CAP DRAA, Morocco – The sun barely peeked over the horizon when the stillness was shattered by the roar of artillery. The son of a Newtown couple crawled out of his tent into the southern Moroccan morning to begin another day.
Marine Reserve Cpl. Adam G. Huff, son of Don and Carol Huff of Atwood Court, Newtown, is in Morocco supporting exercise African Lion 2011.
“My job is to maintain communication and manage junior Marines,” said Huff, a 2006 graduate of Notre Dame 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 entire exercise is a learning experience. The training with the Moroccan military is going well, even with the language barrier,” said Huff, a radio operator assigned to India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, Reading.
In spite of the barriers, Huff and his fellow servicemembers 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.
“Being here is giving me a chance to put everything I’ve learned in my four years in the Marines to use,” said Huff.
Huff and his fellow service members not only trained in the Moroccan desert, they lived there as well. They experienced sandstorms, the rain showers of the wet season and the heat that traditionally goes with a desert. They even had an opportunity to spend some time off duty experiencing the culture and seeing the sights.
“Morocco is a very unique country due to it fluctuating climate, it’s not what I expected it to be in a desert area next to a beach,” said Huff.
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 Ocean. Huff and the other participants in African Lion 2011 go about their business sharing experiences and knowledge with each other and their Moroccan counterparts.
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