 Hello, I'm your host on today's issue of the Big Picture. The United States Army activities are of a global nature. Even in remote sections of the Earth, soldiers are busy with a number of projects. From the training of local special forces and the skills of counterinsurgency, to the mapping of uncharted peaks at the roof of the world, both pursuits are the subject of today's program, which deals with the United States Army in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia and Peru. Our friends in the southern hemisphere are receiving important benefits of technical know-how from the military assistance program of their northern neighbors, the United States, through civic action projects as well as military training programs. We invite you to travel with us now to visit with your army in the South American Andes for today's Big Picture. OK, move out. After its liberator, Simon Bollibar is a landlocked republic roughly the size of the states of California and Texas, divided into principal land regions, the Altiplano, the valleys, and the lowlands. The Altiplano is a high barren windswept plain, ranging an altitude from 12 to 14,000 feet, which looks very much like our western plains area. It is here that approximately 75% of Bolivia's total population of 4 million people scrape out a living from the rough, rocky soil. Also in this altitude are to be found some of the world's richest tin mines, mines which produce Bolivia's main export, tin ore. The second principal land region, the lowlands, enjoys a rich tropical climate capable of supporting the rest of the country with food. However, the predominantly Indian population of Quechua and Aymara extraction prefer the traditional Altiplano region of their ancestors to a new tropical environment of economic expediency. The legal capital of the country is technically the old Spanish-style city of Sucra in a terrace canyon to the north with a population of some 320,000 remains the principal seat of activity and possesses all the hustle and bustle of a capital city. It is also the location of the offices of the Military Assistance Program, the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca lies on the border of Bolivia and Peru and is believed to be the cradle of Andean civilization with breathtaking scenery such as this for a background the Bolivian Indian clings to his ancient traditions, customs, and way of life, until now largely unconcerned and untouched by our 20th century of progress, as typified by this Sunday market scene in a local village square, the Indian. Actually, it helps mask poverty, illiteracy, and disease. Starting assistance to the Bolivian government through a combined civic action program. This program is at work in many parts of the country, as in the small village of Chiapata, some 150 miles south of La Paz. Here we see members of the local U.S. Army mission delivering much-needed textbooks provided by the U.S. Information Service in La Paz to the local school teachers. Civic action such as this is helping raise the present 30% literacy rate. In addition, the U.S. Army is assisting in the design and construction of schools throughout the country, over 50 of which have already been built. Another problem to be overcome is the lack of roads and limited air routes, which makes transportation via inland waterways of prime importance for the economic and physical well-being of the Bolivian people. The U.S. Military Assistance Program has provided funds for the reconditioning of several old craft. These boats are being reconditioned by local craftsmen utilizing their traditional skills and hand tools. New craft, provided by the U.S. Military Assistance Mission, were used by traveling medical teams who visit riverside communities bringing medical services and drugs for the first time to outlying areas. The teams also travel overland by horse and donkey, carrying their gear with them. The teams like this one are made up of a Bolivian doctor and nurse assisted by a Peace Corps volunteer and a U.S. Army medical specialist. During this trip, over 300 children were examined and received vaccinations for smallpox. Classes concerning sanitation and the prevention of many tropical illnesses of the region were conducted. The blessing of medical science brought to this remote village will mean better health for its population and a step forward in the battle against disease. Because of a volatile past, the Bolivian government must maintain armed forces strong enough to ensure law and order in the face of possible armed upheaval inspired by either external or internal influence. United States Army Mobile Training Teams have been instructing Bolivian special forces in counterinsurgency skills complete to the staging of mock guerrilla situations in real villages for training purposes. Outside the village of Chiapata, a Mobile Training Team assigned temporarily to the U.S. Army mission has been requested by the Bolivian Army to give a course in counterinsurgency techniques to officers and NCOs of the first Ranger Battalion of the Bolivian Army. The officer's class was made up of 18 students who received 182 hours of instruction and the second class consisted of 24 NCOs who received 180 hours of classwork. Training begins on the infiltration and instinctive firing forces which the students help their instructors build. Like soldiering everywhere, the toughening process was exacting and in the Andes, at high altitudes, strenuous exertion proved even more difficult. Infiltration course with its live fire and explosions was a vital step in the conditioning of each soldier's mind and body for the instruction to follow. On the instinctive firing course, students were taken separately through the maze of 10 hidden man-sized targets which were suddenly pulled up by the U.S. Army instructor walking behind. The reaction time and marksmanship of the student was evaluated by yet another instructor following the student through the course. Students were then shown the basic techniques of repelling on a steep concrete spillway of a dam in the area. Strong muscles and nerves were required in this precarious exercise. The Bolivian Special Forces soldier learns to use his head, his weapons, and his strength. The mountainous countryside was ideal for training in the yard of traversing rope bridges. Not many dropouts here. Country hikes are standard in a rugged outfit like this one. Another phase in their rough training changes received a cram course in counterinsurgency skills under the technical supervision of their U.S. Army instructors high in the Andes. The climax to weeks of training was a special counterinsurgency exercise to be staged in the region. A search and seizure problem was set up by the U.S. Army mobile training team as a final test of all that had been learned. A group of soldiers acting the part of insurgent forces to ambush in fire on a government vehicle and then take refuge in a friendly village close by. It was the mission of the ranger students in the truck to first fight back, then search the village in order to discover the hidden insurgents and their equipment. Exactly according to plan, the truck was disabled by a buried charge and attacked by the guerrilla force. The government forces regroup and launch their own attack on the guerrillas. The watchful eyes of U.S. Army instructors the enemy's fire was subdued. The insurgents then retreated within the village to prepared hiding places and assumed the guise of peaceful local citizens. Government forces entered the village and began searching each house, the guerrillas posing as villagers as well as finding hidden enemy supplies. The insurgents were subsequently found in their scattered hiding places about the village and in turn were searched and interrogated for intelligence information to a successful conclusion and the U.S. Army instructors were proud of their students' performance. The Bolivian Rangers had demonstrated competence in handling a typical counterinsurgency situation. A problem which had been simulated for the occasion but the next time could well prove to be the real thing. Elsewhere in the Andes mountains U.S. Army engineers are directing the American Geodetic Survey mapping here to for inaccessible regions. The area often called the American Tibet is the scene of a most interesting story of United States Army assistance of a peaceful nature to our friends in the southern hemisphere. The on-the-job training of the local people and the skills of cartography by U.S. experts is a useful byproduct of the entire Andes mapping adventure. Here in the Bolivian Andes this Inter-American Geodetic Survey crew is headed by a U.S. Army engineer officer. The survey party carry in their duffel bags the most modern of scientific equipment but their living conditions along the route are more rugged than anything encountered by surveyor George Washington on the frontiers of North America two centuries ago. Intense heat and tangled undergrowth so thick in places that paths be carved out by machetes a few feet at a time are handicaps which the surveyor must learn to take for granted. By taking successive readings the surveyor can determine the relative elevations of all important terrain points in the area. High in the Altiplano of Peru a local officer working under U.S. Army engineer guidance correlates the results of the day survey with another mapping tool. Aerial photographs cartography is one for resourceful energetic men. In addition to their technical skills they must bring to their work all the craft of the outdoorsman. In this part of the world there is often no quarter master no mess hall. A survey party often lives off the land on the same food and under the same conditions as the local population. Compensations a life filled with days and weeks in the midst of great scenic beauty and the enriching experience of many hours spent with men of different backgrounds and customs. Gravity measuring stations like this one have been set up under the supervision of U.S. Army engineers in order to take accurate measurements throughout the area. The force of gravity varies slightly from place to place on the earth's surface and accurate measurements are crucial in the sciences of geodesy and geophysics. The environment of many other outdoor activities throughout the world. Local sidewalk superintendents are always present. The inter-american geodetic survey mission also maintains tidal gauge stations in coastal areas. The elevation of any point on the map is related to the average mean high tide level along seacoasts. Scientific investigations such as these throughout the world provide a true picture of the size and shape of the earth. In the field of map making the training is as important a part of IAGS mission as the maps themselves. The results of this training will provide a legacy of scientifically trained manpower which may have a profound effect on the future economic development of the hemisphere. I'm Ken Reinhardt an instructor here at the cartographic school and this is one of the classrooms where students from all over Latin America are assembled every few months to receive intensive instruction in the extremely complicated techniques of modern map making. In this single group for example are technicians from 11 different countries. And while laying the groundwork for future development of their own country's such technicians are contributing to the expanding body of the world's scientific knowledge. This student is using a device known as a kelch plotter to convert a set of aerial photographs into a contour map. This instrument throws images from overlapping pictures onto a drawing table. Colored lights along with the lenses in the glasses they operate aware gives him a three-dimensional image which enables him to begin tracing contours. They are then photographed for multi-printing processes. Currently the maps are printed and distributed. Report on the inter-american geodetic survey could be complete without a very special mention of the 937th engineer company. A group of US Army aviation pilots who as a matter of routine perform one of the most adventurous jobs in flying today. The pilots many of whom are members of the US Army Corps of Engineers not only fly technicians in and out of some difficult locations but frequently assist in the technical jobs of map making as well. Altitudes over unexplored terrain they are among the last of the real bush pilots. Ironically their job is made especially hazardous by the fact that where they fly there are no reliable maps otherwise they wouldn't be there. The helicopter is of special value in transporting cartographers to remote places long enough to accomplish their mission. And the job required for an accurate detailed topographic map is far more exacting than anything which goes into the simple road map with which most people are familiar. High in the Peruvian Andes so high as to seem part of the sky itself stand the ruins of the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu. For centuries Indian legend maintained that the last of the Incan leaders had escaped capture by the Spanish conquistadores and retreated to a secret city above the clouds only in modern times as the legend proved to have a basis in fact with the discovery of Machu Picchu. Now a favorite tourist attraction this legend come to life is just one more target for mapping by a U.S. Army led geodetic survey team. You've enjoyed your trip with us to the roof of the world our visit with the American soldiers serving in the Andes mountains. And to we hope that you have learned something new of the many activities of your global United States Army.