By MICHAEL TOLZMANN
KITGUM, Uganda — When the daughter of a Glasgow woman stepped onto the orange-red soil of this Central African nation, she could have been walking into a National Geographic special presentation.
Surrounded by Africans living in grass-roofed mud huts that dotted the countryside, 550 American military members would bring modern medical science and medication, sweat equity and supplies to rebuild old, rundown schools, and an open textbook in sharing non-lethal military tactics that Eastern African armies could use to bring civil order during future times of trouble.
Air Force Reserve Maj. Jeannie J. Padgett, daughter of Debbie Borders of Glasgow, recently spent a couple of weeks here supporting a military exercise that focused on humanitarian assistance to local Ugandans, along with cooperation between American troops and five area countries. Exercise Natural Fire 10 created friends and partners from the nations of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and the United States in a remote, austere region of Northern Uganda, just south of Sudan.
Padgett is a flight nurse and medical planner with the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C. She came to this country to share her technical expertise.
“I was one of the medical planners for the exercise, but I was also the executor for the Air National Guard. I also functioned as a liaison to the Uganda medical clinics and health care providers,” said Padgett, a 1990 graduate of Edmonson County High School, Brownsville. She went on to earn a master’s degree in 2007 from George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.
The exercise was led by U.S. Army Africa, but American participants included soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines from all over the globe. Exercise highlights included American doctors, nurses, pharmacists and dentists working side-by-side with African partner militaries and providing care to more than 12,000 local Ugandans.
Two local schools and a hospital had construction renovation projects completed by U.S. Navy construction specialists. American Marines here were often covered in orange-colored soil following their daily interaction with the African armies. They taught non-lethal tactics such as crowd control, shared with the Africans in each other’s weaponry and practiced peacekeeping operations.
Padgett and her American colleagues gained experience and learned about Africans in this remote place.
“It’s important to provide an exchange of knowledge between all nations involved here to promote confidence in the East African Countries. We’re here to provide sustainable skills and provide some humanitarian relief that is truly needed, and to work as a community of countries addressing the situation, not just the United States and Uganda,” said Padgett.
The United States Africa Command and its subordinate command U.S. Army Africa are available to deploy to Africa in support of a crisis. They exist to promote security, stability and peace in Africa. In recent years, Uganda has been subjected to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias and various government forces that extend across its borders. Uganda is a host to hundreds of thousands of regional refugees.
Exercise officials said the exercise partner nations have extremely capable military organizations and that American and African militaries are actively learning from each other.
Through experiences here, Padgett developed her own impressions of Ugandan culture.
“I met and coordinated with the primary doctors of each clinic we worked from. My experience has increased my respect to be culturally astute and that there’s more to learn about tropical medicine. The scenery looks like lush green trees with red dirt roads,” said Padgett.
Padgett has 15 years of military service and served in Iraq in 2003. “I plan to move to South Africa next year and increase my civilian and military experience within U.S. Africa Command and Africa,” she said.
Although the backdrop to this military exercise conjures visions of a place fit for a safari, the Americans who made their way to this remote African location were much more likely to see a sick child, a hammer or a defensive shield than a monkey. But by helping locals who may know where those monkeys are, a strengthened cooperation between peoples may help keep the region safe and free, for those who prefer to enjoy its natural beauty.
