Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Army

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U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

AGADIR, Morocco — More than 400 multinational service members are gathering to participate in the academic portion of African Lion 26 at Southern Zone Headquarters, Agadir, Morocco, April 20 to May 1.

The academic phase of the exercise features 22 intensive courses. These classes prepare multinational service members to use unmanned aerial systems, cyberspace defenses and satellite operations before they head into simulated combat.

“The academics portion of the exercise serves as a critical foundation for follow-on training and operations,” said U.S. Marine Maj. Keefe Murtaugh, AL26 academics coordinator and team two operations officer with Marine Corps Advisor Company Alpha. “The academic program is designed to enhance technical expertise, accelerate decision-making and improve operational effectiveness across all domains, three elements critical to shortening the decision cycle in modern conflict.”

Courses range from entry-level instruction to advanced operational planning, ensuring leaders at every echelon are equipped to contribute to mission success. Training on unmanned aerial systems spans both tactical execution and operational integration.

“The operator course is meant to instruct service members on how to conduct UAS operations, basic flight instruction,” Murtaugh said. “The planner course is really intended for noncommissioned officers, senior NCOs and officers to think about how to employ UAS from a day-to-day perspective.”

Advanced courses are expanding into emerging domains, including space, electromagnetic warfare and cyberspace, areas critical to maintaining an advantage in increasingly contested environments.

“This year features an advanced [electronic warfare] and space course,” Murtaugh said. “The students that went through the basic course here last year are determining how to integrate with satellite operations in a bigger way, which is something that we haven’t done before.”

The 10-day cyberspace operations course further underscores the exercise’s focus on innovation and investment in modern capabilities.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Mason Elizondo, an AL26 cyberspace operations instructor assigned to the 183rd Cyber Protection Team, Army Reserve Cyber Protection Brigade, is directly contributing to that effort by training partner forces to defend critical cyber infrastructure.

“Today we are instructing the Moroccan partner force on the introduction to cybersecurity… how to posture themselves effectively for threat hunting and cyber and best cybersecurity practices,” Elizondo said.

The training is designed to empower partner forces with the tools and knowledge needed to operate independently and defend their own networks, an essential component of burden-sharing and long-term regional stability.

“Our goal is to instruct partner forces and get them into a good position so that they can conduct their missions effectively and protect their cyber key terrain,” Elizondo said. “We need to teach them and choreograph with them to make sure that they have their own priorities set straight so they can do their own threat hunts.”

Elizondo added that the instruction focuses on detecting and countering adversary activity across multiple platforms.

“I will be teaching the students how to hunt and detect persistence on a network from figuring out how attackers get into the network and how they stay on the network to anything from a Windows system to a Linux system or a cloud environment,” he said.

The multinational environment also enables a two-way exchange of knowledge, reinforcing innovation and adaptability across the force.

“They are incredibly proficient and incredibly knowledgeable,” Elizondo said. “We’re not just imparting knowledge on them, we’re also getting knowledge from them. We get to interact with all different types of partner forces.”

For Murtaugh, this collaborative approach is central to building interoperable forces capable of responding to shared challenges.

“We partner with foreign forces and help validate their doctrine, work through the planning process and make sure we can maximize interoperability,” he said.

The academic phase plays a vital role in preparing participants for subsequent exercise events, ensuring forces can effectively apply their training during planning and execution phases.

“The academics portion is critical because it’s helping a lot of these students refresh, or be introduced to some of the material that they’re going to apply during either the planning or execution for command field exercises,” Murtaugh said.

U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Travis Herman, Intelligence and Sustainment Company first sergeant, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), said the experience reinforces shared goals among partner nations.

“This is my first time teaching in Africa,” Herman said. “I’m most excited about getting to know the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, their culture and getting to see how they run things.”

Herman, who teaches the noncommissioned officer development course, said the training enhances readiness for both U.S. and partner forces.

“It is helping increase readiness with both them and us because it refreshes me on some foundations that I haven’t touched on in a couple years,” he said.

Through engagement with partner forces, Herman emphasized the common ground that underpins multinational cooperation.

“From training alongside our partners and our allies, I just continue to learn that we are more similar than we are different,” he said. “They want the same things that we want for our Soldiers, readiness.”

By combining academic instruction with multinational collaboration, AL26 strengthens deterrence, validates innovative approaches and empowers partner nations to build sustainable, independent capabilities, ensuring a more ready, capable and interoperable force for the future.

About African Lion

African Lion 2026 is U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual joint exercise, designed to strengthen collective security capabilities of the U.S., African nations and global allies. Co-led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) from April 20 to May 8, 2026, and hosted in Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, AL26 involves over 5,600 personnel from more than 40 nations, using innovation to drive partner-led regional security.

African Lion content can be found on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).

About SETAF-AF

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.

Follow SETAF-AF on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn & DVIDS

Source: United States Army

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U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

ROME — Senior enlisted leaders from Africa, Europe and the United States attended the Senior Enlisted Leader Forum, held in conjunction with the African Land Forces Summit in Rome, Italy, March 24.

Hosted by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) and sponsored by the Office of the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, ALFS annually brings land force leaders together to strengthen partnerships and address shared security challenges. The SELF, introduced seven years ago, reinforces that mission by focusing on the critical role of noncommissioned officers in shaping future forces and driving mission success.

“Forums like this allow us to synchronize efforts of leader development from across the African continent while building relationships that matter,” said U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Chad Harness, senior enlisted advisor for SETAF-AF. “As we execute our eighth iteration of SELF, this is the largest forum we’ve done, which only codifies its importance as we build upon the NCO corps.”

This year’s forum marked the first time the SELF took place in Europe. Harness welcomed participants and emphasized the importance of senior enlisted leadership in building capable, adaptive formations prepared for modern warfare.

“The theme of this year’s ALFS conference was innovation,” Harness said. “For innovation to become positive change it must meet the demands of the operational environment and practical application by the end user. For that to happen across our partner forces, we need strong NCO leadership like I see at this event.”

Reinforcing the importance of enlisted leadership in executing strategy, Italian army Command Sgt. Maj. Michele Romano underscored the role of NCOs in mission success.

“The most expertly thought-out plan is only as good as the NCO corps that is interpreting and executing it,” Romano said. “Our strength as armies comes from the professionalism, discipline and adaptability of our NCOs.”

Building on that perspective, keynote speakers such as U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Fedorisin, senior enlisted advisor for 7th Army Training Command, and U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Joshua Peterson, senior enlisted advisor assigned to the 173rd Mobile Brigade Combat Team, highlighted how disciplined, well-trained NCO corps across multinational formations enable operational effectiveness.

“A strong NCO corps is the backbone of any effective force, especially in multinational environments where trust and standards must be shared,” Peterson said. “When we invest in our enlisted leaders, we are investing directly in readiness and mission success.”

The forum gathered experienced sergeants major and senior enlisted leaders who shared insights drawn from decades of service. Expanding on the keynote remarks, discussions focused on leadership, readiness and innovation, with participants exchanging best practices for training and managing forces in an increasingly complex operational environment.

Echoing these themes, senior enlisted leaders from African partner nations contributed to the dialogue by sharing how they maintain discipline while fostering innovation and adapting to evolving threats.

“We face many of the same challenges, but forums like this give us new ideas and approaches we can take back to our formations,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Andrew Johnston, Security Cooperation Directorate sergeant major for SETAF-AF. “There is nothing to say that a corporal in Zambia isn’t the one who develops a solution to a tactical problem threatening all of us. I have worked with dozens of militaries over the years, and the best partners all have the same thing in common: a strong and empowered NCO corps.”

Adding to the collaborative environment, U.S. Army National Guard participants engaged with counterparts through the State Partnership Program, strengthening long-term partnerships and supporting the advancement of enlisted development initiatives aligned with U.S. Africa Command’s African Enlisted Development Program.

“The State Partnership Program allows us to build lasting relationships that go beyond a single exercise or event,” Johnston said. “Through the SPP program, partner and U.S. NCOs can engage and grow with each other over decades as opposed to years, building real partnerships and showing the U.S. commitment to security cooperation.”

The SELF supports this broader effort by enhancing partner force capability to address regional threats independently or alongside U.S. forces.

Concluding the forum, leaders emphasized that open dialogue and shared experiences remain essential to building trust and interoperability among participating nations.

“The relationships we build here are just as important as the lessons we share,” Harness said. “They are what enable us to operate together effectively in the future.”

The relationships formed and ideas exchanged in Rome will continue to shape how senior enlisted leaders develop their formations, contributing to a more secure and stable future across Africa and the rest of the world.

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About SETAF-AF

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.

Follow SETAF-AF on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn & DVIDS

Source: United States Army

WASHINGTON– In the span of a single year, the men and women of the National Guard conducted precision airstrikes to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, rescued dozens of children from rising Texas floodwaters, repelled cyber intrusions targeting critical infrastructure and surged thousands of troops to restore order and safety in American cities.

Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense alongside reserve component chiefs today, the chief of the National Guard Bureau underscored the Guard’s indispensable dual role as a warfighting and response force.

“Our dual mission as the primary combat reserve of the Army and the Air Force, while also serving as the military first responders in domestic crises, is a challenge we accept,” Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus said. “2025 was a remarkable year for the National Guard, defined by the scale and simultaneity of our operations.”

When President Donald J. Trump called for action against Iran’s nuclear program last June, National Guard aircrews contributed to the War Department’s Operation Midnight Hammer, the largest operational B-2 strike in U.S. history. This mission began not at a forward operating base, but in Missouri, where the Air National Guard’s 131st Bomb Wing has spent years working side by side with the U.S. Air Force’s 509th Bomb Wing.

This year, National Guardsmen have participated in Operation Epic Fury, flying strike missions against Iranian targets alongside Joint Force partners. U.S. forces, including Guardsmen, remain postured as U.S. combat power continues to build, while Iranian combat power declines.

In January’s Operation Absolute Resolve, Guard forces were employed to counter narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, back home, Guardsmen logged more than 2.4 million hours of direct support to American citizens in response to domestic crises, from natural disasters to civil emergencies.

Congressman Ken Calvert, the HAC-D chairman, praised the Guard’s counterdrug efforts in the homeland, which Nordhaus said were responsible for removing $15 billion in illicit narcotics from American communities in 2025.

“Every dollar you give the National Guard, you’re getting huge bang for your buck,” Nordhaus said. “Because our Guardsmen are professional, they’re experienced, and they use their civilian skill sets to come into those programs and make us stronger.”

Today, about 42,000 Guardsmen are currently engaged in the homeland and worldwide, supporting every combatant commander across the globe. Nordhaus said sustaining this operational tempo requires continued investment in facilities, equipment, medical readiness and people.

The CNGB emphasized that the Guard will remain a credible warfighting partner if it modernizes alongside the active component.

“To sustain strategic dominance, we must modernize concurrently with our services to aggressively outpace and overmatch tomorrow’s threats,” he said, calling for robust investments in flying hours, weapons systems sustainment, facilities maintenance, base operations support and the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account, or NGREA.

Nordhaus also asked Congress to address a funding gap created when Guard forces are called into state active-duty status to respond to domestic emergencies. Under current policy, reimbursement funds for those activations are returned to the Treasury rather than restored to the units that spent them on training and equipment.

“When we use these resources to serve our citizens in a state active-duty status, current policy sends reimbursement funds back to the Treasury,” he said. “We ask for your support in restoring that readiness directly back to our formations.”

One of the most persistent challenges facing the Guard is a personnel system that has not kept pace with the demands placed on the force.

Guard leaders have called on Congress to advance duty-status reform, a long-sought effort to simplify the patchwork of legal authorities under which Guardsmen are ordered to active duty, and to ensure that equal work is compensated with equal pay and benefits regardless of duty status.

Last month, during a roundtable review of crime reduction in Memphis, Tennessee, President Trump announced that some National Guardsmen currently activated around the U.S. will soon receive deployment pay and benefits equal to those of active-duty troops.

Perhaps the most cost-effective security cooperation tool in the War Department’s portfolio is the National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, which pairs individual National Guard elements from every state, territory and the District of Columbia with partner nations for training, exercises and military-to-military engagement.

The program now connects the Department with nearly 60% of the world’s countries at just 1% of the theater security cooperation budget. Nordhaus told lawmakers, “Your help with flexible, multi-year budget authority will allow us to sustain the pace of these highly effective engagements.”

The CNGB closed by thanking the committee for its support and calling on Congress to continue investing in the Guard’s warfighters and capabilities.

“We are powered by our core advantage: the Citizen-Soldier and -Airman,” Nordhaus said. “They combine the warrior ethos with civilian-acquired skills, creating an organization that is as innovative as it is lethal, a force that is community-based and globally engaged.

“We will always keep our promise to the Nation and to our citizens: Always Ready, Always There.”

Related Links

The Official Website of the National Guard | NationalGuard.mil

State Partnership Program | NationalGuard.mil

The National Guard on Facebook | Facebook.com/TheNationalGuard

The National Guard on Flickr | Flickr.com/TheNationalGuard

The National Guard on Instagram | Instagram.com/us.nationalguard

The National Guard on X | X.com/USNationalGuard

The National Guard on YouTube | YouTube.com/TheNationalGuard

Source: United States Army

CAMP DARBY, Italy – For nearly 70 years, a white marble headstone marked “Unknown” stood in the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, overlooking the rolling Tuscan hills. Thousands of visitors passed it, never knowing that the soldier buried there was a 30-year-old from New Haven, Connecticut, who disappeared during a grenade charge in the final months of World War II.

We now have a name: Army Pfc. St. Clair M. Gibson.

“After taking care of this unknown Soldier for all of these years, it was a profound honor to be able to place a rosette by his name knowing he has been identified and returned home to his family,” said Eryth Zecher, Florence American Cemetery superintendent.

After 81 years, we finally have an answer to what happened in those brutal mountains. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has officially identified Pfc. Gibson, closing a chapter that started in the rugged peaks of the Apennines back in 1944.

Gibson was a “Buffalo Soldier” with the 371st Infantry Regiment, part of the segregated 92nd Infantry Division. These Black service members were on the front lines, fighting to push German forces out of Italy even while facing segregation back home.

On Nov. 18, 1944, Gibson went missing during heavy combat near Monte Canala. Because the terrain around Seravezza was so steep and dangerous, his unit couldn’t recover him before the battle lines shifted.

After the war, investigators found remains on that battlefield, but 1940s technology wasn’t enough to identify them. They labeled him “Unknown X-272 Castelfiorentino” and buried him in the cemetery at Impruneta. By 1949, the Army basically gave up, declaring him “non-recoverable.”

Everything changed in 2017 when researchers decided to exhume “Unknown X-272.” Using modern DNA and dental records, they finally confirmed it was Gibson on May 7, 2025.

“As with all of the service members we watch over, this reaffirms their sacrifices will be remembered and their stories preserved for future generations,” Zecher said.

If you visit the Florence American Cemetery today, you’ll see his name on the “Tablets of the Missing.” Soon, a small bronze rosette will be placed next to it – a quiet symbol that he’s no longer lost.

While his name remains engraved in the stone at Impruneta, Gibson finally went home. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on March 10, 2026.

If your travels take you through the heart of Tuscany, make sure to carve out time for a visit to the Florence American Cemetery. It’s a deeply moving site where 4,392 white marble headstones rest among the iconic cypress trees and rolling hills just south of the city. While the cemetery is a peaceful place to visit any day of the year, it truly comes to life during the annual Memorial Day ceremony. Every May, locals and visitors join military members and officials to honor the fallen with heartfelt service, colorful floral wreaths, and a flyover that echoes across the Greve River valley. To know more visit: https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/about-florence-american-cemetery/