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Field Guide

Working with El Salvador

Partner Nation
BLUF — Bottom Line Up Front

FAES (Fuerzas Armadas de El Salvador) ~25,000 personnel. The 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords ended the civil war (75,000 deaths) and rebuilt the FAES from scratch with international oversight — the current institution is genuinely different from its predecessor. Bukele's Estado de Excepción (2022-present) has deployed the military against MS-13/Barrio 18, giving FAES recent high-tempo domestic operations experience. One of the most active US SOF partnership programs in Latin America. El Salvador is the most densely populated country in mainland Latin America — the size of New Jersey with 6.5 million people.

What They Excel At

  • ✓Urban counterterrorism and gang interdiction — Estado de Excepción has given FAES recent high-tempo domestic operations experience
  • ✓Urban terrain operations — El Salvador is tiny but they know every inch of it
  • ✓US SOF partnership history — GOES (Grupo de Operaciones Especiales) and POEL have trained with US Special Forces repeatedly
  • ✓Institutional transformation — post-civil war rebuild from scratch is a source of professional pride
  • ✓Small professional force with high readiness relative to size
  • ✓Counter-narcotics and internal security in complex civilian-military environments

Rank & Protocol

Professional, formal. Spanish is the operational language. Significant US training influence — many officers trained at School of the Americas and successor institutions. The shared training history creates professional common ground; don't re-teach doctrine they already know. El Salvador is small — officers know each other from service academy, from deployments, from family connections. Professional reputation is immediate and comprehensive.

Rank Equivalents — NATO STANAG 2116

How Salvadoran Army (Ejército de El Salvador) ranks map to NATO standardized grades, with the US Army as reference.

Enlisted — OR
NATO CodeEl Salvador RankAbbrev
OR-1Soldado RasoSdtR
OR-2SoldadoSdt
OR-3CaboCb
OR-4Cabo PrimeroCbPrim
OR-5Sargento SegundoSgt2
OR-6Sargento PrimeroSgt1
OR-7SuboficialSOf
OR-8Suboficial MayorSOfMay
OR-9Suboficial PrincipalSOfPrin
Officers — OF
NATO CodeEl Salvador RankAbbrev
OF-DAspiranteAsp
OF-1Subteniente / TenienteSteTe/Ten
OF-2CapitánCap
OF-3MayorMay
OF-4Teniente CoronelTCor
OF-5CoronelCor
OF-6General de BrigadaGenBrig
OF-7General de DivisiónGenDiv
OF-8General de EjércitoGenEj
OF-9GeneralGen
OF-10—

Compare across all allied nations →

They Say / They Mean

They SayThey Mean
"Después de los acuerdos..." (After the accords...)The 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords. The FAES officer is telling you they understand the institution was rebuilt. This is pride in transformation, not shame.
"Conocemos el terreno." (We know the terrain)True. El Salvador is tiny but they know every inch of it. Urban, jungle, coastal — they've operated there against some of the world's most dangerous gangs.
"Trabajamos con los norteamericanos antes." (We've worked with Americans before)They have. US SOF presence is significant. They know US operational culture. Use this as a baseline — don't re-teach what they already know.
"La situación de seguridad ha cambiado." (The security situation has changed)Bukele's Estado de Excepción. The gang crackdown. This is the defining recent operational context. Acknowledge it.
"Somos pequeños pero somos buenos." (We're small but we're good)Genuine professional pride. The correct response: agree, and cite specific FAES capabilities.

Field Notes

  • —The 1992 peace accords rebuilt the FAES from scratch after institutional atrocities including El Mozote massacre (1981). Officers who joined post-1992 carry pride in the new institution, not shame in the old one.
  • —Estado de Excepción (2022-present): military deployed alongside police against MS-13/Barrio 18. Urban clearing, mass detention operations, sustained high tempo. Recent and real.
  • —US SOF partnership history is substantial — Ilopango Air Base has hosted US assets; FAES regularly trains at JRTC and other US facilities. Don't re-teach what they already know.
  • —El Salvador is smaller than New Jersey. Officers know each other from service academy, deployments, family connections. Professional reputation is immediate and comprehensive.
  • —Salvadoran diaspora in US (~1.5M) means many officers have family in the US — this creates genuine personal connections.

Cultural Landmines

  • ⚠Civil war history references that conflate the old institution with the current one — the 1992 accords created a genuinely different FAES
  • ⚠Treating FAES as a US proxy rather than a force with its own institutional development and pride
  • ⚠Re-teaching US doctrine to officers who have trained at US facilities and know it already
  • ⚠Minimizing the Estado de Excepción as controversial — it is their defining current operational context
  • ⚠Missing that El Salvador is tiny but FAES knows every inch of its terrain after 30 years of operations against serious adversaries

Survival Kit

  • 1.The 1992 peace accords rebuilt the FAES from scratch after institutional atrocities. Officers who joined post-1992 carry pride in the new institution, not shame in the old one. Know the difference.
  • 2.The Estado de Excepción (2022-present) has given FAES recent high-tempo domestic operations experience — urban clearing, mass detention operations, sustained tempo. This is real and recent.
  • 3.FAES has significant US SOF partnership history. Don't re-teach doctrine they already know. Start at the level of the relationship they've already built.
  • 4.El Salvador is smaller than New Jersey. Officers know each other from service academy, from deployments, from family connections. Professional reputation is immediate and comprehensive.
  • ★Gang context shapes everything. MS-13 and Barrio 18 were the defining security threat for 30 years. The Estado de Excepción changed the operational picture but not the institutional memory.

Disclaimer: These guides reflect common patterns, not universal rules. Individual units and service members vary. Use as orientation, not gospel. Help us improve this guide →