By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

MEMBERS of the Guam Army National Guard are doing invaluable work in the Horn of Africa where they provide security and training for friendly troops.
In fact, the officer-in-charge of one of the important U.S. bases in Africa is from Guam.
Army 1st Lt. David Afaisen is the officer-in-charge at Contingency Operating Location Bilate—a fenced-in area less than a square-acre, where U.S. service members and civilians support the training of Ethiopian troops.
According to Air Force Staff Sgt. Francesca Popp of the U.S. Central Command Air Forces, the Guam Guard and members of the Air Force maintain radio, phone and Internet communications between the camp and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa headquarters at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti.
The communications provided by the radio maintainers support the Army’s military-to-military training with the Ethiopian National Defense Force soldiers.
According to Afaisen, it’s critical that Contingency Operating Location Bilate have its communications up and running 100 percent of the time because the base is the furthest south in Ethiopia and communications are needed to link it to headquarters.
But because of the help of the airmen, Afaisen said the base has had very little interruption with communication.
Afaisen is deployed from Guam Army National Guard’s 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1-294th Infantry Battalion (Light).
According to Guam Army National Guard Lt. Col. George Charfauros, commander, 1st 294th Infantry Battalion, the Guam troops are not exposed to actual combat and focus more on border security and counter-terrorism work.
Among the training given to Ethiopians are radio communications that support the Army’s military-to-military training with the Ethiopian National Defense Force soldiers.
Troops attached to the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa have also been training Ethiopian soldiers in basic infantry tactics and logistics.