# AFRICOM Receives SFG unit



## Grimfury160 (Dec 5, 2012)

Just weeks after the deadly assault on the U.S. consulate and CIA station in Benghazi, Libya, the head of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) was for the first time given operational control over a dedicated special operations company that could be tasked with handling similar incidents in the future.
The commander’s in-extremis force (CIF) was stood up on Oct. 1, AFRICOM chief Gen. Carter Ham revealed during a talk at George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute on Dec. 3.
Until now, AFRICOM had been alone among the six U.S. geographic combatant commands without its own CIF. Before this, AFRICOM relied on the CIF assigned to the commander of the European Command.
One of the reasons given for the lack of military response during the attack on the American consulate and CIA station in Benghazi on Sept. 11 was that the special operations quick reaction unit staged in Europe was unable to get there in time.
The European-based CIF was on a training mission in Croatia when the call from the Pentagon came in, but within hours they had positioned to Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily, Italy, where they gathered up pre-positioned stocks and prepared to fly the 500 miles to Libya.
“Those forces worked as advertised, and they were in position,” Special Operations Command (SOCOM) deputy commander Lt. Gen. John Mulholland told a special operations conference in Washington Nov. 28. “I’ll leave it at that because other decisions came into play that perhaps aren’t privy to SOCOM.”
Coming back to the subject later in his talk, Mulholland would only say that once the CIF landed at Sigonella, “other decisions took place subsequent to that that other commanders can speak to.”
The unit designation and location of the AFRICOM CIF is unclear, but the* 10th Special Forces Group* is assigned to Africa and operates out of Stuttgart, Germany, and Fort Carson, Colo.
Ham’s speech otherwise avoided Benghazi, which was unsurprising given the political powder keg the subject remains.
Ham downplayed any active combat role for U.S. forces on the continent, however, saying “it’s best to think of us in a supporting and an enabling role.”
He did offer stark warnings about the radical Islamist threat in Mali, where a military coup dissolved the government, allowing radical elements to take over the northern portion of the country.
“As each day goes by, al-Qaida and other organizations are strengthening their hold in northern Mali,” the general said. “So there is a compelling need for the international community, led by Africans, to address that.”
His comments on the security situation in North Africa’s Sahara and Sahel region were no less stark, however.
There is a “growing linkage, a growing network and collaboration and synchronization among the various violent extremist organizations” in the region, he warned, “which I think poses the greatest threat to regional stability, more broadly across Africa, certainly into Europe, and to the United States,” he said.
And those threats are growing. Carter added that Boko Haram, an Islamic group in northern Nigeria, “is receiving financial support, some training, probably some explosives from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, in a relationship that goes both ways.”
The al-Qaida franchise is among the most well-funded among the international terror group’s branches, Ham said, raising money from kidnappings, extortion and illicit trafficking in fuel and other commodities, including running illegal drugs north to Europe.
On Nov. 13, the African Union agreed to send approximately 3,000 troops to northern Mali to battle the rebels.
Ham is preparing to leave Africa Command as soon as Army Gen. David Rodriguez, who has been tapped to replace him, is approved by the Senate. Rodriguez was nominated by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Oct. 18 to replace Ham, who has served at AFRICOM commander since March, 2011
http://www.defensenews.com/article/...c-Ops-Unit?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE


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## DA SWO (Dec 5, 2012)

Interesting.


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## goon175 (Dec 5, 2012)

I find this to be a huge OPSEC breach. Why in the hell would you advertise the unit and how many of them are operationally available to respond to contingencies in the AFRICOM footprint? I swear, someone needs to verify that the Generals and politicians are taking there annual OPSEC awareness computer course....


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## Grimfury160 (Dec 5, 2012)

SOWT said:


> Interesting.


 
http://www.wboc.com/story/20263964/nigerias-islamist-extremists-grow-more-dangerous#.UL9funfyG1k.email
 All kinds of AP feeds about the unrest within this area........


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## DA SWO (Dec 5, 2012)

goon175 said:


> I find this to be a huge OPSEC breach. Why in the hell would you advertise the unit and how many of them are operationally available to respond to contingencies in the AFRICOM footprint? I swear, someone needs to verify that the Generals and politicians are taking there annual OPSEC awareness computer course....


My thought too, add acronyms to my beef.


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## Grimfury160 (Dec 5, 2012)

goon175 said:


> I find this to be a huge OPSEC breach. Why in the hell would you advertise the unit and how many of them are operationally available to respond to contingencies in the AFRICOM footprint? I swear, someone needs to verify that the Generals and politicians are taking there annual OPSEC awareness computer course....


 I wonder if it is aimed at intimidating.....................
And the computer courses are a FAIL as I knew many who just click click print.


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## 0699 (Dec 6, 2012)

10th?  I thought 3rd was the Africa group...


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## dknob (Dec 6, 2012)

I don't think the presence/existence of a SF CIF team is classified. 
Hell this announcement should at least make the bad guys think twice about pulling some shit like this.

We are a military that relies on "shows of force" as a deterrent for future aggressions. We are not a military that baits the bad guys to attack us just so we can respond with a God of Thunder led QRF to wipe them out.


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## dknob (Dec 6, 2012)

0699 said:


> 10th? I thought 3rd was the Africa group...


 3rd is Sub-Saharan Africa. Lot's of guys get trained on languages such as French because of the heavy French/Belgian colonial influences still left over in many of those nations.

Libya, Mali, etc are all Saharan /Northern African countries just a hop and a skip from Spain, Italy, Cyprus, etc. Africa is way too big for just one group to cover.


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## Kunoichii (Dec 6, 2012)

Grimfury160 said:


> I wonder if it is aimed at intimidating.....................
> And the computer courses are a FAIL as I knew many who just click click print.


 
Everyone clicks through that stuff anyway. OPSEC is more common sense than a learned skill.


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## DA SWO (Dec 6, 2012)

dknob said:


> I don't think the presence/existence of a SF CIF team is classified.
> Hell this announcement should at least make the bad guys think twice about pulling some shit like this.
> 
> We are a military that relies on "shows of force" as a deterrent for future aggressions. We are not a military that baits the bad guys to attack us just so we can respond with a God of Thunder led QRF to wipe them out.


There was a time where CIF was considered FOUO, and not to be thrown around; guess those days are past as we need to show ourselves off.


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## dknob (Dec 6, 2012)

SOWT said:


> There was a time where CIF was considered FOUO, and not to be thrown around; guess those days are past as we need to show ourselves off.


 
Oh the good old days where fast roping was classified and speaking of 75th's RRD was grounds for release from the unit. :)


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## goon175 (Dec 6, 2012)

I gotta disagree with you Dknob, the movement of troops has always been considered an issue of OPSEC, especially for specialty SOF teams. And how many of them are present is also an issue. If they would have said "Special Operations troops have been moved under AFRICOM to aid in the response of future contingencies" I would have been ok with it, but saying specifically who, how many, and where is crossing the line.


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## AWP (Dec 6, 2012)

Africa is 3rd's AO, but I'd bet 1/10's proximity is why 10th Group has this mission not to mention that 3rd is still working in some place called Afghanistan. Also, given the number of French speakers which must exist in 10th Group this isn't terribly shocking.

As to CIF teams, if they want to discuss them, then let the media clowns do that, we will not discuss them here except in only the very, very broadest of terms. (like we've already done. Stomp, stomp, stomp)


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## 0699 (Dec 7, 2012)

dknob said:


> *3rd is Sub-Saharan Africa*. Lot's of guys get trained on languages such as French because of the heavy French/Belgian colonial influences still left over in many of those nations.
> 
> Libya, Mali, etc are all Saharan /Northern African countries just a hop and a skip from Spain, Italy, Cyprus, etc. Africa is way too big for just one group to cover.


 
Thank you.


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## Grimfury160 (Dec 10, 2012)

In the past few years the shadows have not been a friend.................alot has come to light and the civilians populas is jaws wide open.


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## Brill (Dec 11, 2012)

No, 3rd is CE. 10th now has Africa.

According to Google. ; )


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## shortbrownguy (Dec 11, 2012)

lindy said:


> No, 3rd is CE. 10th now has Africa.
> 
> According to Google. ; )


Lindy is correct. If it ends in -stan, 3rd SFG(A) covers down on it. 10th SFG(A) is covering down on Africa.

SBG sends.


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## 0699 (Dec 11, 2012)

Somebody needs to update Wikipedia...


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## Etype (Dec 16, 2012)

0699 said:


> 10th? I thought 3rd was the Africa group...





dknob said:


> 3rd is Sub-Saharan Africa. Lot's of guys get trained on languages such as French because of the heavy French/Belgian colonial influences still left over in many of those nations.
> 
> Libya, Mali, etc are all Saharan /Northern African countries just a hop and a skip from Spain, Italy, Cyprus, etc. Africa is way too big for just one group to cover.





Freefalling said:


> Africa is 3rd's AO, but I'd bet 1/10's proximity is why 10th Group has this mission not to mention that 3rd is still working in some place called Afghanistan. Also, given the number of French speakers which must exist in 10th Group this isn't terribly shocking.
> 
> As to CIF teams, if they want to discuss them, then let the media clowns do that, we will not discuss them here except in only the very, very broadest of terms. (like we've already done. Stomp, stomp, stomp)


 

3rd has been Central Asia for about 4 years now.  I guess the news about 10th's new CIF is more in demand than 3rd's new AO.


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## dknob (Dec 16, 2012)

So what happened to all the 3SFG dudes who have French as their language?


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## Etype (Dec 16, 2012)

dknob said:


> So what happened to all the 3SFG dudes who have French as their language?


Language training is the new big thing.  All the guys that don't have a 1+/1+ in Pashto, Dari, Urdu, or Russian are going back to language school for 6 months.  My language is Arabic, I've been dodging language retraining with various other schools but I fear it will soon be my turn...


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## pardus (Dec 17, 2012)

dknob said:


> 3rd is Sub-Saharan Africa. Lot's of guys get trained on languages such as French because of the heavy French/Belgian colonial influences still left over in many of those nations.
> 
> Libya, Mali, etc are all Saharan /Northern African countries just a hop and a skip from Spain, Italy, Cyprus, etc. Africa is way too big for just one group to cover.


 


lindy said:


> No, 3rd is CE. 10th now has Africa.
> 
> According to Google. ; )


 


shortbrownguy said:


> Lindy is correct. If it ends in -stan, 3rd SFG(A) covers down on it. 10th SFG(A) is covering down on Africa.
> 
> SBG sends.


 


Etype said:


> 3rd has been Central Asia for about 4 years now. I guess the news about 10th's new CIF is more in demand than 3rd's new AO.


 



Thoughts are thoughts, facts are facts... :-"


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## Brill (Dec 17, 2012)

pardus said:


> Thoughts are thoughts, facts are facts... :-"


 
And sheep are for...????


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## 8654Maine (Dec 17, 2012)

Those cold winter nights, far from home...wait, what?


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## pardus (Dec 17, 2012)

I hate you guys.


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## DA SWO (Dec 17, 2012)

lindy said:


> And sheep are for...????


Pardus.


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