Eastern Africa Standby Force Exercise Going Strong

Photo By Chief Petty Officer Robert Gallagher | Water engineer Chief Warrant Officer 2 Peter Kariuki, both with the Kenya army, shows the pH level of freshly purified water to mining team/combat engineer Chief Warrant Officer 2 Meshak Otieno near the portable water purification plant inside the KENBATT post outside the Arta Military Academy in Djibouti Dec. 1, 2009. The salt water is trucked in from the Red Sea and desalinized and processed into potable water for the camp. The Eastern African Standby Brigade Field Training Exercise is multi-national, multi-dimensional field training exercise that is designed to test the Eastern Africa Standby Force operating capabilities. This series of field exercises are being conducted in the host nation of Djibouti Nov. 29 through Dec. 4, 2009.  

DJIBOUTI, DJIBOUTI

12.02.2009

Story by Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse 

Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa

DJIBOUTI -- The Eastern Africa Standby Forces are in the third day of the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade Coordination Mechanism field training exercise hosted in Djibouti.

"This exercise is like any other exercise conducted within regions and is important because it is bringing together forces that have never worked together," said Lt. Col. P. K. Njema, Kenya Battalion commanding officer. "It is important for the region because its success will indicate that we are able to react to any situation that happens within the member states. So it is very important and its success can not be overemphasized."

Each military force is evaluated in response to scenarios written by Systems Consultants Services, an independent U.K. based consultancy firm. Mike Jackson, a retired British army lieutenant colonel, has been writing the scenarios for this FTX for the past six months. The scenarios include creating adverse situations involving insurgents, various cities and a fictitious country named "Carana".

The exercise area has been divided into five sectors, or provinces, and a different military force is responsible for each sector. From these sectors, each military force is given a scenario and they must respond accordingly to resolve the situation, according to Frank Freeman, a retired British army lieutenant colonel with SCS and the project manager for the exercise.

Scenarios scheduled for the day included an ambush, vehicles disabled blocking roadways, a helicopter crash, and a village that needs assessment.

Along with the scenarios, a convoy of internally displaced people traveled throughout all sectors and required each force to assume control of the convoy until the border of the next sector.

"EASBRIG is a standby brigade that is to react to any situation that happens within the Eastern African Region," said Njema. "We are here to ensure that peace and stability is restored in one of the provinces of Carana."

Since this is the first EASF field training exercise, there are some challenges to overcome, challenges like providing food, shelter and transportation for all the forces participating in the exercise.

"Like any other exercise of this magnitude, challenges are expected," said Njema. "We came prepared with what was required of us and so we were able to quickly get into the situation."

According to the EASF brochure, the goal of this FTX is to exercise the Eastern Africa Standby Force in a multinational and multidimensional command, control and staff duties and their initial operation capabilities.

Combined Joint Task Force — Horn of Africa has provided Djibouti with bilateral support as Djiboutians prepared for the field training exercise.

"First their visit and professional advice and their interaction with us has been very helpful," said Peter Marwa, the EASBRICOM director, while speaking of the United States' contributions during the opening ceremony. "Also the command of CJTF-HOA here, has been very useful."

• Date Taken: 12.02.2009
• Date Posted: 12.02.2009 00:56
• Story ID: 42233
• Location: DJIBOUTI, DJ