The Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) Jaji, on Tuesday offered free medical services and distributed food items to the host communities, Bina and Tudun Amada villages in Jaji, Kaduna State.
The gesture by the AFCSC was part of activities of the college’s first bi-annual Field Training Exercise (FTX), code named ‘Exercise Ubiak-Isin’.
The Commandant of AFCSC, AVM Olurotimi Tuwase, said the medical outreach and distribution of relief materials were part of the college’s corporate social responsibilities to the host communities,t enhance the existing civil military cooperation.
He explained that the exercise was designed to assess student officers of Junior Course 93 on various aspects of leadership, tactics as well as command and control in all phases of conventional and asymmetric warfare.
He also explained that the College was saddled with the responsibility of training middle cadre officers in jointness towards execution of operations.
“The college prepares the officers for operations in the field and the exercise will evaluate the students understanding of counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations.
“This excercise is the practical aspect of the training, we also held series of lectures,” he said .
Tuwase further explained that the activities were jointly planned by the Air Force, Maritime and Land Warfare departments of the college.
“What we have here in the bush is practicals that were planned by the students in the college aimed at ensuring they adequately take care of counter insurgency in the field”.
“The medical outreach and distribution of food items which we offered before going into the practical excercises in bushes of the host communities were part of the non-kinetic phases of counter insurgency to win the hearts and minds of host communities.
“This is one among many things the students are trained on,” he said.
He said beyond the medical outreach and distribution of relief materials brought in by the National Emergency Management Agency in collaboration with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, the college also worked with the relevant organisations and agencies in carrying out their training.
“The outreach and distribution of relief materials is to make the students aware and partake fully so that when they get to the field, it will no longer be strage to them,” he said.