U.S. advisors train with Nigerien forces

Airmen assigned to the 768th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron instructed Forces Armées Nigeriennes (Nigerien Armed Forces) personnel during a week-long Improvised Explosive Device Awareness Course, here, Oct. 7-11, 2019.

By Staff Sgt. Alex Echols , 435th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs Niamey, Niger Oct 18, 2019

View Gallery

Gallery contains 16 images

Airmen assigned to the 768th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron instructed Forces Armées Nigeriennes (Nigerien Armed Forces) personnel during a week-long Improvised Explosive Device Awareness Course, here, Oct. 7-11, 2019.

Expanding on the U.S. Armed Forces/FAN partnership, members of the 768th EABS Explosive Ordnance Disposal team assisted by 768th EABS Security Forces Air Advisors trained FAN Genie Unit members during the course, which is part of a curriculum spanning several months.

“I take a lot of pride in seeing how far they’ve come from when we first showed up here just three months ago,” said Senior Airman Caleb Love, 786th EABS EOD team member. “A lot of the [FAN] soldiers out here only receive some initial training when they join the military and receive no additional training for the rest of their career. If it wasn’t for these courses, they wouldn’t receive any training before they deploy.”

This overall joint knowledge exchange curriculum is designed to improve the FAN’s effectiveness and survivability once they deploy to combat the violent extremist organizations in West Africa.

While the 768th EABS EOD Team leads the charge for this program, the Security Forces Air Advisors help ensure the joint knowledge exchange is executed properly and lend their expertise in security tactics by teaching classes related to those skills.

“I couldn’t ask for a better experience,” said Senior Airman Brandon Cummings, 786th EABS Security Forces Air Advisor. “The individuals that we are training are very friendly and receptive to the information that we are teaching them. It’s just an awesome experience to work with our host nation counterparts like this.”

During the week of training, the Airmen taught FAN personnel valuable skills for the deployed environment such as how to locate and react to an IED, how to set up a cordon and procedures to clear the area. Also on the syllabus were movement tactics, reacting to contact and how to work in and out of a vehicle.

“This week we learned something new, and we refreshed our knowledge,” said FAN 2nd Lt. Amadou Belloh Abdoulaye, Genie Unit combat engineer. “The situation of our country is very difficult and complex. So this training is very important. [It] is always welcome.”

The next block of joint training will begin in a couple of weeks, expanding on the trainees’ knowledge and the bond that is forged between two allies striving for a common goal.

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

U.S. advisors train with Nigerien forces

Airmen assigned to the 768th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron instructed Forces Armées Nigeriennes (Nigerien Armed Forces) personnel during a week-long Improvised Explosive Device Awareness Course, here, Oct. 7-11, 2019.