Photo By Sgt. Caitlinn Belcher | A U.S. Army Soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army...... read more read more
BALTIMORE — Approximately 230 Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment from the Maryland Army National Guard participated in the African Lion 2024 Exercise from April 19 to May 31, 2024.
This exercise marked the 1-175th Infantry Regiment’s largest deployment of Guard members in more than 10 years.
The exercise locations spanned the countries Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal. The 1-175th Soldiers trained in the latter three countries.
“Having different units across different parts of Africa has been a really challenging but also rewarding opportunity,” said Maryland Army National Guard Lt. Col. Alexi Franklin, commander of 1-175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard.
The first phase of the exercise was in Tunisia. Approximately 140 Soldiers from battalion staff, Headquarters-Headquarters Company, Charlie Company and Delta Company worked with their Tunisian counterparts to conduct expeditionary deployment operations training.
They trained on various weapons systems, conducted squad live fire, and crew gunnery platform target practice. They shipped over and used their military vehicles for transportation and training purposes.
“The reason why it’s important to have these trucks deployed overseas to conduct the training because it preps the unit in mobilizing all our cargo,” said Maryland Army National Guard Lt. Ronnan Rodas, 1-175th Infantry Regiment.
The training culminated in a distinguished visitor day on May 10. The distinguished visitors included U.S. Ambassador Joey Hood; Maj. Gen. Wasmund, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force - Africa Commanding General; Maj. Gen. Janeen Birckhead, Adjutant General for Maryland; Brig. Gen. Andrew Collins, commander of the Maryland Army National Guard; and many Tunisian and partner nation military leaders.
“We’re very pleased with this exercise,” said Wasmund. “It provides us an opportunity to train together, to develop our capacity and our capabilities and to achieve greater interoperability so that we can meet the challenges that we face here in the region.”
The event demonstrated the 1-175th’s commitment to partnering with allies, and their ability and willingness to integrate their Soldiers and resources against a common enemy seamlessly.
“Working with the Tunisians was absolutely phenomenal,” said Franklin, reflecting on the training. “It was a really fantastic experience.”
The next phase of the exercise took place in Ghana. More than 50 Bravo Company 1-175th Infantry Regiment soldiers conducted expeditionary combat operations training with the Ghanaian military.
Bravo Company demonstrated squad live fire while the Ghanaians demonstrated static range fires.
"It’s such a good opportunity here to see what our counterparts are doing, and how they train and their tactics,” said Maryland Army National Guard Sgt. David Thanga, 1-175th Infantry Regiment. “It’s been very eye-opening, and we’ve been learning a lot from them as well.”
The scheduling of daily training needed to be adjusted to account for the extreme heat during different parts of the day. However, Bravo Company and the Ghanaians successfully completed all the training they set out to do.
“This multinational exercise has been helpful,” said Ghanaian Armed Forces Lt. Roland Nettey, public relations officer, Northern Command. “It has been able to boost our bilateral ties with our United States counterparts especially.”
The last phase occurred in Senegal. More than 40 Soldiers from the 1-175th Infantry Regiment successfully integrated the Senegalese military and the U.S. Army 2nd Security Force Assistance Brigade into their training.
Despite cultural and linguistic differences with the host countries, the 1-175th strengthened bonds with existing allies and mutually benefitted from the training.
African Lion 2024 is a multi-component, multinational, annual joint, combined exercise that showcases a full array of capabilities. It is the U.S. Africa Command’s largest U.S. military training event conducted on the African continent and its twentieth year.
According to the Maryland National Guard historian Dr. Julie Shively who attended the exercise, the 1-175th Infantry Regiment’s involvement was integral to the successful execution of African Lion 2024.
“I’m phenomenally proud of all my Soldiers,” said Franklin. “This was an extremely difficult undertaking we’ve taken on.”
| Date Taken: | 05.31.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.16.2024 17:32 |
| Story ID: | 478866 |
| Location: | TN |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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Maryland
Army National Guard
African Lion
Republic of Tunisia (Tunisia)
Republic of Ghana (Ghana)
Republic of Senegal (Senegal)
