Exercise Kwanza Angola 06-2010 (23)
Exercise
Image by US Army Africa
www.usaraf.army.mil

U.S. Army Africa officers take notes during Kwanza 2010

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa

VICENZA, Italy – As Angolan women and children waited in a military hospital triage area during exercise Kwanza 2010, a U.S. Army Africa officer took note.

Maj. George K. Allen, Jr. 40, of Lynnwood, Wash., was one of four international observers at the weeklong exercise, conducted in early June in Cabo Ledo, Angola.

The exercise was held by the Central African Multinational Force in order to validate the unit. Known as FOMAC, the force is one of five brigade-size elements that make up the African Union’s African Standby Force.

The FOMAC is built around forces from the Economic Community of Central African States (French acronym CEEAC). Troops who took part in the exercise came from Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe and Chad.

Incorporating a medical mission to offer humanitarian assistance during the exercise exemplifies FOMAC’s progressive level of planning and coordination, Allen said.

“It shows that Africans are ready to help Africans,” Allen said. “They had a multi-national staff of military medics representing several central African countries – all working together to help local people. That’s impressive.”

Allen along with Lt. Jonathan Goerk, of U.S. Naval Forces Africa, were among a group of observers that included Maj. Gen. Samaila Iliya from the African Union. As the U.S. military representatives, the American observers were interested in how the force is organized, its logistical and signal capabilities and how FOMAC plans and conducts operations.

“We were there to observe and to learn from the countries within the FOMAC,” Goerk said. “We were grateful for the opportunity to attend.”

The role of the U.S. participants was to observe the event and assess how the United States can best engage with CEEAC and its member states to enhance regional peace and security capacity, including maritime security, disaster response, humanitarian relief operations, and peacekeeping missions.

During the exercise, the multi-national force faced a “real-world” exercise scenario based on events and experiences gained in previous African crisis situations. That meant the primary focus was establishing security and offering care to local people.

Amphibious forces landed at a beach in rib boats from ships just off the coast. Paratroopers leapt from a Cameroonian C-130 transport plane. Medics set up two field hospitals, where local Angolans received care that included pediatric visits, women’s health checks, dentistry and minor surgery.

“They had naval, air and ground forces working with police, civilian components and nongovernmental organizations – all whom worked together to create positive effects,” Allen said. “FOMAC showed that it has the ability to promote security in central Africa.”

To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil

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Abdominal exercises are one of the hottest, and yet, most controversial topics in the fitness and exercise industry. Hundreds of ab gadgets, gimmicks, and exercise machines have flooded the market for people looking for sexier and flatter abdominals… that sexy six-pack abs appearance that everyone seeks.

The problem is that most of the abdominal exercises that are recommended all over the internet, and in magazines, etc, are not necessarily the best method to get that six-pack abs appearance. First and foremost, the most important aspect for great looking six pack abs losing the extra belly fat that is covering them up. To be honest, most people already have decent abdominals underneath, yet the six-pack abs are simply covered up by all of that extra flabby stomach fat.

Your Focus Total Body Fat Burning Exercises

Instead of focusing so much on abs exercises to make your stomach flatter and more like a six-pack, you will lose much more body fat by focusing the majority of your training time with special combinations of high intensity full-body, multi-joint exercises. The best exercises for losing that abdominal fat and getting 6 pack abs are the exercises that work the largest portions of the body at once.

* Squats
* Deadlifts
* Cleans
* Presses
* Kettlebell Snatch

Use Circuit Training Workouts

Exercises that work the large muscle groups of the legs, upper and lower back, and chest give you the biggest metabolic bang for your buck in terms of abdominal fat loss. Combining these types of big multi-joint exercises in high intensity super-set, tri-set, or circuit fashion gives you the biggest fat-burning and metabolism boosting response from your workouts and the result being a set of 6 pack abs.

A example Circuit Training Workout:

1A) Deadlifts
1B) Push-Ups
1C) Cleans
1D) Bent Over Rows

And that is one of the best kept secrets for flat sexy abdominals that are actually visible as a six-pack!

Now when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, another mistake most people make is mindlessly pumping away with hundreds of crunches and other meaningless abs exercises that barely give your abdominals much resistance to work against. If you want to actually develop your abdominals to the best extent possible, don’t waste your time with exercises that you can do more than 20 or 25 reps… that means you are definitely not doing an exercise that provides enough resistance to the abs. Exercises that give you enough resistance to get you down into the 6-15 rep range per set works great for the abs.

Generally, higher resistance abdominal exercises that provide a much larger stimulus to the abs come in the form of exercises that involve raising/curling the legs and pelvis either upward or inward closer to the trunk. A couple great examples of these higher resistance abdominal exercises are hanging leg raises or knee raises using a “pelvic curl up”, or an exercise like lying hip thrusts. Many times, the same people that can do 50 or 100 crunches, can’t even complete more than 2 or 3 properly executed hanging leg raises.

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