The sky rained fiery red as Gunnery Sgt. Michael Connors, platoon sergeant for second platoon, Ground Combat Element, Security Cooperation Task Force, Africa Partnership Station 2011, set off the first M158 red star cluster at the military operations in urban terrain training facility here at the beginning of the day’s training.
Though usually used in an emergency situation, today’s eruption of aerial pyrotechnics was symbolic of a dynamic partnership tens of feet below the explosion. One by one, U.S. Marines and Senegalese Commandos followed suit at the MOUT site, executing the proper means of igniting the flares as instructed by Connors.
“Seeing everyone’s expressions when we introduced the red star cluster was a cool thing to watch,” said Lance Cpl. Cody Davis, a Marine with second squad of the GCE. “As Marines it’s important for us to know how to use a flare, but bringing the Senegalese into it was neat because it was something new to a lot of them,” he added.
The SCTF is currently in between APS missions. Their APS-11 deployment, which began in March at Ghana and moved into Senegal in April, will continue in June at Gabon. In the mean time, this round of military-to-military familiarization activities in Senegal falls outside of the APS-11 umbrella.
Today’s demonstration on star clusters was just a brief part of the day’s activities, as the schedule consisted of an education in patrolling and military operations in urban terrain, as well as the utilization of several thousand blank ammunition rounds. Though MOUT has been an important facet of the military-to-military exchange conducted here, it is just one of many aspects of the partnership that makes the interaction between the Marines and Senegalese Commandos worthwhile.
Patrolling in hostile areas, engaging when receiving enemy contact, fundamentals of combat marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat techniques have also filled the Marines’ days in Senegal, between the current exchange occurring in Thies and a previous three weeks spent in Toubakouta.
“This is very similar to what we did in Toubakouta, but it is good practice for everyone,” said Sgt. Racine Nbengue, a Senegalese Marine Commando who participated in last month’s APS-11 partnership. “The more we continue to work with the Marines, the more we learn from one another.”
Clouds of green and white smoke followed the red star clusters throughout the MOUT facility as practical application began, and mock opposing forces staged an attack on an egress team, whose objective was to keep the facility from being taken.
“We train for MOUT all the time when we’re back in the states,” said Davis. “I always try to learn something new each time, so it has been awesome the last few days being able to take what I have learned in the past and share it with someone else.”
With a unanimously eager mentality, the Marines and Commandos took the exercise to be not only a fun time for all involved, but also as a learning experience for some who have not had to engage in a real life combat scenario.
“Everyone out here is learning a lot and we are all showing improvement the more we do this,” said Cpl. Timothy Dobson, a fire team leader with second platoon who earlier led a period of instruction on foot patrols. “Eventually these guys can find themselves in a combat zone just like we can, so it’s important that we all train like we fight.”
As the smoke cleared and the gunfire died down, a brass-laden MOUT town was left all too serene, an indication of a hard day’s work between foreign allies.
Security Cooperation Task Force, Africa Partnership Station 2011 is an APS-11 asset that conducts hands-on, partnered engagement designed to strengthen participating nations’ maritime security capacity through multilateral collaboration and cross-border cooperation. The SCTF, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.is supported by Marine Corps Forces, Africa as it deploys throughout the Marine Corps’ area of operations in Africa. The task force began its deployment to Ghana in March and is slated to continue its follow-on mission at Gabon in June.