Civil affairs soldiers prepare for Africa

Photo By Saska Ball | Staff Sgt. David Cunningham, an Observer Controller/Trainer of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Training Brigade, watches a key leader engagement during a mission readiness exercise, Nov. 19, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., for soldiers of Comanche Company, 490th Civil Affairs Battalion of Grand Prairie, Texas. The 490th is preparing for a deployment to the Horn of Africa.  

FORT DIX, NJ, UNITED STATES

11.28.2011

Story by Capt. Saska Ball 

U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne)

FORT DIX, N.J. -- A world away in Djibouti, it is sunny and a warm 90 degrees. But a company of civil affairs soldiers must endure the freezing, wet New Jersey climate before heading to the Horn of Africa. While the weather might not be the same, the scenarios in which they are participating are tailor-made for their mission.

These soldiers are from Comanche Company 490th Civil Affairs Battalion out of Grand Prairie, Texas, and are in the final stages of their deployment training, which began in September. The last event, a three-day mission readiness exercise, is a culmination of all their tactical and civil affairs training.

“I’m here to try to set up scenarios to stress the soldiers. I want to get them to think about what they are doing, and how they will interact with local nationals,” said Staff Sgt. David Cunningham, an observer controller/trainer with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Training Brigade.

Cunningham uses personal experience from his deployment to Ethiopia in 2008 to create situations that soldiers deploying to the Horn of Africa are likely to encounter.

One scenario he creates is as follows: two wells were dug too close to each other, causing water shortages in each well and tension between two villages. Not only must the civil affairs team figure out and solve the problem, they have to overcome the language barrier with an uncooperative interpreter.

“My favorite part of the mission today was when I fired my interpreter,” said Spc. Kylie Kauffman, a civil affairs specialist assigned to a team deploying to Kenya. Kauffman added that she fired her interpreter “because he was inaccurately translating what the sheik was saying.”

Kauffman, a native from Fort Worth, Texas, is excited for the chance to deploy. It will give her the chance to experience the African culture and have the opportunity to do the job she trained for, even though it means leaving behind her husband, an active duty infantry soldier who recently returned from Afghanistan, and their 18 month old baby girl.

In another scenario, a team receives the mission to conduct a key leader engagement with a sheik of a village after the village encountered a grenade attack, possibly executed by the terrorist organization, Al-Shabab.

While en route to the village, the team encounters a check point, which according to Cunningham, is a daily occurrence in the Horn of Africa. These checkpoints provide an opportunity to gain a lot of intelligence by interacting with the guards.

Instead of changing routes to avoid the checkpoint, Cpl. Justin Snodgrass, company operations non-commissioned officer in charge and team leader for the mission, dismounts his vehicles with a security element to talk with the guards.

“I went to talk to the guards to get a feel for the situation and see if they could provide my team with any additional information, which they did,” explains Snodgrass. “They told me how to get to the village and gave me direct access to the road in exchange for an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat).”

Snodgrass, a criminal justice student at Navarro College, uses his previous deployment experience as a civil affairs specialist to Iraq in 2008 to help him act as the team leader. “In a key leader engagement, we ask about the local populace, the conditions they have, how they are doing and things of that nature. Speaking to people is basically the same mission with the same intent.”

Comanche Company will be assigned to Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. Their mission is to “conduct operations in the Combined Joint Operations Area to enhance partner nation capacity, promote regional stability, dissuade conflict, and protect U.S. and coalition interests.”

Unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan, where civil affairs soldiers are attached either to provincial reconstruction teams or brigade combat teams conducting civil military operations for a combatant commander, in the Horn of Africa, civil affairs units are considered the tactical element.

Company first sergeant, 1st Sgt. Paul Sanchez, appreciates the theater-specific training, as he compares this deployment to his two to Iraq.

“Operating in Africa will differ mainly because the threats of an attack are not going to be there as quite as often,” explained Sanchez

Civil affairs soldiers are used in stability operations to rebuild infrastructure after combat. Often times in HOA, civil affairs teams are based in austere locations and live with the local populace. This tactic allows the teams to gain a feeling for the local area, known in the civil affairs community as atmospherics. The team can then conduct humanitarian assistance operations, along with medical and veterinarian civic action programs.

Since civil affairs soldiers are the field commander's link to the civil authorities in the commander’s area of operations, the diverse backgrounds of the Comanche soldiers will benefit the mission greatly. They are educators, police officers, electricians, emergency medical technicians and civil administrators. Their unique mission in the Horn of Africa will put not only their training to the test, but also their own civilian expertise.

• Date Taken: 11.28.2011
• Date Posted: 11.28.2011 15:58
• Story ID: 80629
• Location: FORT DIX, NJ, US