Marines, sailors to conduct training in Burundi, Uganda

SIGONELLA, ITALY

01.28.2014

Story by 1st Lt. James Stenger 

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa     

NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Italy - Approximately 50 Marines and sailors from Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Africa 14.1 will travel in late January to Uganda and Burundi to conduct train and equip missions designed to improve the military capacity of our African partners and better enable them to prevent conflict and increase regional security.

Two groups of American service members will each train and advise both the Burundi National Defense Force and Uganda People’s Defense Force in their upcoming missions, respectively. The focus of the training is logistics and engineering, but also includes engagements in areas such as medical services, basic marksmanship, communications, vehicle movement and maintenance procedures, staff coordination training.

Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Africa 14.1 is the newest rotation of Marines and sailors to arrive at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, to stage and prepare for theater security cooperation missions into various countries in Africa. This iteration is manned by Marines and sailors from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine regiment, permanently based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF, pronounced ‘mag-taff’) is the Marine Corps’ principle organization for the conduct of all missions across the range of military operations. MAGTFs are balanced, combined-arms forces with organic ground, aviation and sustainment elements. Special-purpose MAGTFs are organized, trained and equipped to accomplish a specific mission for which one of the three standard MAGTF types would be inappropriate or too large to employ.

• Date Taken: 01.28.2014
• Date Posted: 01.28.2014 10:34
• Story ID: 119754
• Location: SIGONELLA, IT