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During the course of my recent trip to the continent of Africa I had the opportunity to visit and observe AFRICAN LION Exercise 2009 in Morocco; coach, teach, and mentor a train-the-trainer course at the Tolay Noncommissioned Officer Academy in Ethiopia; and participate in discussions and briefings on enhancing Noncommissioned Officer Capability and Capacity in Tanzania.
In Morocco I traveled to various locations in the Southern Zone Region to observe AFRICAN LION Exercise 2009. AFRICAN LION is an annual, combined U.S. -Moroccan exercise designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation's tactics, techniques and procedures. Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Wyatt, Office of Security Cooperation, United States Embassy- Rabat and I started our visit at the Operations Center--Centre d' Estivage Agadir, where we met Colonel Deckert and Master Gunnery Sergeant Collins to discuss the Command Post Exercise, Peacekeeping Operations Training and Humanitarian Assistance Projects all which were conducted during this phase of AFRICAN LION Exercise 2009. We also visited the Governor of Taroudant Province. He was very grateful for AFRICAN LION Humanitarian Assistance Projects by the Moroccan and United States military medical, dental, and veterinary personnel.
Monica Stein-Olson, the United States Agency for International Development Director, Office of the United States Ambassador to Morocco, joined us for the visit to the Military Southern Zone Headquarters. At the Southern Zone Headquarters we met with the Deputy Commander, Military Southern Zone and the Commander, Gendarme to discuss topics related to the AFRICAN LION Exercise 2009. After completing our discussions at the headquarters, I had the honor and privilege of speaking at the closing ceremony for the first phase of AFRICAN LION Exercise 2009.
My next stop was Ethiopia, where I participated as a senior mentor for the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), Sergeant Major train-the-trainer course at the Tolay Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Academy. The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa embedded instructors are facilitating the Sergeant Major train-the-trainer course. For the three days I was in Tolay, I interacted with instructors and students by providing insights from my experiences on topics such as military planning, operations, and command sergeant major/sergeant major leadership roles and responsibilities.
Later in the week, we returned to Addis Ababa where I visited and observed instruction at the Ethiopian Defense Command and Staff College. We completed the week's visit by meeting with the ENDF Deputy Director for Operations and Training to review progress and discuss the future of United States participation in ENDF NCO Development. The ENDF leadership is satisfied with current United States military activities assisting with ENDF NCO Development; most importantly they emphasized the importance of sending mentors to share their experiences with the student-instructors of the Sergeant Major Course.
My final stop was in Tanzania. The engagement began at the Tanzania Command and Staff College where I presented an overview of United States Africa Command followed by a lively question and answer session. The following day Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Collum, Chief, Office of Security Cooperation, United Embassy-Dar es Salaam and I visited the Peacekeeping Training Center (PTC) where we received two briefings. The first briefing covered the history, aim, scope, and responsibilities of the Peacekeeping Training Center. The second briefing was a proposal for the United States to assist the Peacekeeping Training Center in developing an NCO Professional Development Course for Peacekeeping Operations. After the PTC engagement Chief Master Sergeant Martin Klukas, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Command Senior Enlisted Leader, joined us for the remainder of the week's visits; those visits included a session with TPDF Regimental Sergeants Major (RSMs), the TPDF Chief of Operations and Training and the Director of Personnel.
Following TPDF staff visits we presented the Building Warrant Officer and Noncommissioned Officer Capability and Capacity briefing to various TPDF senior staff officers as well as senior staff officers from the Land, Air, and Navy Force Commands. Especially noteworthy was our visit with the officers and noncommissioned officers of Tanzania Battalion-1 which is an African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) trained TPDF battalion enroute to a peace keeping mission in Darfur. Capping the week's visits and engagements was the office visit with the Chief of the Defense Force. During the meeting we reviewed and summarized the week's activities, and more importantly, the Chief of the Defense Force provided his vision regarding the future development of TPDF Warrant Officers and Noncommissioned Officers. The CDF's guidance and vision was very clear to the assembled group.
To close this blog I leave the readers with the following: Whether I am visiting exercises such as AFRICAN LION in Morocco, fulfilling a role as a senior mentor at a Noncommissioned Officer school in Ethiopia or attending meetings with key TPDF leaders, one of the truisms which continue to be reinforced during all my engagements is the importance of relationships. Those relationships include key leaders in partner nations, Ambassadors, the Country Team, and our Security Assistance Officers in Africa. Together we are all making a difference.
On 6/25/2009 12:01:25 AM Anonymous in Unspecified wrote Bior, be careful that you don't take part in bringing Kawaja back to our continent to exploit our people and steal their properties. Kawaja has been the only offending animal on the earth since the time immemorial and it's our duty to make sure we don't collaborate when they choose to plan more conpiracies. See you there my friend.
On 6/24/2009 3:43:39 AM Peter in Fort Bragg, NC wrote my full name is peter Bior kuch, am currently serving in the United States Army. Am from Africa personally, and am just so thrilled to see the United States Military engaging in Africa by helping the people of Africa. I just want to thank Gen. Ward for his leadership there, and CSM Mark for reading all these that you have done just made me really appreciate this country so much. I hope to see more done especially in Southern Sudan. This is where I came from anyway. There are a lot to be done there specially the training of the military there and general leadership training both in military and civilian sector.
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