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INZEGANE AIRBASE, MOROCCO
Story by 2nd Lt. Kevyn Stinett
352nd Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
Members of the Royal Armed Forces of Morocco and the U.S. Air Force joined together for over 10 days of thorough, bilateral cooperation and training during exercise Judicious Response Epic Guardian 19, during the last weeks of April, 2019, based out of Inzegane Airbase, Agadir, Morocco.
MC-130J and CV-22B aircraft and crews, stationed with the 352nd Special Operations Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, conducted desert landing operations, low-visibility approaches, mass personnel drops, and other bilateral training scenarios with members from the Moroccan Special Operations Forces (SOF). This exercise demonstrates the long-term commitment to training with Morocco’s law enforcement and military forces as they continue to secure their country.
“We appreciate working with the U.S. military for joint, bilateral training down here in the African region. The Moroccan Royal Armed Forces (FAR) value the relationships we have built with the U.S. forces here and for future exercises,” said a public information officer for Moroccan FAR.
Bilateral training gives each nation unique opportunities to train and strengthen processes through coordination with each partner force.
“Military cooperation is a critical part of the U.S.-U.K. and U.S.-Morocco partnerships, and through exercises like these, we can build upon our strong relationships with our partner nations’ forces,” said a U.S. Air Force Major, mission commander, assigned to the 352nd SOW.
Precise training with regional allies not only builds partner capability, it solidifies and grows partner nation relationships.
“At a tactical level, we learn from the processes our partner-nation forces in Morocco use and are able to strengthen our coordination, day-in and day-out, when we work together through these missions,” said the mission commander. “Internally, we also build relationships across our units when we deploy together to successfully complete the mission.”
The 352nd SOW deploys regularly within the European theater, but was able to demonstrate their readiness and capability of deploying across combatant commands into the AFRICOM area of responsibility as well.
“Training here, in AFRICOM’s area of responsibility, enables us to practice and tighten up our TTPs,” said a U.S. Air Force Senior Airman flight engineer, assigned to the 352nd SOW. “It’s really valuable training for us here, specifically for something like training on low-visibility approaches and desert ops, and for us to show how ready we are.”
