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Medical Exercise Provides Joint Training for U.S, Gabonese Forces

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070703-14
Release Date: 7/3/2007 12:22:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) Rosa Larson, Commander, Naval Forces Europe-Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet Public Affairs

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (NNS) -- Joint training exercise Medflag 2007 began July 3 in Libreville, with more than 65 U.S. military medical and support personnel deploying to the area for the eight-day bilateral medical training.

Medflag is an annual medical exercise emphasizing joint training with African nations; it provides realistic training environments where participating forces familiarize themselves with the each other’s capabilities.

“The end result is to help develop west African militaries’ disaster response capabilities,” said Cmdr. Paul Pruden, medical planner for the exercise. “It also aids U.S. personnel by deploying them to work in an austere environment and see patients with ailments we might not normally see [unless] we were to respond to a disaster in West and Central Africa.”

During the exercise, medical service units from Gabon will conduct bilateral training events with U.S. Navy personnel in two phases, as well as conducting Medical Civic Action Program visits, where they will give local patients free medical treatment, exams and inoculations.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff directed U.S. European Command in 1987 to create an annual medical training exercise with partner nations in Africa. Since then, EUCOM and U.S. Naval Command Europe/U.S. 6th Fleet have refined these exercises to include a wide range of medical training with local medical professionals as well as improving maritime security and safety and enhancing good relations in the region.

In the past 20 years, the training event has developed partnerships in West and Central Africa, increased interoperability in the medical community and has enhanced theater security cooperation initiatives with nations in the Gulf of Guinea region through joint and combined training.