Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa Mission Rehearsal Exercise prepares forces to help “Africans solve African problems”

U.S. Joint Forces Command continued its Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Mission Rehearsal Exercise this week at the Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk, Va. using realistic scenarios to train personnel to conduct joint operations within the Horn of Africa.

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Narrated by Robert Pursell, USJFCOM Public Affairs
Featuring: Navy Rear Adm. Phil Greene, the CJTF-HOA commander

Pursell: U.S. Joint Forces Command continued its annual Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa or CJTF-HOA Mission Rehearsal Exercise or MRX here today at the Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk, Va.

The MRX, also supported by U.S. Central Command, trains personnel to conduct joint operations within the Horn of Africa using realistic scenarios. Most of the scenarios are taken from real life situations and provided by personnel already stationed in the region.

The mission of the CJTF-HOA is to prevent conflict, promote regional stability and protect coalition interests in east Africa and Yemen through humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, consequence management, and civic action programs.

Navy Adm. Phil Greene, the CJTF-HOA commander, explained the CJTF focus.

Greene: The focus is developing partnerships and forging relationships with our African friends. We’re there because they want us there and we’re in the business of helping them solve African challenges. In the end it’s about Africans solving African problems and how we contribute to their efforts and capacity and capability to do that.

Pursell: Over 250 participants, including the Standing Navy Joint Command Element Command Staff and individual augmentees, subject matter experts from USCENTCOM and several interagency organizations, are on hand for in the event. Multinational participation includes representation from Djibouti, Republic of Mauritius, United Kingdom and France.

Once the MRX wraps up, senior leadership will conduct an after action review to summarize everything the happened over the course of the exercise. Greene said the hope is that efforts of the exercise will help to increase security, improve stability and enable sovereignty in the HOA.

For more information on this and other ways U-S Joint Forces Command is supporting the warfighter, visit us on the web at www.jfcom.mil.

For U.S. Joint Forces Command, I’m Robert Pursell.