Within the framework of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Peace Missionsand the motto peace starts with mewe interviewed Commodore Javier Chiappai, deputy director of the Argentine Joint Training Center for Peace Operations (CAECOPAZ), who throughout his military career has been deployed six times to serve the UN, and Petty Officer Marcela Martínez, who on July 26 will join the Argentine contingent in Cyprus, which will mean her first experience as peacekeepers.
Both have an outstanding track record within the Argentine armed forces, and have a key role in ensuring that the new generations of blue helmets arrive at their destination adequately prepared to carry out their duties and face any unexpected event that threatens stability. of the region they have been assigned.
Chiappai accompanies Colonel Pablo Filipini, director of the aforementioned center, leading the formation of the troops who decide to join the ranks of the UN, while Petty Officer Martínez has been an instructor at the center for several years, and despite having postponed the possibility of deployment in a mission to prioritize the upbringing of her 15-year-old daughter Agustina and her 9-year-old son Gonzalo, today she feels the need to take the plunge and embark on this six-month experience that will change her life personal and professional, and that it will mean the most concrete contribution that it can offer for the benefit of peace.
Now it’s your turn
“I had the opportunity to participate in the training of 12 task forces, and I feel that now is the time to be on the ground. My children are happy, my husband is also in the military, he was deployed in the same mission in 2011 and he told me: ‘now it’s your turn’. I made the decision, I’m leaving calmly, it was not easy to leave them when they were youngerNow they have grown up, they are happy that I can do it and that leaves me alone, they investigate Cyprus, they learn about travel time, time differences and the forms of communication.
I have been working on the training of the blue helmets for years, days before they join the UN, I feel that I want to be there to represent my country, to contribute my knowledge, but also when I return enrich the theory of the classes with the experiences that can only be gained by being in the placefeeling that we contributed to the pacification of the area”, said the non-commissioned officer.
Marcela Martínez is 36 years old, and not only is she a few days away from leaving for her first peace mission together with 258 soldiers from Argentina, but it will also be the first time she has traveled abroad.
“I am anxious, it generates expectations for me to know how I am going to relate to comrades from other cultures, what the integration will be like. How does peace begin in this case? I think it begins precisely with realizing this possibility of being a soldier of peace, who can represent his country and the United Nations”, she expressed enthusiastically.
Expert pilot in Cyprus and Haiti
For his part, Commodore Chiappai has been introduced to the core and substance of peace operations early in his career, and through his skill and ability in the air force as a helicopter pilot, he has provided an invaluable contribution throughout his deployments in the UN missions in Cyprus (2000, 2001, 2004 and 2009) and Haiti (2007 and 2014). It is important to highlight that, in Cyprusin the buffer zone the three helicopters that the peacekeepers have belong to the Argentine air forcehence the need to have expert Argentine pilots on site.
In the case of Haiti, before the end of the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH), the Argentine contingent was in possession of the only twin-engine helicopters suitable for sea rescue, and during its presence in this Chiappai mission was one of those responsible for the transfer of medicines, food as well as the wounded to a hospital in the Dominican Republic.
The Commodore recalls a particular situation that occurred in 2007, when a member of the United Nations civilian staff fell from a building, had multiple fractures that caused him extreme pain and had to perform a transfer operation of almost two hours facing very adverse weather conditionswhich made it possible for him to be treated on time and recover.
“Peace missions gave me a lot of wealth in terms of technical operations, learning in various functions, the possibility of learning about other cultures and understanding the reality of the local population. I always had the support of my affections, and on one occasion I had to leave my wife with my two-year-old daughter, who did not recognize me when I returned. The family is a fundamental pillar to cope with the missions”, affirmed the deputy director of CAECOPAZ.
blue helmet training
When analyzing the differences between the preparation required in the past, compared to the current one, Chiappai did not hesitate to mention that Advances in communications have had a highly positive impact on the evolution of peacekeeping missions.
“Technology has helped us a lot, today we are instantly informed of what is happening in the place, while in the past we sometimes had to wait six months for the return of the contingent to have the complete situation report. In turn, the experience acquired by the instructors has also been key in the training of peacekeeping personnel. At CAECOPAZ, knowledge has been transmitted for 27 years, emphasizing the responsibility that comes with being part of the United Nations, the conduct and discipline essential to reflect knowledge of the rules and requirements of the UN.
We transform green helmets into blue helmets, making it clear that they are going to deploy to make peace, instilling in them good manners, the ability to negotiate and the agreement of parties as core skills. Providing a solution and bringing security to populations with enormous deprivations continues to be the purpose of peace operations of the United Nations, and I think the personnel that deploy today after 75 years, do so with a lot of preparation”.
Regarding the search for gender parity in the ranks, Chiappai mentioned that women are constantly being encouraged to enlist and form contingents within peace operations.
“Sometimes it is difficult because they have small children, but more and more women, like Petty Officer Martínez, accept the initiative, and it is those same women who, when they return, become transmitters and promoters of encouraging other colleagues. That is why we summon them to share their experiences and strategies”.
In his final reflection, which adheres to this year’s UN campaign, and as one of the authorities of the training center, the commodore expressed that: “Peace begins with our responsibility to train future blue helmets that they will contribute to world peace.”
