CMSAF visits Airmen in Jordan supporting exercise

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Nicholas Mercurio
  • U.S. Special Operations Command Public Affairs
AMMAN, Jordan (AFNS) --  Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Roy and his Jordanian counterpart, Mowafaq Mohammad Al-Mostafa, the chief master sergeant of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, paid a surprise visit to U.S. Airmen forward deployed to Jordan in support of Exercise Eager Lion 12 here May 19.

Eager Lion 12 is a recurring, multinational exercise designed to strengthen military-to-military relationships and interoperability among 19 partner nations as they navigate complex, irregular warfare-themed scenarios throughout the month of May.

"Exercises like Eager Lion 12 are going to become more and more relevant in the future," Roy said. "Sixty percent of you joined after 9/11; you've only known war. However, the situations depicted in this exercise will help prepare you to meet our nation's future national security challenges."

A key component of future operations is joint, multinational coalitions such as the one participating in Eager Lion 12. What started as a bilateral exercise between the U.S. and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 2011 has grown to more than 11,000 participants from the coalition partners' air, land, sea and special forces components.

"All of you have deployed at least once, most more than once," Roy said, "I hope you know we appreciate what you do for our nation and what you do for other nations as well."

Pleased with the opportunity for his country to host the exercise again, Al-Mostafa welcomed the Americans to Jordan. "I hope we will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the future," he said.

After their opening remarks Roy and Al-Mostafa fielded questions from the assembled Airmen and posed for pictures.