Senegal, US armies complete joint Africa Readiness Training

Senegalese Armed Forces and U.S. Army Africa on Tuesday completed a two-week joint training in Thies, Senegal. This was the first in a series of planned annual exercises under the program Africa Readiness Training 2016.

“In fact, this is the first exercise of its type here in Senegal. The idea is to prepare US forces for deployment in emergency situations here in Africa,” said Colonel Scott H. Morgan, military attaché of the US embassy in Dakar

The objective of the collaboration is to boost both U.S and Senegalese forces’ readiness through tough and realistic training, including combined live-fire events, counter-improvised explosive device detection and combat casualty care.

“There are many experiences we are sharing with each other. There are some things on which they themselves feel that there is a need to adapt on. On our side for these procedures, the modes action, they have found they were actually a bit slow, and have adapted. They have improved their knowledge based on what we are doing now, simply because our military knowledge is far more realistic as far as Africa is concerned. In areas where the enemy is often in contact, we require quick action and response,” said Lieutenant Colonel Suleiman Kandé, commanding officer of the paratroopers battalion of the Senegalese Army.

The Africa Readiness Training also focuses on increasing the capacity of African partners and U.S. Army readiness, to better prepare to work together if the need arises for crisis response. The exercise is part of strengthening U.S. partnerships with African nations and build a network to combat common threats and challenges.