Marine Reserve Lance Cpl. Ronald G. Skirkanish is a communications specialist who recently deployed to Morocco in support of a bilateral training exercise with the Moroccan military. / Photo courtesy of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sean Worre
CAP DRAA, MOROCCO — The sun barely peeked over the horizon when the stillness was shattered by the roar of artillery. The son of a Manville couple crawled out of his tent into the southern Moroccan morning to begin another day.
Marine Reserve Lance Cpl. Ronald G. Skirkanish, son of Ron and Gale Skirkanish of Manville, is in Morocco supporting exercise African Lion 2011.
“I help to support the communication platoon,” said Skirkanish, a 2007 graduate of Manville High School.
African Lion is an exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the U.S. that involves more than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. The exercise serves as a way for both U.S. and Moroccan military members to hone their skills and learn to work together to a accomplish missions.
“This is just like any other field training I’ve done, except this is in Africa,” said Skirkanish, a communications specialist.
In spite of the barriers, Skirkanish and his fellow service members worked with the Moroccan forces on different types of military training, including command post, live fire, peacekeeping operations, disaster response, aerial refueling and low-level flight training. Both the Moroccan and U.S. forces receive valuable training during the course of the exercise.
“This training is teaching us how to operate more effectively and efficiently in different climates and situations,” Skirkanish said.
Skirkanish and his fellow service members not only trained in the Moroccan desert, they lived there as well. They experienced sandstorms, the heat that goes with a desert and surprisingly, the rain of the wet season. While off-duty, they had an opportunity to experience the culture and see the sights.
“I didn’t think that it was going to rain as much as it has been here in the desert,” said Skirkanish, who has completed three years of military service.
A team of Marines prepares to fire an M777 howitzer during African Lion 2011. / Photo courtesy of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sean Worre
As the artificial thunder of artillery fire dies away for a moment, the sun rises fully above the desert horizon and begins its journey toward the nearby Atlantic. Skirkanish and the other participants in African Lion 2011 go about their business sharing experiences and knowledge with each other and their Moroccan counterparts.
