africom
United States Africa Command
Videos | United States Africa Command (some videos of the great work being done)
Operation Chase
Operation Olympic Chase
The operation began in December 2009 with a 12-week course to prepare commanders, officers, non-commissioned officers and a core group of instructors in the skills necessary to train, manage and lead a light infantry battalion. This also included instruction on how to operate in accordance with the Law of Land Warfare.
Instruction at Camp Base, in Kisangani, DRC, formally began on 17 February 2010. The entire light infantry battalion training was funded by the US Department of State and as of June 2010 was expected to cost about $33 million. The training program included courses in small-unit tactics, communications, medical care and HIV/AIDS prevention and humanitarian de-mining.
Approximately 1,000 FARDC soldiers entered the training program, with the expected final battalion expected to be between 700 and 750 individuals All the soldiers participating in the battalion training underwent approximately 5-7 months of instruction at Camp Base. As part of the goal to make a professional military force every soldier in the program had been vetted for any history of human rights abuses. Sexual and gender-based violence prevention and human rights training was incorporated into every aspect of the training. The Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) provided legal studies training. The DIILS instructors also helped address sexual, gender-based violence in the DRC by helping to strengthen the capacity of the military justice system. A sociocultural research and advisory team (SCRAT) was also deployed for the purpose of developing a curriculum for instruction regarding sexual and gender-based violence.
The training also included an innovative program, in conjunction with the Borlaug Institute, aimed at making the battalion food self-sufficient through the development of sustainable agriculture and aquaculture programs. Under this program soldiers in the battalion learned how to clear and prepare land for agricultural, plant and cultivate various food crops and to raise and care for livestock and fishponds. From February 2010 onward, soldiers from the battalion have cleared and planted corn, cassava and vegetable gardens, built 2 fishponds stocked with more than 40,000 fish, and planted native acacia and lucenia trees to be used as a food source for livestock. The goal was for the battalion to be food self-sufficient within 2 years.
Dignitaries from the DRC, the United States, the United Nations, and the international community, gathered at Camp Base to participate in a ceremony marking the graduation of about 750 DRC soldiers trained by the US in September 2010. During the ceremony, the 391st Commando Battalion was activated. The formation of this unit, intended as a model for the entire FARDC, was the objective of Operation Olympic Chase. Olympic Chase formally ended in October 2010.
DVIDS - Video - Operation Olympic Chase Graduation Ceremony (graduation video of Operation Chase)
Promise of AFRICOM - U.S. Army Africa
TRANSCRIPT: Briefing to Congolese Media - Operation Olympic Chase
Okay. This started end of last year when we started training the cadre with a 12-week training course. We provided them training on skills to train, manage and lead this light infantry battalion in accordance with the Law of Land Warfare. We officially had an opening ceremony for the battalion training on 17 February of this year. This entire line infantry battalion -- light infantry battalion training is funded by the U.S. Department of State and it is going to cost about $33 million.
The majority of the population is dependent on subsistence farming. And as has happened in conflicts in the past, fields get untended, crops get destroyed and stockpiles get pillaged. Poorly supplied military units and rebel groups have turned on the local population. So this initiative that we have, we are working to ensure food security for the soldiers and their families so they don't become a burden on the population that the FARDC are supposed to protect.
As you can see below, the project initially started on 500 hectares of land divided into three sections. We have main crops, vegetables and livestock. As part of our joint venture and multi-agency and international initiative, the ministry of agriculture provided farm machinery for the land clearing and the crop planting. And also another part of the initiative is that the Borlaug Institute staff is training 10 FARDC farm managers.
Now, the goal of training the farm managers is that when this battalion deploys to wherever the government would like these soldiers to go, these farm managers can set up this very similar initiative at whatever base area they have been established.
Soldiers from the agriculture unit planted maize and cassava on land that was cleared by local construction workers. We also two fishponds that we are close to being finished stocked with more than 40,000 fish to include tilapia and Africa catfish. But we did this smartly. The institute made use of a natural spring, so we could eliminate very expensive water pumping and maintenance equipment. We also used the spring to irrigate the vegetables and the seedlings.
"We learned individual tactics then how to work with a team mate, then at squad, platoon, company and finally battalion levels. We learned the proper role of officers and non-commissioned officers. This was completely different from anything we had ever done before. There was a lot of material and it was a challenge remembering everything we learned," he said.
However, for Mukaso, the best part of the training was the time they spent in the field.
"I enjoyed the field exercises at all the different levels. I also really appreciated the land navigation courses," he said. "I'd never really learned how to read a map or follow a compass."
In addition to traditional military training, the battalion received instruction on the respect of human rights, the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, and the relationship between civilian and military authorities in a democratic society.
