MadMac and 60 other US soldiers train Ethiopian soldiers
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MadMac and 60 other US soldiers train Ethiopian soldiers
DIRE DAWA, Ethiopia — As soldiers of Ethiopia’s Christian government continued to rout Islamist militiamen in southern Somalia this week, 2nd Cpl. Wonderfraw Niguse celebrated his own victory on the parched scrublands of eastern Ethiopia hundreds of kilometers to the north.
With the sporadic barking of baboons or braying of donkeys in the distance, the 25-year-old squad leader led two successful ambushes against simulated enemy forces here as his fellow trainees charged through thickets of needle-sharp thorn bushes and down dried river beds.
The feat, which Wonderfraw and his fellow soldiers cheered with songs of victory and courage, was accomplished during a three-month basic infantry skills course offered by the U.S. military at the sprawling Ethiopian Training Academy in Hurso.
“They are very good, these techniques that they are teaching us,” Wonderfraw said through an interpreter. “I appreciate everything they are teaching us, especially the ambush. They instruct us on how to establish it and provide security. The ambush is very interesting for me.”
Troops attached to the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa have been training Ethiopian soldiers in basic infantry tactics, officer logistics and maintenance since 2003, when the U.S. government identified the East African country as an ally in its global war on terror. Similar training programs are ongoing in Djibouti and Kenya.
In Hurso, the so-called military-to-military training has taken on a new urgency in the days following EthiopiaÂ’s incursion into Somalia on behalf of that collapsed nationÂ’s embattled, albeit U.N.-sanctioned, government.
“Depending on whether things really kick off, it’s a very real possibility that some of these guys could find themselves using these skills very soon,” said Sgt. 1st Class Bill Flippo, an instructor based at Camp Hurso.
“You want to make sure you cover everything thoroughly,” the 27-year-old Winfield, Kan., native said. “The stuff you teach them could result in things working out really good for them, or really bad.”
Flippo is one of a handful of instructors here who belong to Company A, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The instructors, who are three-quarters of the way through a yearlong deployment, are currently training more than three dozen Ethiopian army officers, noncommissioned officers and enlisted from throughout the country.
“The majority of these guys are trainers themselves,” said 1st Lt. Ben Daughters, 24, of Chillicothe, Ohio. “The idea is that we train them and they go back and train their own.”
Roughly 60 U.S. personnel reside at Hurso, most of them soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 294th Infantry Regiment of the Guam Army National Guard. The guard unit is now on its third, yearlong rotation in the Horn of Africa, and is scheduled for a fourth.
“They love us here because we interact a lot with the locals,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Noel Camagaganacan, 40, of Dedeo, Guam.
U.S. instructors operate from a very small, fenced compound deep within the Ethiopian Training Academy, which itself encompasses miles of sparse scrub and rocky mountain ranges teaming with wildlife.
The barracks and classroom buildings were constructed by the former Soviet Union, a financial and military ally of EthiopiaÂ’s ousted Derg regime. Concrete monuments bearing the communist hammer and sickle can still be found on base.
Among the minor diversions available to soldiers here is the feeding of dozens of hawks that circle and swoop over the compound daily. A pastime among the Guam Army National Guardsmen is to toss cooked hamburger patties or fried buffalo wings into the air and watch as the hawks attempt to catch them in their talons or swoop down and grab the chunks of meat that have fallen to the ground.
While the trainers at Hurso were not immediately aware of EthiopiaÂ’s plans to wage war on southern SomaliaÂ’s Islamist militiamen, they did notice a sudden increase in troops at Hurso, as well as other preparations. It was roughly two weeks ago when soldiers here watched as Soviet-built Hind helicopters belonging to the Ethiopian Defense Forces fired rockets into the mountains on the edges of the camp.
“We were wondering, ‘why are they doing that,’ ” Flippo said. “Then a week later the war kicked off.”
http://stripes.com/article.asp?section= ... icle=42481
With the sporadic barking of baboons or braying of donkeys in the distance, the 25-year-old squad leader led two successful ambushes against simulated enemy forces here as his fellow trainees charged through thickets of needle-sharp thorn bushes and down dried river beds.
The feat, which Wonderfraw and his fellow soldiers cheered with songs of victory and courage, was accomplished during a three-month basic infantry skills course offered by the U.S. military at the sprawling Ethiopian Training Academy in Hurso.
“They are very good, these techniques that they are teaching us,” Wonderfraw said through an interpreter. “I appreciate everything they are teaching us, especially the ambush. They instruct us on how to establish it and provide security. The ambush is very interesting for me.”
Troops attached to the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa have been training Ethiopian soldiers in basic infantry tactics, officer logistics and maintenance since 2003, when the U.S. government identified the East African country as an ally in its global war on terror. Similar training programs are ongoing in Djibouti and Kenya.
In Hurso, the so-called military-to-military training has taken on a new urgency in the days following EthiopiaÂ’s incursion into Somalia on behalf of that collapsed nationÂ’s embattled, albeit U.N.-sanctioned, government.
“Depending on whether things really kick off, it’s a very real possibility that some of these guys could find themselves using these skills very soon,” said Sgt. 1st Class Bill Flippo, an instructor based at Camp Hurso.
“You want to make sure you cover everything thoroughly,” the 27-year-old Winfield, Kan., native said. “The stuff you teach them could result in things working out really good for them, or really bad.”
Flippo is one of a handful of instructors here who belong to Company A, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The instructors, who are three-quarters of the way through a yearlong deployment, are currently training more than three dozen Ethiopian army officers, noncommissioned officers and enlisted from throughout the country.
“The majority of these guys are trainers themselves,” said 1st Lt. Ben Daughters, 24, of Chillicothe, Ohio. “The idea is that we train them and they go back and train their own.”
Roughly 60 U.S. personnel reside at Hurso, most of them soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 294th Infantry Regiment of the Guam Army National Guard. The guard unit is now on its third, yearlong rotation in the Horn of Africa, and is scheduled for a fourth.
“They love us here because we interact a lot with the locals,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Noel Camagaganacan, 40, of Dedeo, Guam.
U.S. instructors operate from a very small, fenced compound deep within the Ethiopian Training Academy, which itself encompasses miles of sparse scrub and rocky mountain ranges teaming with wildlife.
The barracks and classroom buildings were constructed by the former Soviet Union, a financial and military ally of EthiopiaÂ’s ousted Derg regime. Concrete monuments bearing the communist hammer and sickle can still be found on base.
Among the minor diversions available to soldiers here is the feeding of dozens of hawks that circle and swoop over the compound daily. A pastime among the Guam Army National Guardsmen is to toss cooked hamburger patties or fried buffalo wings into the air and watch as the hawks attempt to catch them in their talons or swoop down and grab the chunks of meat that have fallen to the ground.
While the trainers at Hurso were not immediately aware of EthiopiaÂ’s plans to wage war on southern SomaliaÂ’s Islamist militiamen, they did notice a sudden increase in troops at Hurso, as well as other preparations. It was roughly two weeks ago when soldiers here watched as Soviet-built Hind helicopters belonging to the Ethiopian Defense Forces fired rockets into the mountains on the edges of the camp.
“We were wondering, ‘why are they doing that,’ ” Flippo said. “Then a week later the war kicked off.”
http://stripes.com/article.asp?section= ... icle=42481
- michael_ital
- SomaliNet Super
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- michael_ital
- SomaliNet Super
- Posts: 16191
- Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2004 7:00 pm
- Location: Taranna
michael_ital,
You must not know about the latest news coming out about how certain elements within the ICU purposely sabotaged the ICU to bring their demise.
IndhaCadde & co. did unspeakable damage to the perception of the ICU among Somalis inside.
Certain affiliations did unpseakable damage to the perception of the ICU among foreigners (US).
IndhaCadde singlehandedly turned Barre from ICU sympathizer who believed he could reconcile the ICU w/ the TFG into someone whose distrust of the ICU turned into pure hate.
On top of that, he did not fight but fled.
You must not know about the latest news coming out about how certain elements within the ICU purposely sabotaged the ICU to bring their demise.
IndhaCadde & co. did unspeakable damage to the perception of the ICU among Somalis inside.
Certain affiliations did unpseakable damage to the perception of the ICU among foreigners (US).
IndhaCadde singlehandedly turned Barre from ICU sympathizer who believed he could reconcile the ICU w/ the TFG into someone whose distrust of the ICU turned into pure hate.
On top of that, he did not fight but fled.
- michael_ital
- SomaliNet Super
- Posts: 16191
- Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2004 7:00 pm
- Location: Taranna
michael_ital,
The TFG is one thing, they never hid their intentions........
I think the TFG should negotiate w/ the elements of the ICU who had intentions to negotiate w/ the TFG for whatever power-sharing they can negotiate.
The reason I said this is because nothing will happen if the ICU/TFG don't save whatever reconciliation occurs.
A protracted conflict is justification for the Ethios to stay, and will only spell further bloodshed, turmoil, and suffering for the Somalis.
However, the ICU-supporters should direct their anger at the people who purposely sold out & sabotaged the ICU from inside.
The TFG is one thing, they never hid their intentions........
I think the TFG should negotiate w/ the elements of the ICU who had intentions to negotiate w/ the TFG for whatever power-sharing they can negotiate.
The reason I said this is because nothing will happen if the ICU/TFG don't save whatever reconciliation occurs.
A protracted conflict is justification for the Ethios to stay, and will only spell further bloodshed, turmoil, and suffering for the Somalis.
However, the ICU-supporters should direct their anger at the people who purposely sold out & sabotaged the ICU from inside.
- michael_ital
- SomaliNet Super
- Posts: 16191
- Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2004 7:00 pm
- Location: Taranna
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- SomaliNet Super
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- Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2001 7:00 pm
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