Soldiers and civilians from the Southern European Task Force set up one of the tents that make up the forward command post at Aviano Air Base during exercise Lion Focus 2009. The exercise, the first for SETAF under the U.S. Africa Command, involves personnel at two locations in Italy as well as in the United States. (Kent Harris/S&S)
If one were filming a movie, it might be a challenge to make Aviano Air Base, Italy, look like a typical location in Africa.
But the Air Force’s primary base south of the Alps is more than adequate for the Southern European Task Force’s purposes. About 40 soldiers and civilians based in Vicenza set up a trio of tents Thursday and Friday and installed communications equipment — all part of a package that makes up a forward command post.
"It’s no different here than it would be in Africa," said Master Sgt. Frank Lauer, noncommissioned officer in charge of the command’s operations branch.
Actually, the soldiers might have had a rougher time in Aviano than they would in many African locations. Temperatures were hovering around freezing while they unpacked the tents and set up the equipment. And the hard ground was not conducive to driving in tent stakes.
But the point, Lauer said, is that the communications equipment the tents house is designed to operate anywhere it is set up. So if the equipment works in Aviano, it will work elsewhere.
Soldiers and civilians taking part in Lion Focus 2009 — SETAF’s first exercise as the Army component of U.S. Africa Command — were to have the equipment running Friday. It was to be used throughout the weekend before Maj. Gen. William Garrett, the SETAF commander, and Col. Eric Nantz, the operations branch commander, paid a visit.
In a phone interview Friday, Nantz said the work that soldiers in Aviano are doing is important.
"We want to make sure we maintain the ability to move quickly," he said.
But their work is only a small part of the annual exercise. And it is an even smaller part of what SETAF expects to be taking on as part of its new mission.
SETAF will be in charge of Army boots on the ground in Africa, Nantz said. But whether it’ll be called on to actually set up shop for humanitarian, training or military missions on the continent is dependent on events.
Personnel, will, however, be establishing relationships not only with counterparts in Africa, but also in other U.S. services and agencies.
That’s going on this week in Longare, a suburb of Vicenza where the U.S. maintains a small base.
About 360 personnel from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines are participating in the exercise. Most are involved in planning and coordination between the different units and agencies in various locations.
The forward command post will allow SETAF to set up a command-and-control center for almost any mission in could be charged with in Africa. Depending on the need, though, a handful of personnel could run a limited operation at a U.S. Embassy and more equipment and personnel could be added under a major operation, Nantz said.
Lauer said some of the soldiers setting up tents and equipment were new to their jobs and needed the practice.
SETAF hadn’t used the whole setup in at least six months, so he expected it would take a bit longer than six hours to get everything assembled.
The three tents are located on the same field where a much larger tent city was established in the late 1990s to serve NATO troops participating in the air war over the former Yugoslavia. Since then, several buildings have been constructed nearby.
