10:05 AM3/26/2025

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.”

10:00 AM3/26/2025

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.

10:20 AM9/16/2024

10:57 AM6/7/2021

U.S. Air Force combat aviation advisors assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command and Kenyan Air Force aircrews and Rapid Response Units conduct personnel recovery training on Moi Air Base, Kenya, May 12, 2021. The U.S. Air Force provided training in C-145 Skytruck flight and maintenance operations, as well as combat and survival training.

10:55 AM6/7/2021

U.S. Air Force combat aviation advisors assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command showcase Kenya’s newly acquired C-145 Skytruck to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenyan officials in Nairobi, Kenya, May 12, 2021. The U.S. Air Force provided training in C-145 Skytruck flight and maintenance operations, as well as combat and survival training.

9:51 AM6/7/2021

The engagement enabled a fully-trained flying crew - to include pilots, loadmasters, riggers and mechanics - proficient in operating and maintaining the C-145.

9:26 AM6/7/2021

The engagement enabled a fully-trained flying crew - to include pilots, loadmasters, riggers and mechanics - proficient in operating and maintaining the C-145.