Photo By Maj. Jonathon Daniell | Chief Warrant Officer 3 Juanita Maximin, USARAF mobility officer, and Robert Setaro,...... read more read more
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By: Maj. Jeremy Passut
U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs
A team of U.S. Army Africa logistics personnel facilitated the initial shipment of military equipment from Livorno, Italy, to Tangiers, Morocco, for upcoming exercise African Lion 2019, taking place later this month.
“This type of operation was a first for USARAF,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Juanita Maximin, a USARAF mobility officer who led the logistics team. “Utilizing the U.S.N.S Carson City demonstrated USARAF’s ability to self-deploy using a military vessel versus commercial means.”
The equipment, transported aboard a Military Sealift Command vessel, afforded USARAF an opportunity to validate its ability to open a joint operations area by conducting port/terminal operations in Tangiers.
“It was an important opportunity for our staff because it was the first time we leveraged the use of a military vessel and operated in a port that has not been previously used by USARAF.” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Herbert Carter, a USARAF marine deck officer. “We were able to see the complexity of it and execute one of USARAF’s most important setting the theater tasks.”
Maximin explained that transporting the equipment was truly a joint effort. She named the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Military Sealift Command, and Surface Deployment and Distribution Command personnel as assisting with the movement of equipment that contained life support equipment, fuel and fire vehicles, generators, and simulated munitions.
Under the direction of U.S. Africa Command, one of USARAF’s primary roles as an Army service component command is setting the theater for joint or multinational operations during a crisis or emergency, as well as security force assistance and exercise activities. Described as a continuous process, setting the theater entails many aspects ranging from ensuring logistical operations capability to information sharing with partner nations to enable future mission success.
Fundamentally, setting the theater requires good relationships with international partners to keep operations running smoothly. The USARAF team found this with their Moroccan counterparts in Tangiers.
“We could not have asked for better partners with the Moroccan team during port operations,” Carter said. “Everything ran incredibly well and according to plan at the Tangiers port.”
Ordinarily, Department of Defense port operations fall under the SDDC, however, in this instance, USARAF stepped in on short notice in late January to support. The team quickly put together a logistical plan that included procuring the vessels needed to transport the equipment.
“It was a tremendous opportunity for our team and a first for USARAF,” said Col. Jerry Dunbar, the USARAF logistics director. “It’s very rare that any organization outside of the SDDC has the opportunity to do this. It gave us an opportunity to support the African Lion Joint Task Force and demonstrate USARAF’s support to other services and enterprise partners.”
The USARAF team made two separate trips on the sea vessel between Feb. 17 and March 2, stopping each time in Tangiers to conduct port/terminal operations that entailed receiving, staging and coordinating the onward movement of the equipment bound for the exercise.
African Lion 2019 will take place from late March until early April. U.S. Armed Forces, Royal Moroccan Armed Forces and Tunisian Armed Forces, in addition to participants from Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom are scheduled to take part in the exercise. The exercise involves various types of training including a combined joint task force command post exercise linked with aviation and field training exercises, as well as humanitarian civic assistance.
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2019 07:39 |
| Story ID: | 312869 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 517 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, First time go: USARAF moves African Lion 2019 equipment, by MAJ Jeremy Passut, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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