Zambia Defense Force, U.S. Army Africa chaplains discuss deployment cycle support, combat stresses

The event is part of the ZDF chaplain corps multi-year developmental plan and a continuation of USARAF and Zambian chaplain collaboration.

By U.S Army Maj. Jeremy Passut , U.S. Army Africa Lusaka, Zambia Feb 26, 2018

View Gallery

Gallery contains 4 images

LUSAKA, Zambia -- Zambian Defense Force and U.S. Army Africa chaplain corps met at the Zambian Defense Force conference center Jan. 23-25 to discuss African continental peacekeeping operations deployment cycle support and to study the emotional and spiritual stresses of combat on the African continent.

The event, hosted by Zambian Defense Force Chief of Chaplains Brig. Gen. Vincent Mwenya, was part of the ZDF chaplain corps multi-year developmental plan and a continuation of USARAF and Zambian chaplain collaboration. The developmental plan includes crafting a basic core curriculum and subsequent training implementation for the entire joint force of the Zambian chaplains corps.

Topics chosen by Mwenya and discussed during the conference included women and combat, suicide prevention, and moral leadership development and ethical behavior.

“I have never felt so ready for deployment and also to help families of our troops on deployment as I feel now because of the knowledge and insight I got from the seminar,” said Maj. Bossy Nkhoma, a Zambia hospital chaplain.

“Zambian chaplains brought a wealth of peacekeeping operations deployment experience, from veterans of the Rwandan genocidal period to the present day stresses of Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo,” said USARAF Command Chaplain (Col.) David Lile.

Lile and Sgt. 1st Class George L. Butler, the USARAF senior religious affairs NCO, met with 31 chaplains and chaplain assistants from the Zambian joint force during the eight-day exchange.

“This group of chaplains has collectively witnessed the 78 Zambian peacekeeping deployment deaths to date,” Lile said. “Throughout two decades of deployment, they have been an essential element to an impeccable record of human rights and ethical behavior in the toughest neighborhoods of Africa.”

Zambia has been actively involved with peacekeeping operations and routinely partners with USARAF for security cooperation events on the African continent. The last chaplain exchange between the two took place in March 2017.

Through defense institution building exchanges, Mwenya hopes to learn from U.S. Chaplain Corps programs of instruction and ultimately build an accredited Zambian chaplain center and school in Lusaka that will to offer standardized training to all joint Zambian chaplains.

U.S. Military Chaplains Increase Readiness at SADC Chaplains Conference

Flintlock 2025: 20 Years of Enhancing SOF Readiness in Africa

USAFRICOM Successfully Tests AI-Powered Personnel System During Continuity of Operations Exercise

U.S. Forces Conduct Strike Targeting ISIS-Somalia

U.S. Forces Conduct Strike Targeting al Shabaab

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

NAIROBI, Kenya – Among the flurry of tactical live fires and squad movement drills, air ground integration and even the humanitarian initiatives at exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25), lies the one thing those who serve in any armed force must follow: The Law. The Law of Armed Conflict, or LOAC, is a key aspect of training for any military. JA25’s academics course aimed at learning from the international legal lessons of previous wars in an effort to reduce the amount of human suffering in future conflicts. “The soldier’s rules are a broad set of rules that we have pulled from the large breadth of international law,” said U.S. Army Maj. Tim Olliges, an operational law attorney assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), the lead U.S. Army command and planner of JA25. “The LOAC is extensive and can be complex, so we pull out the ten most critical concepts that every soldier, right down to the private, should know before they go into combat.”

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

NAIROBI, Kenya – Imagine two scenarios. Scenario 1: Dawn breaks over the capital of Kenya. A U.S. diplomat leaves his residence for the embassy. After a 20-minute ride, his car arrives at the gate and he enters. He sits in his office to begin the day when, all of a sudden, he hears an explosion through the open window. It seems far off; it is not a large explosion. He thinks maybe it was just a car accident, but minutes later he smells something bitter in the air. His eyes water, sirens blare and a U.S. Marine Corps security detail enters his office wearing gas masks. They put a mask on him and tell him they must evacuate immediately because a deadly chemical is blowing over the compound. Scenario 2: U.S. intelligence receives credible information that radiological material is being loaded onto a ship in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Time is short and no one knows which ship, only that it will embark soon, possibly bound for the hands of violent extremists or other state actors looking to imperil the U.S. homeland. There is no time to send U.S. security forces to intercept the package. Instead, the Kenyan Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) mobilizes and arrives at the port. Using tactics and tools gained from years of training with the United States, they find the ship and the weapon, placed there by a violent extremist organization, and prevent its departure, defeating the threat to America and its citizens. Similar scenarios have happened before in other areas of the world.

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

The U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Belgian Ministry of Defence, in partnership with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Chaplain Directorates, hosted the world’s largest annual meeting of senior military religious leaders at the 36th Annual NATO & Partner International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference (IMCCC) in Brussels, Belgium, January 27-31, 2025.

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

United States Africa Command

Zambia Defense Force, U.S. Army Africa chaplains discuss deployment cycle support, combat stresses

The event is part of the ZDF chaplain corps multi-year developmental plan and a continuation of USARAF and Zambian chaplain collaboration.