"Thoughts from the Running Trail" - Partnerships
We build on relationships everyday here in East Africa. From different units within CJTF-HOA and Camp Lemonnier to general officer and foreign military leaders, our team builds partnerships to accomplish our mission. Having strong partnerships leads to a strong and trustworthy team that enables our partner nations to build and improve capabilities, combat adversaries and ensure stability in the region.
Building Trust- Partnership building has many forms. You are key to building trust through your relationships, policies and practices. You have done this by welcoming our coalition partners into our Joint Operations Center, participating in English language courses and inviting the Djiboutian Armed Forces to participate in our joint leadership conferences. These efforts foster friendship and common understanding between partner nations.
Being There - Showing respect for each other’s culture shows you value what they can contribute to the team. Having a friendly soccer game, attending a ceremony in our partner’s honor or sharing a traditional meal builds and strengthens our bonds. It shows you’re investing in the relationship. As Ramadan approaches, showing respect for someone who may be fasting means not eating food around them. This is a small gesture but means a great deal.
Share the Burden- Chabelley Airfield, part of our presence here, needed concertina wire. Our service members, showing an outstanding “one team” mentality, stepped up and put together a group to lay the C-Wire. It was a phenomenal effort by all who took part.
The Camp Lemonnier/CJTF-HOA team- The dedicated professionals at Camp Lemonnier provide outstanding support in every aspect. We couldn’t be successful without our great teammates at camp.
Contractors- Contractors bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. They are part of our team supporting the mission and building partnerships on a daily basis.
It’s about full integration of our operations with the inter-agency, through our support of the Country Teams. We are constantly working on how to work better as a team and build the relationships, trust, resources and strategic access to meet our National Security Objectives. These efforts of partnership foster friendship and common understanding between different partner nations.
We remain focused on maintaining freedom of access to conduct operations in the interest of our National Security. CJTF-HOA along with our East African partners is focused on capacity building. Our goal is to build a consistent and sustained presence as we enable the countries in this region to build security, stability and prosperity.
Actively engaging with our partners enables Africans to solve African challenges. What we are trying to accomplish in Somalia is a means to an end. The ultimate goal is a stable Horn of Africa with democratic values, able to address their own issues. This is even more reason why we need to work closely as a team, valuing the knowledge and experience of our local and interagency partners and our superb service members. Ubuntu… We’ll see you on the running trail…