Enduring bonds
Posted on 25 March 2011 by k. a. gardner
JACKSONVILLE – The guided missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN728) is home ported at Submarine Base Kings Bay but is currently in the Mediterranean attached to U.S. Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn.
Coalition forces launched Operation Odyssey Dawn to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 – “take all necessary measures” to protect the Libyan people under attack by the country’s ruler. On March 19th, in conjunction with other US Navy ships, the USS Florida launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan air defenses to begin implementing a “no-fly zone” over Libya.
Ajmal Omer at Camp LeJeune, N.C.
Three days later, U.S. Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) rescued a U.S. Air Force pilot downed in northeast Libya. According to the Marine Corp., the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based unit conducted a “Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel” mission to recover the pilot.
Meanwhile the 26th MEU also has troops in Afghanistan as they conduct concurrent missions in support of a variety of military operations.
And Camp LeJeune, N.C. is where we find Ajmal Omer, the Aghani translator assigned to CDR Jon Singleton (U.S. Navy Reserves) on his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
This site ran the Brothers in Arms series almost two years ago touching upon the enduring bonds developed among those who serve together in military conflicts. Ajmal and I are Facebook friends so I’m able to keep up with his adventures.
He works for Arlington, VA-based Defense Language Services (DLS) as a teacher of basic Pashto and Dari languages to young Marine and officers before their deployment to the Afghani theater of operations. Ajmal also teaches culture which, as he says, is very important for young Marines to understand the Afghani environment – the ethnics and tribal structure, the social structure and the Afghani political structure.
Members of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command talk with two men before a security Shura in Gereshk, Gereshk district, Helmand province. Photo credit - Sgt. Brian Kester
In this featured photo, soldiers from Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC – also based at Camp LeJeune) participate in a security ‘Shura’.
Shura is a Arabic word mean[ing] consultation, Shura is made of more than two people. They make major decisions there about anything from reconstruction of wars and more of a tribal issues. The elders of the village are the Shura members but any one can participate there; a 7-year-old boy to a 80-year-old man. — Ajmal Omer
Ajmal is assigned to a DLS Mobile Training Team (MTT) which are “deployed on short notice to provide tactical language training to the US Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force.” Sely Popal, the MTT project coordinator, said Ajmal was assigned to Camp LeJeune in October 2010 and will remain there until July 2011.
Update: Ajmal and I are continuing an email conversation. I’ve added his answer to my question on Shuras after the initial publication. There may be future updates to this article.
Tags | U.S. Armed Forces
Of course the only part that Axe Man saw was “guided missile submarines.” Now he wants one for Death Cheese to tour the seven seas in.
I hear the 26th MEU wants to book Death Cheese for a USO concert in Benghazi.
Death Cheese? I thought the era of torture was over! And on our own troops, too!
I hope the no-fly zone works.
I believe the consensus is that if Axe Man were in the military, he would be a Marine. They are bad azz.
I hope the no-fly zone works, too.