Special Forces and Army Infantry Train Nigerian Infantry to Fight Boko Haram

Background. Wilayat al Sudan al Gharbi (kown by it's former name - Boko Haram) is an extremist Islamic terrorist organization, affilated with, or has sworn allegiance to ISIS and is operating in Northeast Nigeria, using the dense Sambisa forest as an operational base as well as the adjacent borders of Cameroon, Chad and Niger to continue their extremist Islamist campaign against Christians. In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls (the Chibook girls) for sex slaves and wives) and again in February 2018, another 110 girls were thought to have been taken captive by Boko Haram. Founded in 2002 and led since 2009 by Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands and displaced over 2 million from their homes, ranking as one of the the world's first or second deadliest terror groups.

A dozen U.S. troops just wrapped up a seven-week trip to Nigeria, where they trained local soldiers in advanced infantry tactics that, in all likelihood, they’ll use to beat back religious extremist terror in their country. The soldiers, some Green Berets performing a trtaining missions under Fort Bragg’s Security Assistance Training Management Organization (SATMO) with some assistance from some infantrymen from 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, visited the Nigerian Army Infantry School to train 200 soldiers from the 26th Infantry Battalion.

“They face a significant threat from both Boko Haram and ISIS,” Capt. Stephen Gouthro, the group’s officer-in-charge, told Army Times in a Feb. 15 phone interview. “We, as Americans, have been working with this country in various capacities, and this is just one more of those capacities where they would like our assistance with tactics … the way we do business.” SATMO, is mostly known for providing support to foreign military sales. Recently, SATMO soldiers have gone to countries like Slovakia and Colombia to train their troops on that new equipment.

The group in Nigeria focused on advanced infantry skills, starting with patrolling and counter-IED training, working up to movement-to-contact and ambushes or raids with a platoon-sized element. Every day, according to the group’s noncommissioned officer-in-charge, the U.S. soldiers would take the Nigerian soldiers through a variety of training lanes. “One lane could be doing IEDs and raids that day,” said Sgt. 1st Class Chris Campbell. “Another lane would be doing enemy prisoner-of-war searches or ambushes.” Those rotations would go on all day, with a midday break. “We take them out, we assess their capes, and then we try to improve what they already have,” Campbell said.

According to Gouthro, what they already had was more than his soldiers expected going into it. “They’re structured very similarly to what we’re used to, which helps us. They have similar roles,” he said. “They understand that the platoon leader is in charge of the overall plan, understand the platoon sergeant is there to take care of – as we say – the ‘beans and the bullets.’ Sustainment-type operations.”

They had the basics, Campbell said. “I think, really, what they need help with is, a little bit of planning and a little bit of employing leadership tactics on their platoon,” he said. “Because they move well, they just need a little tweaking in controlling, planning and executing their missions at the leadership level.” So the group shared their skills, while being careful not to dictate how they manage discipline and organization. “We do give guidance on that, but at the same time, it’s their army — so we’re not changing the way they do business,” he said. “We’re just building on what they already have.”

The SATMO mission members had some experience with training Iraqi and Afghan forces, he added, but they didn’t want to pre-judge the Nigerian army. “We were very impressed at the level of motivation and desire to learn that the Nigerian soldiers brought to the training,” Gouthro said. And, he added, in all likelihood the 26th Infantry Battalion will soon be using those honed skills in theater. “They’re not specifically slated for a deployment, that we’re aware of, but we know that the rotation will come around for them to rotate up north, to the Lake Chad Basin, where most of the conflict is in the country,” Gouthro said.

While soldiers from both Special Forces and civil affairs backgrounds have been deploying to the area for years to help local forces stabilize, the U.S. presence in the region came to a head late last year when an ambush killed four Americans deployed to Niger.

Blackwater Air Supporting Special Forces

From the article "Blackwater Air’ Is Back, and Flying for U.S. Special Forces", posted in the Daily Beast saying that a corporate descendant of the notorious guns-for-hire firm just got a $204 million contract to support American troops in Africa.

A mercenary air force that became a symbol of the U.S. occupation of Iraq is back in action—this time in Central Africa, supporting a shadowy American U.S. Special Forces commando operation targeting the Lord’s Resistance Army. In late January, a source on the ground in Central African Republic spotted a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter with the registry number N408RC carrying American Special Forces troops. The LRA, a cultish band of thieves and rapists led by warlord Joseph Kony, is most active in the forested region where Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo meet.

In 2010, President Barack Obama deployed around 100 Green Berets and other personnel to Central Africa to help local forces hunt down Kony and the LRA. Seven years later, Operation Observant Compass continues, mostly unnoticed by the press. The Pentagon asked Congress for $23 million to extend the operation through 2017.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Sikorsky helicopter that The Daily Beast’s source observed in Central African Republic belongs to Illinois-based EP Aviation, LLC. EP Aviation was once a subsidiary of Academi, the Virginia-based company that was formerly known as Blackwater. The “EP” stands for “Erik Prince,” Blackwater’s founder and the younger brother of billionaire U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

The copter’s appearance is a reminder of the tangled web of corporate relationships that support the Pentagon’s expansive shadow wars in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa—and some of the companies’ ties to wealthy, powerful American politicians. During the height of the Iraq War, Blackwater managed a for-profit army in Baghdad that included Little Bird helicopters and other aircraft. The U.S. State Department and Defense Department have awarded Blackwater and its successors contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In Iraq, Blackwater's diminutive Little Birds usually carried a crew of four—two pilots and two door gunners armed with assault rifles. With their very corporate-looking blue-and-silver paint schemes, the Blackwater copters became icons of a grinding, unpopular war. The Little Birds were also symbols of Blackwater's heavy-handed tactics. The company and its employees in Iraq were involved in several suspicious killings -- and worse. In September 2007, Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians at Baghdad's Nisour Square. Four of the mercenaries went to prison for the killings.

Blackwater's aviation operations were also controversial. One Little Bird was shot down in Baghdad and its five-man crew was killed. Another Little Bird crashed in Iraq and the two pilots died. The company lost several other aircraft in fatal accidents in Iraq. In 2004, a Blackwater transport plane crashed in a mountain canyon in Afghanistan, killing the three crew and three U.S. troops who were passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the pilots deliberately flew a risky flight path through the mountains. "I swear to God, they wouldn't pay me if they knew how much fun this was," the cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot saying shortly before the crash.

Dogged by lawsuits, Prince sold Blackwater in 2010 and moved to the United Arab Emirates. He subsequently founded Frontier Resource Group, a company that reportedly provides pilots for the Emirates’ brutal air war in Libya. Prince’s new company also tried to skirt U.S. regulations in order to sell attack planes to Salva Kiir, one of two warring strongmen in South Sudan. Prince has reportedly advised President Donald Trump, who appointed DeVos as education secretary despite stiff opposition from Democrats and even some Republicans. DeVos contributed millions of dollars to the campaigns of senators who voted to approve her appointment.

Following Prince’s departure, Blackwater changed its name several times and came under new ownership. In 2010 it sold EP Aviation and other aviation assets to Illinois-based AAR, also known as Airlift Group, a self-described provider of “world-class expeditionary and conventional aviation solutions.” Around 60 ex-Blackwater aircraft continue to be registered in EP Aviation’s name. AAR did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment.

U.S. Special Operations Forces in Africa rely heavily on innocent-looking, civilian-style aircraft. Some are actually military aircraft that wear civilian paint schemes. Others are civilian aircraft operating under contract with the Pentagon. On Feb. 6, the Defense Department awarded AAR/Airlift Group a $204-million contract to support U.S. forces in Africa through January 2018. According to the military's official "Central Africa Task Order," dated November 2016, American troops in the region need at least two fixed-wing planes in Entebbe, Uganda; another two fixed-wing planes in Nzara, South Sudan; plus five helicopters in Obo, Central African Republic. U.S. Special Operations Command was not able to fulfill an interview request before this story's deadline.

The civilian planes and copters transporting American commandos in their hunt for Kony and the LRA can expect to come under fire, according to the military's official work statement, dated October 2016. "In the event a contractor operating a mission is illuminated or 'spotlighted,' or is fired upon in the air or on the ground, the crew shall note the date, time and approximate area from which the event originated," the statement noted. But unlike Blackwater's Little Birds in Iraq, the mercenary copters in Central Africa aren't armed—and cannot shoot back.

U.S. Special Operations Numbers Surge in Africa’s Shadow Wars

Africa has seen the most dramatic growth in the deployment of America’s elite troops of any region of the globe over the past decade, according to newly released numbers.

In 2006, just 1% of commandos sent overseas were deployed in the U.S. Africa Command area of operations. In 2016, 17.26% of all U.S. Special Operations forces — Navy SEALs and Green Berets among them — deployed abroad were sent to Africa, according to data supplied to The Intercept by U.S. Special Operations Command. That total ranks second only to the Greater Middle East where the U.S. is waging war against enemies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

“In Africa, we are not the kinetic solution,” Brigadier General Donald Bolduc, the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, told African Defense, a U.S. trade publication, early this fall. “We are not at war in Africa — but our African partners certainly are.”

That statement stands in stark contrast to this year’s missions in Somalia where, for example, U.S. Special Operations forces assisted local commandos in killing several members of the militant group, al-Shabaab and Libya, where they supported local fighters battling members of the Islamic State. These missions also speak to the exponential growth of special operations on the continent.

As recently as 2014, there were reportedly only about 700 U.S. commandos deployed in Africa on any given day. Today, according to Bolduc, “there are approximately 1,700 [Special Operations forces] and enablers deployed… at any given time. This team is active in 20 nations in support of seven major named operations.”

Using data provided by Special Operations Command and open source information, The Intercept found that U.S. special operators were actually deployed in at least 33 African nations, more than 60% of the 54 countries on the continent, in 2016.

“We’re supporting African military professionalization and capability-building efforts,” said Bolduc. “The [Special Operations forces] network helps create specific tailored training for partner nations to empower military and law enforcement to conduct operations against our mutual threats.”

The majority of African governments that hosted deployments of U.S. commandos in 2016 have seen their own security forces cited for human rights abuses by the U.S. State Department, including Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Tanzania, among others.

According to data provided to The Intercept by Special Operations Command, elite U.S. troops are also deployed to Sudan, one of three nations, along with Iran and Syria, cited by the U.S. as “state sponsors of terrorism.”

“U.S. [Special Operations forces] have occasionally met with U.S. State Dept. and interagency partners in Sudan to discuss the overall security situation in the region,” Africa Command spokesperson Chuck Prichard wrote in an email.

 

Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw added, “Their visit had nothing to do with Sudan’s government or military.”

Article from The Intercept

3rd Special Forces Group is going back to Africa

The Army's 3rd Special Forces Group is going back to its roots.

This fall, the group from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, will begin shifting its area of operations to Africa. The group expects to complete its transition out of the Middle East and Central Asia by next summer as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down.

"It's a pretty exciting time here at 3rd Special Forces Group," said Col. Robert Wilson, the group commander. "We're beginning a gradual shift in our area of operations … [and] it's a pretty major change for the organization."

Wilson spoke to Army Times on Wednesday, which was the 25th anniversary of the group's reactivation.

The 3rd Special Forces Group was first activated in December 1963 with a Middle East and Africa focus; it was deactivated six years later, in December 1969.

The group was reactivated in 1990; its focus then was Africa and the Caribbean.

For the last 13 years, Special Forces soldiers from 3rd Group have deployed almost constantly to Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, Iraq.

The transition back to Africa comes as demands and operations change; 3rd Group's transition is the result of an overarching look, led by U.S. Special Operations Command and the geographic combatant commands, at how special operations forces were being employed and allocated, Wilson said.

"They made an adjustment based on current operations, past history of deployment areas and an assessment based on where we're at with the wars in the Middle East," he said. "The outcome of that for us, for 3rd Special Forces Group, was the directive to shift our area of operations from Central Command to Africa Command."

As it transitions to Africa, 3rd Group will focus primarily on northern and western Africa, Wilson said. This could include deployments to countries such as Libya, Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritania and Mali.

Elements of the group will begin deploying to the continent this fall.

"Over the course of 2016, we will begin to take over increasing levels of responsibility within Africa," Wilson said. "By summer 2016, the objective is all of our forces working in the Central Command area of responsibility will be responsibly transitioned to Africa."

Until then, about a quarter of the group's Green Berets are still committed to Afghanistan and CENTCOM, Wilson said.

"Those missions will continue throughout 2016, but we'll gradually transition those with other U.S. special operations forces and by summer of next year be solely focused on Africa," he said. "We've been there for well over a decade. We've got a tremendous amount of experience there."

In the same vein, 3rd Group plans to leverage the experience of 10th Special Forces Group, which provides a significant number of special operations forces deployed to Africa, Wilson said.

"We will gradually replace 10th Group's mission on the continent," he said.

This will allow 10th Group to focus solely on Europe as part of the overarching realignment, Wilson said.

In Africa, the Special Forces soldiers in 3rd Group will get a chance to conduct some of their core missions.

"We're not at war in the African continent," Wilson said. "There's a host of problems, particularly in northern and western Africa, with violent extremist organizations and unrest."

Much of the soldiers' time will be spent working closely with African partners in "classic SF missions" like foreign internal defense and building partner capacity, he said.

"It's different, first and foremost, from what we did in Afghanistan, particularly during Operation Enduring Freedom," Wilson said. "That was a combat mission. We had people out there in direct combat, in harm's way."

In Africa, the mission will be "dramatically" different, where the soldiers' "success will be based solely on the success of our partners," Wilson said.

The soldiers in 3rd Group are training hard to prepare for their new mission, Wilson said.

"We're studying the region very closely," he said. "It's very geographically expansive and ethnically diverse. Understanding that is years in the making."

The group also is looking to revamp its entire language program, with French and Arabic as the two primary focus languages, and learning how to sustain its forces in very austere and remote locations, Wilson said.

The upcoming shift is a "tremendous opportunity" for 3rd Group, Wilson said.

"It's going to give us a tremendous amount of focus on a very complex part of the world, where we can apply … everything we learned the hard way in Afghanistan to a completely new problem set," he said.

The new mission also is going to challenge his soldiers, Wilson said.

"We're going into this mission very humble, recognizing we have a great deal of work to do to prepare for it and understand the complexity of it," he said.

At the same time, the group is committed to its ongoing missions in Afghanistan and CENTCOM, Wilson said.

"Our operational tempo is being raised substantially," he said. "Adapting to this new change while we're doing all these things is a tremendous challenge for the group."

Wilson said his soldiers are excited to be returning to Africa, "the place where we really made our mark."

"It's bittersweet to leave U.S. Central Command and the operations where we've served," he said. "We've paid a tremendous price there, but we're excited about the new mission."

Article from Army Times

AFRICOM’s Flintlock develops tactics to take on Boko Haram threat

U.S. special operations forces on Monday concluded three weeks of training with regional partners in western Africa who are confronting the growing threat posed by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, which may be seeking closer cooperation with the Islamic State.



The Flintlock exercise, the largest conducted by Special Operations Command Africa, brought together troops from several countries to work on a range of tactics to be deployed in fighting Boko Haram, which is based in Nigeria but threatens the stability of neighboring states.

“We find this year’s exercise both unique and very relevant,” Africa Command’s Gen. David Rodriguez said during Monday’s closing ceremony in Chad. “Because, as you know, here today in Ndjamena, we are not far removed from the immediate threat of Boko Haram.”

Eliminating the threat of violent extremists will require a multinational effort “involving political will, economic development and professional security forces,” Rodriguez said in remarks provided by his staff.

The exercise, which was hosted by Chad with outstation training sites in several other countries, comes as Boko Haram’s profile is on the rise.

On Saturday, the group’s leader — Abubakar Shekau — declared in an unconfirmed message allegiance to the Islamic State, raising concerns that the two terrorist groups might unite into a more formal alliance. Already, there have been some questions about Boko Haram’s picking up on some Islamic State propaganda tactics, such as carrying out choreographed beheadings on video.

During the past year, Boko Haram’s assaults have steadily intensified, both within northern Nigeria and now stretching into border areas with neighboring states such as Chad and Niger, which also participated in this year’s Flintlock.

A focal point of the exercise was boosting the communication capabilities of regional forces, Rodriguez said.

“For example, we have implemented a collaborative command-and-control and information-sharing system that will remain in place for our African partners to share operational information and intelligence with each other, the U.S. and other international partners,” Rodriguez said. “This capability was not just effective during the exercise. It has been extremely useful in real-world application.”

Boko Haram, which translates as “Western education is sinful,” aims to overthrow Nigeria’s secular government and install a strict form of Sharia law.

SFA Chapter IX Comment: Boko Haram has recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Boko Haram operates in and controls much of Northeast Nigeria adjacent to the borders of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. While the Armies/Security Forces of Niger and Cameroon are challenged when fighting Boko Haram unilaterally, every time Chad Army units engage Boko Haram they come away with signifcant success.

For AFRICOM, exercises such as Flintlock are a way to increase the capabilities of indigenous forces, which are at the front lines in the fight against Boko Haram. Chad, Niger and Cameroon are among the countries that have pledged to increase their operations against the group.

While Boko Haram has put pressure on neighboring states, Nigeria has borne the brunt of the group’s attacks. About 1 million Nigerians have been displaced, and the government has struggled to find a way to contain the group, which has swept through swathes of the country’s north.

“We will continue to build upon the training we’ve accomplished and the lessons we’ve learned,” Rodriguez said. “We’ll remain focused on increasing regional military and civil cooperation and information flow, and cross-border coordination to combat violent extremist organizations.”

Article written by John Vandiver for Stars and Stripes