The program for this exercise includes seminars and training for executives and intervention modules as well as field training, in addition to visits by military, American and Moroccan authorities which are planned to the various sites and workshops of training.
“Morocco Mantlet” is a combined disaster management exercise, which annually brings together the FAR’s specialized disaster management teams and the teams of the National Guard of the State of Utah as well as the American Hazard Reduction Agency . It aims in particular to develop technical and procedural interoperability between the specific modules of the stakeholders.
In a statement to the press, Colonel Mehdi Ouhadi, Commander of the FAR Relief and Rescue Unit, Director of the Disaster Management Exercise, indicated that on the High Instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, that God assists Him, Supreme Leader and Chief of General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces, and within the framework of Moroccan-American military cooperation, the Relief and Rescue Unit in Kenitra is organizing the joint exercise in the management of disasters “Morocco Mantlet 2022”.
And to emphasize that this exercise sees the participation of specialized elements and soldiers from the Royal Armed Forces and the General Directorate of Civil Protection, as well as specialized American teams from the National Guard of the State of Utah and the Risk Reduction Agency, adding that this exercise aims to develop the quality of work, as well as the coordination of the action of the participating relief and rescue units, both Moroccan and American. .
He further explained that the Moroccan units participating in the exercise are testing technical, tactical and procedural maneuvers with the American side, affirming that this exercise also aims to improve the action of firefighting units, particularly with regard to aircraft fire suppression and the integration of geographic data systems into disaster management operations.
And Colonel Ouhadi continued that this exercise takes place in two phases: a theoretical phase within the Relief and Rescue Unit in Kenitra, which consists of seminars for the benefit of Moroccan and American participants, while the second, a practical phase takes place at the 3rd Air Base of the Royal Air Forces in Kenitra in coordination between all intervention teams, all specializations combined, under the supervision of Moroccan and American specialists.
For his part, Major General Michael Turley, Commander of the National Guard of the State of Utah, emphasized, in a similar statement, that this joint exercise develops year after year, adding that the importance of this exercise lies in the ability of the Royal Armed Forces to demonstrate the high level skills with which they are endowed.
After praising the relations between the Utah National Guard and the Royal Armed Forces, Major General Michael Turley stressed that this exercise encourages the Moroccans and helps them to experience the skills and knowledge acquired, capable of strengthening their leadership. in this area in the Maghreb, Africa and the Mediterranean region.
During this practical exercise, which took place at the 3rd Royal Air Forces Air Base, fire extinguishing simulations were carried out using Canadair aircraft, which were carrying out water filling operations from the ‘Oued de Sebou before proceeding to extinguish these fires, while the unit specialized in extinguishing fires, under the Royal Armed Forces, simulated an operation to extinguish fires declared on board a plane.
The urban search and rescue unit, which is participating in the exercise, carried out a simulation of the various rescue and search operations for survivors buried under the rubble. Thus, the members of this unit carried out the rescue of nearly 11 people with the help of trained dogs, using all the techniques and means available to assist those injured in a traffic accident, providing them with the first emergency care and evacuate them to hospital.
Likewise, the members of the Unit simulated a rescue operation of people drowned at sea or following floods, as well as people victims of nuclear radiation or chemical and biological products, in addition to the execution of an exercise to evacuate injured people from high buildings using tactical means.
On the sidelines of this exercise, the Lieutenant General, Inspector General of the FAR and Commander of the Southern Zone, received, Tuesday at the headquarters of the General Staff of the FAR, Major General Michael Turley, Commander of the Guard National of the State of Utah, on an official visit to the Kingdom from September 19 to 22, 2022, at the head of a military delegation.