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STUTTGART, Germany, 

Jul 29, 2010 — Democratic Republic of the Congo media representatives visited U.S. Africa Command headquarters July 26-30, 2010, as part of a public information outreach initiative that aims to provide in-depth information on the command's programs and activities in Africa.

In addition to meeting with General William E. Ward, Commander of U.S. Africa Command, and an interview with Major General Richard Sherlock, Strategy, Plans and Programs, Director. The following is a transcript of a brief they received on Operation Olympic Chase, by Major Brian Purtell, Special Operations Command- Africa, on July 29, 2010.

(Note: Maj. Purtell's opening remarks and responses translated to French; questions translated to English.)

MS Nicole Dalrymple: (In progress) -- jump right in.

TRANSLATOR: Okay, so if you want to start and then I will do the interpretation until Eric (sp) comes.

MAJ. BRYAN PURTELL: Okay. Bonjour. Je m'appelle Bryan Purtell, the public affairs officer for Special Operations Command Africa -- Special Forces for AFRICOM, I guess. I will start today with a quick introduction of SOC Africa and then talk to you about the basic training that we have at the camp.

Okay, slide, please. Okay. SOC Africa, we were established the same time AFRICOM was established in 2008. Like AFRICOM, we are still building our staff. We have a lot of temporary Reserves and Guard men and hope to have full staff within probably another year. Our headquarters are right when you come in the gate on base. We are the first building on the right-hand side. We used to be in a tent and at the airfield, but now we have joined together with AFRICOM here at Kelley.

Our main mission is we control the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force Special Forces that come into the AFRICOM area of responsibility for training and operational missions. Our primary focus is to help develop African partner nation capability, their capacity and to provide assistance and support to theater security objectives.

We help build operational capacity and capability. We strengthen regional security and capacity. And we help eradicate violent extremist organizations and networks, but we always work with our partner nations. The bottom line is we are not here for war fighting. We don't have troops to do that. What we do is have engagement teams that come in and help us to provide theater security engagement to African partner nations.

People think Special Forces, they think Green Beret, you know, SEALs, Navy, but we are more than that. But our mission in Africa is military training engagements to include weapons training, but not just that. We do a lot of civic action programs, medico (ph), veterinarian, dental. We help build the partner nation capacity from within.

All right. We in the military like to call everything an operation or give it a name, so we have called the infantry battalion training for the military side; it is known as Operation Olympic Chase. And our mission statement back when we began this entire process of forming this operation you see there. Do you want me to read the whole thing?

TRANSLATOR: No, not for the mission.

MAJ. PURTELL: The bottom line is we were invited by the DRC government to come in and help train this FARDC battalion to form a more professional force that hopefully will be an example for the rest of the FARDC. Up there you see our tasks that we originally were handed. Develop and implement infrastructure improvements. The camp that we were at was very bare bones. We basically built a camp from scratch. Train a light infantry battalion and a cadre. Light infantry battalion is more of your regular soldiers. The cadre is more of the commanders, platoon leaders, staff officers, the NCOs, the core of this battalion.

Down below you see our training plan. I will go into each one of those in a little bit. But that gives you an idea of when we originally started; here was our training plan and the goals we had to ensure all the soldiers received each one of these training iterations. Okay, and it is important to realize that our end state, which we wanted to attain when we were finished training, was that we had a FARDC battalion that was a professional military model and conditions were set for professionalization of the entire FARDC.

And it wasn't just our end state, what we wanted to do. This is what the Democratic Republic of Congo government wanted for its FARDC battalion that we were training. So to help us ensure that we had good soldiers for the battalion, the soldiers were carefully selected by FARDC command group to ensure that we had the highest caliber of trainees possible. Okay, next slide, please.

Okay. This started end of last year when we started training the cadre with a 12-week training course. We provided them training on skills to train, manage and lead this light infantry battalion in accordance with the Law of Land Warfare. We officially had an opening ceremony for the battalion training on 17 February of this year. This entire line infantry battalion -- light infantry battalion training is funded by the U.S. Department of State and it is going to cost about $33 million.

TRANSLATOR: Yeah, they asked that question yesterday, so that was a good --

MAJ. PURTELL: We have approximately 1,000 FARDC soldiers participating in the training right now. Okay. All the soldiers participating in the battalion training will undergo or have undergone probably about five months of seven months of instruction at the base. As part of our goal to make a professional military force, I will go down some of the training requirements that we insisted and the government insisted be part of the training regimen.

Every soldier in the program had been vetted for any history of human rights abuses. And sexual and gender-based violence prevention and human rights training is incorporated into every aspect of the training and reiterated as the months go on. We also have the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies, which has been ongoing for the last two years, providing legal studies training, if you will. And during these legal seminars, the DIILS instructors help address sexual, gender-based violence in the DRC by helping to strengthen the capacity of the military justice system. And this helps this military justice system investigate and prosecute crimes and helps the FARDC get closer to its goal of a professional and disciplined force. And the same point I continue making, as we form this professional force, we hope that it will provide meaningful security to the people of the DRC.

Okay. Has anyone been to the camp or seen the camp location? Okay. What I have done is captured a bunch of pictures to give you a better idea of what the camp looks like, what it began looking like, what the troops look like and where we are today as the following slides will show. These images here were taken in January, very early in the operation. We have just begun renovations and construction at base camp. And the troops were getting very basic training and undergoing physical fitness to prepare them for the training regimen they would undergo. This massive construction project included new roads, living quarters, dining facility and utilities such as electricity.

Now we have more modern images of what parts of the camp look like and certain facilities. What we see here is a power supply building, classrooms being built and the ever-popular latrines. It is important --

Q: We had huts before. Now it is more or less modern.

MAJ. PURTELL: (Chuckles.) It is important to note that the construction projects were led by FARDC engineers and U.S. military training experts with tremendous support from Congolese contractors and construction workers providing many jobs for the local population.

All right. Here we have some images of the actual training courses. Training has come a long way since the first few weeks of basic training of using just sticks and physical fitness. As part of our goal to make a more professional soldier, they are undergoing humanitarian demining operations training, small unit tactics to provide security and advanced first aid. There is also a medical staff being trained at the base camp to man a small clinic not just for the battalion, but for some of the local population as it builds up.

Just this week, the medical section conducted its first surgeries on two soldiers to repair hernias. And this, for us, is very encouraging because it highlights the competence of the medical staff and the ever-improving conditions of the medical facilities. And both surgeries went very well and the soldiers are expected to make full recoveries.

These pictures here show some more construction and maintenance and engineering projects that we have going on on base. Having FARDC engineers together with contractors and our own forces at the beginning helped them to learn how to maintain the facilities that we are building. New facilities are basically useless without professional maintenance to ensure safe quality of life for everyone.

Here we see two images -- here we see some images showing on the top the old dining facility and the new hardened structure facility. And down below we see the old kitchen area and the new covered kitchen area with 14 new grills. These new facilities offer safe and secure protection not only from the elements, but protection in far as food preparation and food security. And more importantly, both have extremely positive effects on the morale of the soldiers.

I just want to touch on one of our partners in this initiative, which is the Borlaug Institute. This is part of our long-term, multi-agency international approach for sustaining peace throughout the region with this model battalion. SOC Africa and AFRICOM have teamed up with this Borlaug Institute to help the light infantry battalion become self-sufficient in food production within two years. This is a joint effort between the Department of State, Defense, non-government organizations, the DRC Ministry of Agriculture and the University of Kisangani. It is part of -- the entire training process, we realized that agriculture and food security play a prominent role in stabilizing conflict areas.

The majority of the population is dependent on subsistence farming. And as has happened in conflicts in the past, fields get untended, crops get destroyed and stockpiles get pillaged. Poorly supplied military units and rebel groups have turned on the local population. So this initiative that we have, we are working to ensure food security for the soldiers and their families so they don't become a burden on the population that the FARDC are supposed to protect.

As you can see below, the project initially started on 500 hectares of land divided into three sections. We have main crops, vegetables and livestock. As part of our joint venture and multi-agency and international initiative, the ministry of agriculture provided farm machinery for the land clearing and the crop planting. And also another part of the initiative is that the Borlaug Institute staff is training 10 FARDC farm managers.

Now, the goal of training the farm managers is that when this battalion deploys to wherever the government would like these soldiers to go, these farm managers can set up this very similar initiative at whatever base area they have been established.

Here is one example of one of the Borlaug Institute initiatives from back in May. I will just give you a general idea of what is going on in each picture. Soldiers from the agriculture unit planted maize and cassava on land that was cleared by local construction workers. We also two fishponds that we are close to being finished stocked with more than 40,000 fish to include tilapia and Africa catfish. But we did this smartly. The institute made use of a natural spring, so we could eliminate very expensive water pumping and maintenance equipment. We also used the spring to irrigate the vegetables and the seedlings.

Here is another more recent example of another Borlaug Institute initiative that we have teamed up for. Down below you see some -- up high on the left, you see some five-month old premium tilapia that have been put into the fishpond. We have a corn field that is just beginning to take root. We trucked in soil. And in this case, they trucked in three truckloads of new soil for a new vegetable garden. And here we see some of the farm managers to include the fishpond engineer and a local supplier looking at fish before they transport it to the fishpond.

In addition to the vegetable fields, native -- and I hope I don't mess these up -- lucenia and acacia trees are being planted at the camp to be used as a food source for livestock. And also as the trees mature, it will be a sustainable charcoal production area. The results of these types of initiatives will bolster regional stability to improve food security and help foster goodwill between the camp and the local community and throughout the region.

Okay, I have one more thing just to wrap up. Graduation ceremony for this light infantry battalion is scheduled for mid-September. Now, I know one of your questions is what happens to this battalion following the graduation. Well, that is up to the Democratic Republic of Congo how they want to use their soldiers. Our efforts are focused on growing capacity within the FARDC to create this professional battalion. This battalion -- we hope -- should be responsible to the civilian government and to the people of the DRC. We would like to see this training become a platform for additional training of Congolese troops, eventually having the Congolese troops conduct the training so that their FARDC becomes a more professional force.

I just provided you a general idea of how Olympic Chase came about and what it was envisioned and what it was conducted during the first five months of the training that we have now. I have also shown you a few other initiatives that we have taken as part of this interagency effort. And I hope I have provided you some good insights and images of the professional training we have of your FARDC battalion.

That is all I have. Thank you.

Q: He said they are very happy because the thing gave them a very good idea of what you have done and just the presentation answered many of their questions. He wants to make sure he gets a copy of the presentation and I said you will have it.

How many buildings were built up to now, do you know?

MR. : Several of the buildings were just improved or -- there was a base camp. There was an existing base camp, so they just improved upon some of the buildings and then built only a few new ones.

MAJ. PURTELL: I know, for a fact, we have five new buildings to include the small electrical building that you saw. You mentioned the renovated building?

TRANSLATOR: Yeah.

Q: His first question is why Olympic Chase.

MAJ. PURTELL: If we could figure out how they come up with operation names, we would be more than happy to share that with you. There is a group in our Department of Defense that approves operational names and sometimes they really mean nothing.

And what was the second part?

TRANSLATOR: Oh, and the second part was of the $33 million, that was all U.S., what did the government of Congo contribute, whether equipment or anything? Or is this all --

MAJ. PURTELL: As far as money, I am not sure. I will have to get our foreign policy person to get that information for you. But the local government provided land clearing equipment, agricultural supplies, contractors and then soldiers.

TRANSLATOR: What about the personal weapons? Did they come from us or from you?

MR. : I am not quite sure who got those AKs. I know early on there were some discussions of who might be -- (inaudible). But ultimately, I am not sure where those rifles came from.

MAJ. PURTELL: You know anything about that, Steven (sp)?

MR. : His question is during the initial planning, there were several of the civilians -- (inaudible) -- trained in human rights and sexual violence. And he said, you know, the ambassador said that would happen, but it never has. (Inaudible) -- Ambassador is supposed to answer that question. (Off mike.)

Q: He said they had the opportunity for the local populations to talk with these soldiers and interact and the training that would help build the trust in the FARDC.

MAJ. PURTELL: I know talking to civic affairs folks; they are trying to find opportunities for the FARDC battalion soldiers to get out in the community to help with community events, to help with sandbags for water, you know, blockage, to help with schoolhouse activities. There are a lot of activities coming up. I can get you that information through Steven once I get back to my office. And we are also looking into the possibility of trying to make an open house at the camp, where not only media can come out, but some of the local population to better understand what is going on at the camp.

It is part of our plan for our overall training to make a more professional force. And part of being a professional force is you are accountable and responsible for your local population and, you know, you have to gain their respect. And that is what we are hoping to achieve with this training regimen and then getting them out into the community.

TRANSLATOR: He is from Kisangani. Okay. Yeah, these are more observations than anything. First of all, they're kind of concerned that they're getting more complete information from the U.S. than from the Congo authorities. He said that there's really -- what we're doing is we need to look at means for getting the information out because it's a great thing that we're doing. But if the population of Congo doesn't know about it they'll never trust the professional army.

MR. : I experienced the same thing in Honduras. We were doing humanitarian assistance projects as National Guard units rotated in. The local population had no idea we were coming. The local or national government had not informed them and they thought they were invaded because our camps were coming up. Our trucks were coming in to build clinics, make wells, build schools and they had no idea.

So I agree an information campaign by the government is critical. We can do so much through the public affairs office at the embassy with press releases to inform the population. What solved our problem was having local town hall meetings. Once the populace knew what we were doing, they were very supportive and everything went smoothly.

MAJ. PURTELL: And that's overall part of our professionalism idea for this battalion, not just the soldiers in training but the commanders with some public affairs training so the population understands your mission, what you do every day.

You're clear and open and honest with them when you can be and in turn, that battalion will gather the respect of the local population. We call it crawl, walk, run. Right now, their public affairs and communication program is more in the crawl stages. We're hoping to get them at least walking.

MR. : If we can set up an open house in the near future, I think that would be beneficial to present the population with.

Q: The other question that he had was when we are vetting or looking at the selection of the soldiers who participated, was their willingness to participate in agriculture one of their criteria because he said a lot of people join the army so they don't have to do agriculture.

MAJ. PURTELL: Not that I'm aware of. I don't think they were specifically picked for their interest, just that they were nominated by DROC commander to be a good soldier that can undergo the overall training, not a specific aspect of it.

TRANSLATOR: Were they even warned this was going to happen?

MAJ. PURTELL: I think they were presented with the general idea. Here's the training program you're about to undertake. Some things to help with the agricultural volunteers is they made it morale events where they would pit one element against another to try and clear land faster or assist with the experts who were out in the field, whatever it was.

Q: They're married? They're single?

MAJ. PURTELL: I know there are married members in there. There are families already living up within the local region. I expect more will be coming because from what I understand we'll be building -- the plan is to build quarters for the families.

Q: He teaches at the University of Kisangani, so that's why.

Q: They're told that this battalion, one of the conditions for the training of it was that it would stay together for at least two years. Being staying together, does that mean they will stay in Kisangani or they will stay together but possible of being sent elsewhere in the country?

MAJ. PURTELL: From what I know talking to DROC government officials, the battalion will stay together. Where they'll remain -- whether they will remain in Kisangani or move elsewhere, I'm not sure of that one yet. I know we -- and I speak for the multiagency training group -- want to keep the battalion together because in the past some failed training elements have gone in, trained, all gone home and forgotten everything they've trained and haven't served the citizens well at all.

Q: He said they're very impressed with the self-sufficiency aspect of it. That's something they haven't seen before and very innovative. But there are other countries doing training within Congo. If we shared this with Belgium or with China, who are also doing -- (inaudible) -- training -- (inaudible) -- it's a good idea.

MR. : We looked at the problem set and the two aspects that jumped out was the ability to sustain itself and not forage on the local population. That was one of the key things. Then the other key thing was the behavior of the military when they got out into the populace. Those are the two things that were critical to setting up and getting the right pieces to the training.

MAJ. PURTELL: And I know we've spoken to European partners and shared information with them. Now, what aspects they take as of what worked and what didn't work, hopefully they can take the positive aspects and incorporate that into their training regimens.

Q: Would it be possible to go larger than a battalion at a time?

MAJ. PURTELL: I think the plan is to get the battalion training done once, see how it goes, train the trainers and then as the program expands, maybe they can incorporate a larger force than just a battalion coming through. But for us, the initial money is just for a battalion and that would be up to the DRC government. They've only asked for one battalion, I think as kind of a test, if you will, to see how well it goes.

Q: He's saying this idea was frustrating because President Bush didn't think he could do that and it's taken it about four years for it to come to fruition.

Q: What would be -- I think it would be up to the DRC. What would be our reaction if this battalion was used if a conflict arises that the government of Congo uses that battalion in response to a conflict like it did with troops who were trained by Belgium?

MR. : We can train them and what they do with them ultimately is up to the MOD.

Q: He said that the reason he asked that question is -- (in French).

Q: In 2004, Belgium trained two battalions in Kisangani when there was a conflict on the Equator. They were sent up and they were not very effective. They got beaten and a lot of the sexual violence and the violations, they didn't pay attention to any of the training. At the beginning, they had a lot of public support.

When they came back it was all gone and they turned to the Belgians and said, what did you do, you didn't prepare them for this, and they failed. The Belgian response was, oh they weren't trained for exterior operations. They were trained for peacekeeping. What is the training of this battalion?

MAJ. PURTELL: I know our main focus is on security, border security, and internal security. But again, we can only provide the idea and all the training that comes with a professional force. But one aspect is why we want to keep them together for two years so there's better teamwork, better training.

(Cross talk.)

Mrs. Nicole Dalrymple: We need to leave here in about three minutes to head over for lunch. So I guess if there's final comments or if Maj. Purtell or Lt. Col. Shelly wants to add anything.

MAJ. PURTELL: The bottom line is good history, bad history we're never going to stop trying to help our partner nations when they ask for help.

Q: They really appreciate the clearness of your presentation. They will use it well and they will try to make sure the battalion is used in the best interest of the DRC.

(Off-side conversation.)

(END)