Why am I here?

I was active duty Navy from 1997-2003 and served in the Submarine community. I continued in the Reserve Component and have been drilling for the last five years. The Navy has been supporting the Global War on Terrorism by mainly sending individual sailors (vice complete units) to particular jobs on the ground in Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and other places. These sailors are called Indivual Augmentees (IA), and now I have been recalled to active duty and joined thier ranks.

My assignment is to the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) for 270 days "boots on ground". Combined means partner countries are involved, joint means all services (Navy, Marines, Army and Air Force). The Horn of Africa area of responsibility includes the countries of Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Yemen.


The MISSION

CJTF-HOA conducts unified action in the Combined Joint Operations Area - Horn of Africa to:
• PREVENT Conflict
• PROMOTE Regional Cooperation
• PROTECT U.S. and Coalition Interests
• PREVAIL against Extremism

I'm just beginning to learn what that means. So far I understand it to include many humanitarian and civil affairs missions that include medical and veterinarian assistance, well digging, school construction, as well as military to military training. Its very different from what you might see on TV about Iraq and Afghanistan - here its about building relationships to get ahead of problems and prevent opportunities for terrorists vice direct action against them.

I will be working in the J33 shop - Current Operations. I will be a watch officer monitoring operations and communicating with the teams "downrange".