Story by: Spc. Cody Campana
CAP DRAA, Morocco - U.S. sailors and Marines maneuvered military equipment from a naval vessel off the coast of Tan-Tan, Morocco, to Cap Draa, Morocco, May 11 in support of Exercise African Lion 2011.
The joint service members’ role was to support African Lion by conducting convoy operations to transfer equipment and supplies to various units after offloading from the vessel.
The service members were supporting Exercise African Lion 2011, a joint and bi-lateral exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States. More than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces are participating in the exercise between April 25 and June 18.
The exercise is a joint operation between the Army, Navy, Marines and Royal Moroccan Armed Forces that consists of peacekeeping operations, humanitarian civic assistance operations and construction projects.
Before the convoy could begin, sailors and Marines took part in downloading the equipment and supplies from the HSV 2 Swift Naval vessel at the port of Tan-Tan.
“Our mission was to offload equipment from the HSV 2 Swift and then to convoy the equipment to Cap Draa,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Surles, a Spring Hope, N.C., native and heavy equipment operator who serves with the Amphibious Construction Battalion, Detachment 107, out of Raleigh, N.C. “We unloaded Humvees and other equipment in support of Exercise African Lion.”
“After we are finished offloading from the Swift, we will convoy everything we offloaded to other units at Cap Draa. The convoy should take a little more than an hour,” said Surles.
The U.S Marine Corps had the majority of equipment on the vessel; therefore they had the most work to do during the offload.
“The Marines here are boarding the HSV 2 Swift and are offloading their light armor vehicles directly to the port [of Tan-Tan]. They will then become part of the equipment convoy to Cap Draa where they are staying for the duration of the exercise,” said Denver native and Marine reservist 2nd Lt. Michael Dahlstrom, with the 4th Light Armor Reconnaissance Company, out of Riverton, Utah. “The offloading of the equipment is essential in preparing for African Lion,” he said.
After the download of equipment, the joint service members successfully convoyed to Cap Draa and delivered the needed equipment and supplies.