One of the missions of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps

One of the missions of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps working with the Marine Corps is to take care of the spiritual needs of troops in the field. Exercise African Lion 2011, an annually scheduled, bilateral U.S.-Moroccan exercise, is no exception. Cmdr. Richmond Stoglin, regimental chaplain for 14th Marine Regiment, delivered a sermon and offered communion to Marines May 19 here, during a break in training with Moroccan counterparts. “There is very high morale and enthusiasm,” said Stoglin of the Marines, who are from Military Police Company, Headquarters Battalion, 4th Marine Division; which is comprised of Marine Corps reservists based out of Minnesota and North Dakota. American personnel participating in the exercise are organized as Task Force African Lion, which is comprised of service members from multiple U.S. military branches working together. Stoglin’s mission is to support all members of the task force. “Witnessing the joining of the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and civilian, has been a very interesting phenomenon,” said Stoglin. “It has been interesting learning each other’s lingo.” Stoglin has been and will continue to travel Morocco providing the task force commander and his troops with spiritual and ethical service for the duration of the exercise. This year’s African Lion exercise, the 8th annual iteration, brings together nearly 2,000 U.S. service members from multiple locations throughout Europe and North America with more than 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. It is the largest exercise within the U.S. Africa Command area of responsibility, and is designed to promote interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation’s military tactics, techniques and procedures. All U.S. forces will return to their home bases in the United States and Europe at the conclusion of the exercise.