More than 400 US Marines of the 4th Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion arrived in Grahamstown this week to train with South African soldiers and take part in a joint peace-support and humanitarian relief exercise – and the army has warned that things could get noisy during the next three weeks.
Until 12 August, members of the South African National Defence Force and the US Armed Forces are participating in Exercise Shared Accord 2011 at the Grahamstown 6 South African Infantry Battalion base.
The troops had flown into the country, while their armoury and tanks had to get here by sea. They are docked at Coega harbour, in Port Elizabeth.
Augmented by troops from as far as Pretoria, most of the SANDF contingent are locally based members of 6 SAI.
The military said in a statement that the aim of the exercise was to provide collective training for the SANDF and US armed forces, "building interoperability and mutual understanding between the two forces”.
All services of the SANDF (SA Army, SA Air Force, SA Navy and SA Military Health Service) will be involved.
Included in the training will be live arms exercises and the army has warned that noise levels could be high in the next three weeks.
"We appeal to the community of Grahamstown to bear with us, specifically on 26 July when the noise is going to be at its loudest," said 6SAI Communication Officer Royden Vlotman.
Port Elizabeth is also getting its share of the action, with Algoa Bay the site of “various SA Air Force and SA Navy components" involved in "exercises at sea”.
In the humanitarian assistance component of the exercise, from tomorrow until next Saturday the SA Military Health Service will combine with their medical counterparts from the US naval medical personnel in an outreach programme to the Kleinskool community, near Port Elizabeth, in conjunction with the provincial Department of Health.
In conjunction with the provincial health department, they will "perform basic dental care, hygiene and tooth extractions, provide basic primary health care to adults and children and also provide basic refractory evaluations and dispense eyeglasses (spectacles)" the statement says.
Veterinarian personnel from both armies will also run a community outreach programme with the SPCA in KwaNobuhle and Allenridge, near Uitenhage, for domestic pets and livestock.
Defenceweb, Africa-based daily defence and security news service (http://www.defenceweb.co.za) reports that the SA Engineer Corps and US Marine Corps combat engineers will also erect “a structure at the SPCA in Uitenhage” and ensure drainage around the local community pound.
According to Defenceweb, Ex Shared Accord is an annually scheduled US-partner nation event and previous editions of Ex Shared Accord were in Benin, Ghana, Senegal and Mozambique. Defenceweb reports that Shared Accord is one of 14 annual multinational exercises the US conducts on the continent to train US and African forces to conduct peacekeeping operations in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of two involving South Africa.
Last year's edition of Shared Accord took place in Mozambique. Benin, Ghana, Senegal have also hosted the exercise.
Joint exercises between South African and US armed forces, according to Defenceweb, are "somewhat uncommon because of political attitudes in the former, but are not as rare as may be thought".
In July 2003 a battalion of US Rangers was deployed to De Brug, Bloemfontein, for Flintlock 2003 with the SA Army's 44 Parachute Regiment. Medflag 2004 at the Hoedspruit, Mpumalanga Air Force Base featured 250 US Air Force personnel. One of the operations carried out there was a mass-casualty exercise with the SA Military Health Service and SA Air Force.
Minister of Defence Lindiwe Sisulu will be the guest of honour next Friday at the Grahamstown army base, where the marines are based, for a tactical weapons display. They will be demonstrating the centrepiece of the exercise, the LAV/25 – an eight-wheeled amphibious reconnaissance vehicle used by the United States Marine Corps, but made in Canada.
More than 400 US Marines of the 4th Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion arrived in Grahamstown this week to train with South African soldiers and take part in a joint peace-support and humanitarian relief exercise – and the army has warned that things could get noisy during the next three weeks.
Until 12 August, members of the South African National Defence Force and the US Armed Forces are participating in Exercise Shared Accord 2011 at the Grahamstown 6 South African Infantry Battalion base.
The troops had flown into the country, while their armoury and tanks had to get here by sea. They are docked at Coega harbour, in Port Elizabeth.
Augmented by troops from as far as Pretoria, most of the SANDF contingent are locally based members of 6 SAI.
The military said in a statement that the aim of the exercise was to provide collective training for the SANDF and US armed forces, "building interoperability and mutual understanding between the two forces”.
All services of the SANDF (SA Army, SA Air Force, SA Navy and SA Military Health Service) will be involved.
Included in the training will be live arms exercises and the army has warned that noise levels could be high in the next three weeks.
"We appeal to the community of Grahamstown to bear with us, specifically on 26 July when the noise is going to be at its loudest," said 6SAI Communication Officer Royden Vlotman.
Port Elizabeth is also getting its share of the action, with Algoa Bay the site of “various SA Air Force and SA Navy components" involved in "exercises at sea”.
In the humanitarian assistance component of the exercise, from tomorrow until next Saturday the SA Military Health Service will combine with their medical counterparts from the US naval medical personnel in an outreach programme to the Kleinskool community, near Port Elizabeth, in conjunction with the provincial Department of Health.
In conjunction with the provincial health department, they will "perform basic dental care, hygiene and tooth extractions, provide basic primary health care to adults and children and also provide basic refractory evaluations and dispense eyeglasses (spectacles)" the statement says.
Veterinarian personnel from both armies will also run a community outreach programme with the SPCA in KwaNobuhle and Allenridge, near Uitenhage, for domestic pets and livestock.
Defenceweb, Africa-based daily defence and security news service (http://www.defenceweb.co.za) reports that the SA Engineer Corps and US Marine Corps combat engineers will also erect “a structure at the SPCA in Uitenhage” and ensure drainage around the local community pound.
According to Defenceweb, Ex Shared Accord is an annually scheduled US-partner nation event and previous editions of Ex Shared Accord were in Benin, Ghana, Senegal and Mozambique. Defenceweb reports that Shared Accord is one of 14 annual multinational exercises the US conducts on the continent to train US and African forces to conduct peacekeeping operations in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of two involving South Africa.
Last year's edition of Shared Accord took place in Mozambique. Benin, Ghana, Senegal have also hosted the exercise.
Joint exercises between South African and US armed forces, according to Defenceweb, are "somewhat uncommon because of political attitudes in the former, but are not as rare as may be thought".
In July 2003 a battalion of US Rangers was deployed to De Brug, Bloemfontein, for Flintlock 2003 with the SA Army's 44 Parachute Regiment. Medflag 2004 at the Hoedspruit, Mpumalanga Air Force Base featured 250 US Air Force personnel. One of the operations carried out there was a mass-casualty exercise with the SA Military Health Service and SA Air Force.
Minister of Defence Lindiwe Sisulu will be the guest of honour next Friday at the Grahamstown army base, where the marines are based, for a tactical weapons display. They will be demonstrating the centrepiece of the exercise, the LAV/25 – an eight-wheeled amphibious reconnaissance vehicle used by the United States Marine Corps, but made in Canada.
