TAFRAOUTE, Morocco –
Utah Air National Guard doctors, dentists, and other healthcare professionals of the 151st Expeditionary Medical Group were welcomed to Morocco with live traditional Berber folk music and a dance performance by the Tafraoute citizens, June 6, 2021.
The Service Members arrived in Morocco to support Exercise African Lion; U.S. Africa Command's largest annual military exercise which will run through June 18, with command post, air, maritime, and field training exercises in Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and the United States.
"We appreciate your culture and heritage and are extremely grateful to be invited here to experience it," said Lt. Col. Todd Bingham, the Humanitarian Civic Assistance mission commander. "While we are here, we will do our very best to provide the best health care to the citizens of Tafraoute."
The humanitarian efforts provide several different services to the locals in Tafraoute, including internal medicine, general medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, dermatology, gynecology, ear, nose and throat, dental, and optometry.
"We are humbly honored to be welcomed to their city," said Bingham. "This exercise provides an amazing opportunity to demonstrate our long-term commitment to improve partner nation capacity and capabilities in support of U.S. strategic objectives."
African Lion 2021 is U.S. Africa Command's largest, premier, joint, annual exercise hosted by Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal, 7-18 June. More than 7,000 participants from nine nations and NATO train together with a focus on enhancing readiness for U.S. and partner nation forces. African Lion 21 is a multi-domain, multi-component, and multinational exercise, which employs a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among participants and to support the U.S. National Defense Strategy.