U.S. SENDS TROOPS INTO AFRICA

Terror threats from al-Qaida linked groups in Africa has been growing rapidly, particularly with the rise of the extremist Islamist sect Boko Haram in Nigeria. Officials also believe that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, may have been carried out by those who had ties to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

In response, the U.S. Army will begin sending small teams into as many as 35 African nations early next year, to train countries to battle Islamo-Fascist terrorists and give the U.S. a more experienced force to draw upon if a crises requiring the U.S. military arises in Africa.

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The U.S. military has plans for nearly 100 different exercises, training programs and other activities across the widely diverse continent. The brigade will be carved up into different teams designed to meet the specific needs of each African nation. Teams would largely be made up of more senior enlisted troops and officers. A full brigade numbers about 3,500, but the teams could range from just a few people to a company of about 200. In rare cases for certain exercises, it could be a battalion, which would number about 800.

The teams will be limited to training and equipping efforts, and will not be permitted to conduct military operations without specific, additional approvals from the secretary of defense.

First assignments involving teams from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division will target countries such as Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger, where Al Qaeda-linked groups have been active. It also will assist nations like Kenya and Uganda that have been battling al-Shabab militants on the front lines in Somalia.

Gen. Carter Ham, the top U.S. commander in Africa, noted that the brigade has a small drone capability that could be useful in Africa. He also stated special permission is required to use those resources should a mission require them.

The Army is reaching out across the services, the embassies and a network of professional organizations to find troops and experts that are from some of the African countries. Experts can be used during training and advise or travel with the teams as they begin the program.

The military has to tap its conventional fighting forces for this task because there aren't enough special operations forces to meet the global training needs. He said there will be as many as a dozen different training segments between February and September, each designed to provide tailored instruction for the particular teams.

Operations for the 2nd Brigade will begin in the spring and will pave the way for Army brigades to be assigned next to U.S. Pacific Command and then to U.S. European Command over the next year. The brigade is receiving its regular combat training first, and then will move on to the more specific instruction needed for the deployments, such as language skills, cultural information and other data about the African nations.

The language and culture training will be different. In recent years, soldiers have focused on learning Pashtun and Farsi, languages spoken widely in Afghanistan and Iran. Soldiers will be expected to learn French, Swahili, Arabic or other languages, as well as the local cultures.

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