U.S. Africa Command Special Operations Forces train alongside partners in Benin

Special Operations Command Africa JCETs enhance U.S. relationships with partner nations by developing and maintaining critical military-to-military connections and improving joint and allied readiness and interoperability.

By Special Operations Command Africa , Special Operations Command Africa OUASSA, Benin Sep 29, 2022

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Special Operations Command Africa forces partnered with the Beninese Army during a Joint Combined Exchange Training that concluded September 9, 2022, in Ouassa, Benin. U.S. Army Green Berets assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) collaborated with members of the Beninese Army’s 1st Commando Parachute Battalion to hone tactical and operational skills.

As violent extremism poses a threat to global stability, safeguarding these borders from incoming threats requires a collective multilateral effort. Engagements including JCETs provide mutual benefits to both partner forces as they enhance partner capacity and strengthen relationships to combat regional insecurity and instability.

Special Operations Command Africa JCETs enhance U.S. relationships with partner nations by developing and maintaining critical military-to-military connections and improving joint and allied readiness and interoperability.

This exchange is part of a series of U.S. engagements with the Beninese military that provide opportunities for units to work together, learn from each other, build interoperability, and strengthen relationships. This recent engagement represents the second JCET that U.S. special operations forces conducted with Beninese forces this year. The two partner forces hosted a March JCET and participated alongside one another in previous Flintlock exercises with other allied and African partner nations. Flintlock is the premier special operations exercise in Africa with 30 participating nations.

U.S. Africa Command special operations forces demonstrate their commitment to their African partners through sustained military and civil engagements across the continent.

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Benin

special operations command - africa

SOCAF

Joint Combined Exchange Training

JCET

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

NAIROBI, Kenya – Among the flurry of tactical live fires and squad movement drills, air ground integration and even the humanitarian initiatives at exercise Justified Accord 2025 (JA25), lies the one thing those who serve in any armed force must follow: The Law. The Law of Armed Conflict, or LOAC, is a key aspect of training for any military. JA25’s academics course aimed at learning from the international legal lessons of previous wars in an effort to reduce the amount of human suffering in future conflicts. “The soldier’s rules are a broad set of rules that we have pulled from the large breadth of international law,” said U.S. Army Maj. Tim Olliges, an operational law attorney assigned to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), the lead U.S. Army command and planner of JA25. “The LOAC is extensive and can be complex, so we pull out the ten most critical concepts that every soldier, right down to the private, should know before they go into combat.”

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

NAIROBI, Kenya – Imagine two scenarios. Scenario 1: Dawn breaks over the capital of Kenya. A U.S. diplomat leaves his residence for the embassy. After a 20-minute ride, his car arrives at the gate and he enters. He sits in his office to begin the day when, all of a sudden, he hears an explosion through the open window. It seems far off; it is not a large explosion. He thinks maybe it was just a car accident, but minutes later he smells something bitter in the air. His eyes water, sirens blare and a U.S. Marine Corps security detail enters his office wearing gas masks. They put a mask on him and tell him they must evacuate immediately because a deadly chemical is blowing over the compound. Scenario 2: U.S. intelligence receives credible information that radiological material is being loaded onto a ship in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Time is short and no one knows which ship, only that it will embark soon, possibly bound for the hands of violent extremists or other state actors looking to imperil the U.S. homeland. There is no time to send U.S. security forces to intercept the package. Instead, the Kenyan Disaster Response Battalion (DRB) mobilizes and arrives at the port. Using tactics and tools gained from years of training with the United States, they find the ship and the weapon, placed there by a violent extremist organization, and prevent its departure, defeating the threat to America and its citizens. Similar scenarios have happened before in other areas of the world.

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

The U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and Belgian Ministry of Defence, in partnership with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Chaplain Directorates, hosted the world’s largest annual meeting of senior military religious leaders at the 36th Annual NATO & Partner International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference (IMCCC) in Brussels, Belgium, January 27-31, 2025.

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

Army lawyers provide training on rules for armed conflict at exercise Justified Accord

US, Kenya prepare for the unimaginable CBRN threat

36th Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference and First Chaplain Africa Forum held in Brussels

United States Africa Command

U.S. Africa Command Special Operations Forces train alongside partners in Benin

Special Operations Command Africa JCETs enhance U.S. relationships with partner nations by developing and maintaining critical military-to-military connections and improving joint and allied readiness and interoperability.

U.S. Africa Command Special Operations Forces train alongside partners in Benin

U.S. Africa Command Special Operations Forces train alongside partners in Benin