African Lion 2007

20 avril au Cap du Draa

Tir aux fusils


Tir au TOW


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Moroccan military hosts California-based Marines, Sailors during exercise African Lion

Release Date: Apr 27, 2007

CAP DRAA, Morocco — California area Marines and sailors hit the ground here April 17 to take part in exercise African Lion 2007.

The exercise is a regularly scheduled, combined U.S.-Moroccan military exercise designed to promote improved interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation’s tactics, techniques and procedures. U.S. Marines and Sailors from Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment based in Port Hueneme, Calif., and detachments from 4th Marine Logistics Group and 4th Medical Battalion participated in the bi-lateral unit level, live-fire training with their Moroccan counterparts.

In addition to the cross-nation military training, the Marines and sailors used this two-week deployment as stepping-stone training for their scheduled deployment to Iraq in late 2008.

“Only about 25 percent of the unit has been to Iraq,” said Marine 1st Sgt. Jeff McKeone, Weapons Company first sergeant. “The Marines in the unit are pretty new. Our two weeks of training here is very important and we need to get as much out of this as we can.”

As reservists, the Marines and Sailors spend two days a month and two weeks per year focusing on their military and cultural training. When they’re not training, Marines like Lance Cpl. Christopher William is a part of the Thousand Oaks, Calif., community working as a professional video game tester.

“On normal drill weekends we get to do mortar shots,” said Williams, a Weapons Company mortar man. “But during these two weeks, we get to fine tune things and get a lot more training than we normally do.”

While the unit conducts training in a desert environment at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton, Calif., the Moroccan desert is similar in appearance and provides the cultural experience the unit could only receive in a Muslim nation.

“Learning to respect their prayer time, knowing not to share a Meal Ready to Eat that contains pork products and understanding a bit of their culture is a great value when we do deploy to Iraq,” Williams said. “And just getting used to not always understanding the foreign troops and them not understanding you, is good training.”

During the exercise the training provided the opportunity to familiarize both militaries with techniques and procedures as well as build on allied relationships.

“We are working with the Moroccans, not necessarily training them,” McKeone said. “It is important we get to know each other. It is the relationship with countries like Morocco that is very important.”

Concurrent with the exercise other relationships were also fostered, but with the Moroccan civilians. Members of the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command and Utah Army and Air National Guard conducted humanitarian assistance projects in the form of limited medical and dental examinations and treatment in the vicinities of Guelmim and Tan Tan, Morocco. Both teams focused on improving the quality of life for more than 1,000 Moroccans a day during their visit.

“It is so good to be able to show the people here what we can do,” said Staff Sgt David Andrews, medic, Utah Air National Guard. “Many people think all we do is go to war.”

Having built on relationships, military training and with the mission accomplished the service members will return home upon completion of the exercise scheduled for the last week of April.

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944th Medical Squadron participates in African Lion 2007

4/18/2007 - GUELMIM, Morocco -- The 944th Medical Squadron joined their Navy and Marine Corps Reserve counterparts as part of exercise African Lion 2007.

African Lion is a regularly scheduled, combined U.S.-Moroccan military exercise designed to promote improved interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation's tactics and procedures.

Concurrent with the Navy and Marine life-fire training exercise, the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command and Utah Army and Air National Guard are conducting humanitarian assistance projects in the form of limited medical and dental exams and treatments.

Day one of the exercise began with the 944th Medical Squadron working from the military hospital in Guelmim conducting CPR training for both the American and Moroccan members as well as unloading and distributing the medical supplies.

"The Moroccans have opened their hospital up to us with open arms," said Lt. Col. Patrick Carpenter, 944th Medical Squadron commander. "They are very well organized and we look forward to visiting the villages and meeting the people over the next several days."

The American team also had the opportunity to tour the new hospital in Guelmim. They were able to see their counterparts' area in the hospital.

"We don't speak the same language but we speak the same (medical) language," said Master Sgt. Richard McDowell, 944th Medical Squadron laboratory NCO in charge, referring to the similarities in their profession.

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Airmen provide humanitarian aid for African Lion

by Tech. Sgt. Susan Stout
944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

5/3/2007 - GUELMIM, Morocco (AFNEWS) -- More than 3,700 Moroccans were treated by 37 American military members as part of an April 15 to 30 humanitarian assistance visit to Morocco called African Lion 2007.

Airmen of the 944th Medical Squadron from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., and other active duty and Reserve members of sister services participated in the regularly scheduled, combined U.S.-Moroccan military exercise designed to promote improved interoperability.

The team of 37 included members from several specialties including dermatology, optometry, pediatrics, gynecology, internal medicine and dental.

The group visited six sites in six days with each site containing Moroccan patients with various medical needs. The Americans and their Moroccan medical counterparts were able to assist 3,746 patients and provided 5,803 prescriptions and 833 pairs of glasses.

"I am very proud how our team worked during the visit," said Lt. Col. Patrick Carpenter, the 944th MDS commander. "We were able to provide some medical assistance for people who had been suffering without medical care for more than 10 years. The interaction we had with our Moroccan counterparts was priceless."

The initial challenge of the mission was the language barrier, but it was soon overcome.

"We don't speak the same language, but we speak the same (medical) language," said Master Sgt. Richard McDowell, the 944th Medical Squadron laboratory NCO in charge.

In addition to medical care, American medics also brought needed supplies and visited school children. Maj. Madeline Sanchez, the 944th Medical Squadron chief nurse, collected donations of school supplies to take to the villages of Morocco.

On the second day, the set up for medical care was next to a small school. After the patients had been processed, Major Sanchez and the squadron's first sergeant, Master Sgt. Darrin Andsager, walked over with a Moroccan escort to visit the children.

The quiet classroom soon transformed as the eight students stood up and in unison greeted the pair with a welcome song. They immediately returned to their seats and began their class work. After asking where their teacher was, Major Sanchez learned he went to the medical site and was assisting the Americans with translations in the pharmacy.

Sergeant Andsager immediately connected with the children and sat at their desks to see what they were learning. The book was in Arabic and he laughed as he told them he didn't understand. A boy, about 8 years old, pulled out the same book in French. The first sergeant again laughed and said he didn't understand.

Another boy from the desk in front of them passed a French dictionary and as Sergeant Andsager thumbed through the pages he looked up and asked, "How do you say 'barbecue' in French?"

The boy laughed, covered his face, and said, "Barbecue!"




A small boy relunctantly opens his mouth for Maj. Brent Dupper as the major prepares to work on the boy's teeth during humanitarian assistance Exercise African Lion April 23 in Morocco. Major Dupper joined a team of 944th Medical Squadron members from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., to participate in humanitarian assistance at six sites in Morocco. Major Dupper is a dentist with the 452nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron at March Air Reserve Base, Calif. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Susan Stout)

lors du débarquement au port de AGADIR:

Citation :

Marines training in Morocco say they’re itching for battle
By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, April 24, 2007


CAP DRAA TRAINING AREA, Morocco — At four years and counting, the war in Iraq is dragging on for many Americans.

But while popular opinion stateside favors withdrawal, a lot of the young U.S. troops currently training in Morocco said they want to join the fight.

The reservists of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment aren’t expected to activate for deployment to Iraq until December 2008. It’s not soon enough for some.

“I’m actually pretty eager to go,” said Lance Cpl. Kristopher Hurst, 20, of El Reno, Okla. “I don’t want to serve six years in the military and not do anything.

“You don’t want to pull away from your family, but it’s the duty. It’s why you signed on the dotted line.”

Hurst and his unit were unleashing firepower Friday at the firing range at Cap Draa Training Area as part of African Lion 07. The annual exercise pairs up U.S. and Moroccan forces for two weeks of military training and humanitarian missions in the northwestern African desert.

For the Marines, Friday’s menu included the firing of 81 mm mortars, .50-caliber machine guns and optically tracked, wire- guided (TOW) missiles, among other weaponry. They also fired away on the weapons of their Moroccan counterparts.

A primary goal of African Lion 07 is to reinforce the relationship between the two longtime allies.

Morocco, a largely Muslim country located on Africa’s northwest coast, is where Gen. George S. Patton’s Army staged its surge across northern Africa during World War II. Training northern African militaries is a priority for U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and its parent command, the U.S. European Command, both based in Stuttgart, Germany.

But the Moroccan army is up to speed, according to Maj. Sean Day, the Marines’ company commander.

“You’d think there would be many differences, but we’re very similar,” Day said. “They’re a very professional force, very well-trained, and their procedures are very similar to ours.”

Cap Draa is ideal for training troops for Iraq and elsewhere, some say. Its dirt-and-rock desert closely resembles the Middle Eastern war zone. Away from the training area, many of the troops see for the first time men wearing dishdashas and women wearing burqas.

“It’s new for all of us,” said Lance Cpl. Sean Conyers, 19, of Wichita, Kan. “We like to experience new stuff and new people. We’re taking pictures whenever we can.

“This is my first time out of the country.”

The reservists, mostly college-age men, spend one weekend per month working as Marines, and for two weeks each year they embark to places such as Morocco for intensive training.

If those from Weapons Company join the long list of weekend warriors who have been called up to fight in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, that’s just fine with them.

“There are still Marines who want to help out in Iraq,” Conyers said. “We’re still pretty motivated about going. We want to do our part.”

Lance Cpl. Alekzander Love, left, and Lance Cpl. Sean Conyers of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, load an optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) missile into its launcher on Friday at Cap Draa Training Area, Morocco. Sitting in the Humvee is Lance Cpl. Aaron Reeder. The Marines were participating in African Lion 07, a two-week training exercise with the U.S. and Moroccan militaries.


Lance Cpl. Kristopher Hurst of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, lets fly with an optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) missile on Friday at Cap Draa Training Area, Morocco.

+1 pour les FAR, -1 pour quelqu'un d'autre (irakiens? iraniens???)

Vous savez a force de chercher quelque chose on tombe sur d'autres et c'est domage de ne pas les partager :

Citation :

U.S. Marines convoy from Cap Draa to Agadir, Morocco, April 26, 2007, during Exercise

African Lion 2007. African Lion is a regularly scheduled United States and Moroccan military
exercise designed to promote improved interoperability and mutual understanding of each
nation's tactics, techniques and procedures. The Marines are with Weapons Company, 2nd
Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.

Citation :

U.S. Marines with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment wash down a Humvee
before a customs inspection in Agadir, Morocco, during African Lion 2007. African Lion is a
regularly scheduled U.S.-Moroccan bilateral exercise designed to improve interoperability
and mutual understanding of tactics, techniques and procedures

Citation :

A U.S. Marine with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment arms an 81 mm mortar shell before firing at Cap Draa, Morocco, April 20, 2007, during African Lion 2007. African Lion is a regularly scheduled U.S.-Moroccan bilateral exercise designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of tactics, techniques and procedures

suite...

belle trouvailles Gigg,bien joué

belles photos gigg

y a pas de quoi les amis