The Army is sending 500 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division to Latin America and dispatching a headquarters company to Florida as the service becomes more involved in the U.S. campaign against drug trafficking groups. The moves expand the conventional Army presence supporting the regional effort.

Hundreds of soldiers from the division are heading to Panama for jungle warfare training. A separate contingent will support the task force command overseeing renewed U.S. military operations in Latin America.

The deployment represents a major escalation in the U.S. troop presence across the region and a surge in conventional forces. Washington is looking to position more personnel in more countries as the campaign develops.

The New York Times first reported the Latin America deployment. A 10th Mountain Division spokesperson told Task & Purpose that roughly 100 soldiers from a headquarters element will travel to Miami.

Those soldiers will augment Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere with “command and control, intelligence, planning, communications, and other staff functions.” The Florida deployment will strengthen the command responsible for coordinating the broader operation.

Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere is the successor to Joint Task Force-Southern Spear. Since this summer, the task force has conducted strikes against boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean while overseeing troops assigned to the mission against cartels.

Meanwhile, around 500 soldiers are deploying to countries in Latin America. They are members of 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), which is stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

The division spokesperson said the soldiers are “deploying to the U.S. Southern Command area of operations to provide host nation security cooperation and conduct training with their host nation counterparts.” Their initial destination is Panama, according to The New York Times.

Image Credit: DoW

The soldiers will train at the Army’s Jungle Operations Training Course-Panama at Aeronaval Base Cristóbal Colón. The New York Times also reported that they could support direct missions against cartel groups led by special operations forces.

The Pentagon and the wider Trump administration have promoted the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, also known as the Shield of the Americas partnership. The multinational political and military agreement focuses on targeting groups viewed as drug trafficking organizations.

Colombia and Honduras have joined the coalition in recent months following the elections of friendly governments on the political right. Their participation broadens the group of regional governments working through the partnership.

Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere serves as the U.S. arm of that effort. Its forces include Marines who have boarded and then sunk boats that U.S. Southern Command claims were being used as refueling stations for drug smugglers.

Those Marines belong to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and are operating as Littoral Combat Force-24. They have spent several weeks operating in waters off Ecuador alongside two Navy ships.

Green Berets from 7th Special Forces Group also have been confirmed as participants in joint operations with Ecuadorian forces, according to officials there. Their involvement adds another Army element to the expanding military activity.

Southern Command published photographs and video last month from a joint raid involving U.S. and Ecuadorian forces against cartel members. Personnel from U.S. Army and Marine Corps special operations units took part in that raid.

The expanding U.S. operations have largely concentrated on maritime targets associated with drug trafficking groups, particularly organizations designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations. Southern Command, however, also carried out two major strikes on land this spring.

Gen. Francis Donovan, the head of Southern Command, addressed the prospect of further land operations during an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Donovan said additional strikes on land remained a possibility as the regional campaign continues.