as one U.S. Special Forces officer puts it, "they have a deadly serious live-or-die fight on their hands." Says one outspoken U.S. military analyst: "These guys have got to start thinking about more than their pretty uniforms and cocktail parties. They have to get over that mañana attitude. There is no more time left for that...
...last it seems that the insistent U.S. pressure for action is producing progress. Most encouraging is a campaign known as Operation Goodwill, a U.S.-directed attempt by the Salvadoran military to regain the offensive. Launched in June, the drive is largely aimed at the departments of San Vicente and Usulután, the agricultural heartland of El Salvador. All together, 74 infantry companies (about 7,400 men) have been involved, spearheaded by two of the country's three "fast reaction" battalions, which were trained in the U.S. last year in counterinsurgency techniques. The campaign appears to be succeeding. Asserts...
According to Golcher, the Salvadoran army has managed to reclaim from F.M.L.N. control an area that previously contained some 1,200 guerrillas. The territory was won without a heavy fight: the guerrillas in the area moved out before the troops arrived. This time, however, the Salvadoran army does not intend to go back to its barracks; it is going to stay. Says one of the U.S. Special Forces advisers who designed the campaign: "We're not stacking up bodies, but that's not the point. We are taking back terrain, clearing the area, getting lots of intelligence...