African Lion 22 begins in Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Ghana

African Lion is U.S. Africa Command’s largest and premier annual exercise, involving more than 7,500 service members from June 6 - 30. Led by the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, AFRICAN LION 22 will execute in four countries: Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia. Militaries from Brazil, Chad, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom will join U.S. and host nation troops. U.S. participants come from all service components, including the Reserves and National Guard. AFRICAN LION 22 features a Combined Joint Task Force Headquarters command post exercise; a combined arms live fire exercise; a maritime exercise; an air exercise with U.S. C-130J Super Hercules, KC-135 Stratotanker, and bomber aircraft; a joint forcible entry with paratroopers into a field training exercise; a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear response exercise; and a humanitarian civic assistance program event. The exercise sets the theater for access and bolsters interoperability among partner nations. The exercise also involved months of collaboration between all participating countries to ensure proper COVID-19 mitigation protocols are set in place and adhered to. (Illustration by Sgt. 1st Class Xavier Rosario)