Maj. Gen. Matthew W. Brown, incoming commander of U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, speaks during a change of command ceremony at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, June 26, 2026. Brown takes over the command charged with accelerating its transformation to meet the challenges of modern warfare. (Zion Thomas/U.S. Army)
VICENZA, Italy — A leadership change Friday for the Army’s Southern European Task Force, Africa will keep things “in the family,” as both the inbound and outbound commanders share ties through posts in U.S. Africa Command.
Maj. Gen. Matthew Brown, who recently completed a one-year assignment as head of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa in Djibouti, takes over SETAF from Maj. Gen. Andrew Gainey, who is bound for AFRICOM headquarters to work on planning and strategy.
“There’s zero spin-up time because you guys both know what’s going on,” AFRICOM boss Gen. Dagvin Anderson said during a ceremony at Caserma Ederle. “You guys are just going to get after it.”
The bar has been set high for Gainey’s successor, Anderson said, describing Brown as driven and “very forward-leaning.”
“I know you’ll put your foot on the accelerator and keep things going,” he said. “That’s exactly what we need to do.”
Brown takes command as U.S. forces in Africa face the challenges of reduced access and basing on the continent, which has seen intensified terrorist activity and growing efforts by Russia and China to extend their influence.
Anderson praised Gainey’s leadership over the past two years, including his deployment of a task force in West Africa “just in case something went wrong.” The relationships with counterparts in Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria ended up paying dividends later, he said.
Maj. Gen. Andrew C. Gainey, left, outgoing commander of U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, passes the unit guidon to Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, during a change of command ceremony at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, June 26, 2026. (Zion Thomas/U.S. Army)
Setting up an initial presence in Ghana and providing Nigeria with the security, force protection and other elements necessary for intelligence and surveillance support led to strikes that killed a top leader of the Islamic State militant group, Anderson said.
“We didn’t expect to go after ISIS’ number two terrorist in the world, because he was hidden up in the Lake Chad basin,” Anderson said in his remarks. “What SETAF was able to do … allowed us to develop a high-value target that threatened all of us.”
Both Anderson and Gen. Christopher Donahue, the outgoing head of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, highlighted Gainey’s transformation of the African Lion exercise.
It historically was discussed in terms of size and combined arms set pieces, until Gainey shifted the participants’ focus to adapting to the changing nature of warfare, Anderson said.
This year, dozens of vendors brought drones, artificial intelligence systems and other high-tech gear to be field-tested during African Lion.
Those capabilities were quickly put to use in a search-and-rescue operation when two U.S. soldiers went missing during an off-duty hike along an oceanside cliff in Morocco on May 2.
Soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment fire cannons during the SETAF-Africa change of command ceremony at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, June 26, 2026. Maj. Gen. Matthew W. Brown took over the command from Maj. Gen. Andrew Gainey, charged with accelerating its transformation to meet the challenges of modern warfare. (Bentley San Nicolas/U.S. Army)
Spc. Mariyah Symone Collington, 19, and 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., 27, were swept into the Atlantic Ocean. Their remains were recovered after several days of searching.
“That is the organization that he has built,” Donahue said of Gainey in describing the rapid shift from training to supporting the efforts to return the soldiers’ remains to their families.
The focus on innovating to adapt to the future of war is something Anderson expects Gainey to bring to his role helping define strategy for AFRICOM, he said.
It’s an apt assignment, he added, since Gainey’s first question for him had been about what his strategy was for Africa.
Gainey’s fate underscores a key lesson, Donahue said, addressing the formation and other soldiers.
“Andy Gainey highlighted a problem to his boss, and his boss turned it around and gave it back to him,” he said. “Don’t ever forget that leadership technique. I use it every day.”
For Gainey, the opportunity to lead the task force, which traces its roots back to 1955, was like “walking in the footsteps of giants,” he said.
“Today, our soldiers stand guard at the tip of the spear in austere environments,” he said. “They are looking the enemy in the eye, facing danger. ... They represent the very best of our Army.”
