AFRICOM

So I chose a billet within the newly established combatant command responsible for Africa: AFRICOM. Once that was done I decided to look up some information on it and see what this was all about. Five minutes on the Google opened my eyes quite a bit. There's a whole host of people out there who hate AFRICOM and vow to resist it as much as possible. They believe it is part of the United States' plan to re-colonize the continent. After some learned study I have to conclude that their fears are understandable, given the history of Africa, but off the mark. The U.S. doesn't want colonies. We want viable trading partners. The U.S. doesn't want to steal Africa's resources. We want to buy them at stable market prices. And for those who think that this move is just to further the militarization of the continent, I would point out that there is plenty of militarization already and that part of Africa's problem is that their militaries can't always be trusted to work for the good of the people. One of AFRICOM's goals is to change that and to professionalize the various military organizations so that they behave responsibly under the control of responsible civilian governments. I just can't see that as a bad thing.

I could go on and on about this, and I probably will, but right now I'm still in Seattle going over the pages and pages of reporting instructions and the shockingly long list of vaccinations I have waiting for me.