Photo By Senior Chief Petty Officer John Osborne | Army Maj. Gen. David Morris, left, shakes hands with Army Cpl. David Holt, to whom he...... read more read more
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By Petty Officer 1st Class John Osborne
Combined Joint Task Force Public Affairs
CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti – The team of the 350th Civil Affairs Command and the teams of the 402nd, 486th, and 489th Civil Affairs Battalions were given a chance to showcase some of their best work and ask some important questions to the Commanding General of U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) when Maj. Gen. David Morris visited Djibouti Oct. 18-19. CAPOC's primary mission is to train, equip and provide civil affairs and psychological operations forces to the regional combatant commanders and support U.S. embassies around the world.
Morris' visit included trips to the outlying district of Ali Sabieh to participate in a Veterinary Civil Action Program, a tour of the Dikhil Medical Center Oct. 18, and a series of office calls at Camp Lemonier that concluded with a question and answer session with the Army civil affairs teams.
"I've been very impressed. The approach in the Horn of Africa is the model for how we want to do business because it's preventative," Morris told his civil affairs team audience. "One of the things that distinguishes our Army is flexibility and that we rely heavily on our non-commissioned officers and you should know the demand for civil affairs and psychological operations will go up for the next 20 years with an emphasis on non-kinetic operations."
Morris also said that the missions of civil affairs teams require a special kind of Soldier that has to be able to think outside the box and be willing to work outside the safety of the camp.
"Our civil affairs teams cannot execute their missions staying behind the wire," Morris said. "They have to go outside the wire, dismount their vehicles and get on the ground to interface with the local populace. That means they have to have some understanding of the language and culture. They have to have good personal relations skills so they can interrelate with the local people, learn what they need, assess what they need and then apply it. It requires a level of maturity not typically found in junior Soldiers, but our people have it."
And so does Morris. During his visit to observe the VETCAP in Dikhil Oct. 18, Morris took a moment to greet local herdsmen and the district veterinarian and consult with the 350th , and then picked up a syringe to join the team in vaccinating over 500 animals in a two-hour period. Morris said it is always his desire to join the civil affairs teams in their work to show them that he knows how important their work is to the mission.
"I like to share the Soldiers' experience," said Morris, who commands four civil affairs and two psychological operations groups deployed throughout the world. "It's important that any Soldier on the ground, regardless of rank, sees that their senior leadership is not afraid to get dirty. I don't believe in asking anyone to do anything that I wouldn't do myself. I may not have the technical expertise of some our doctors, lawyers or veterinarians, but I've had several deployments and I've been in harm's way many times and I want to demonstrate that I'm not hesitant to go where I ask them to go."
After departing Camp Lemonier, Morris was headed to Afghanistan for a similar visit with civil affairs teams in that country. He is scheduled to then return to Fort Bragg, N.C., for a couple of months before heading to Iraq in December.
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 10.24.2007 07:46 |
| Story ID: | 13258 |
| Location: | CAMP LEMONNIER, DJ |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 62 |
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