 U.S. Army soldiers deployed the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa, alongside French partners recently completed the initial phase of the French Desert Commando course at Arta Djibouti, moving one step closer to earning the coveted French Desert Commando badge. Three different parts. The first part was how to live in the desert. For example, how to find some water, how to cook, how to purify this water to drink it. The second part was how to make some simple food, like we call it the Desert Pancake and some teas, the traditional Ethiopian tea. And the second part was more collective with team obstacle course by day and by night. And the last part was this one, like behind me, an individual course with some high point of view, with poor climbing, things like that. And it's just for yourself how to move and to overcome your fears of the vacuum, of the empty space, things like that. This was not only an opportunity to earn a foreign military's qualification, but also allowed for a cultural and military exchange between US and French soldiers. You get to exchange ideas and thoughts with them outside of you guys doing the actual course. You get to talk to them one-on-one. You get to see how they do things, how they move tactically. We did some land navigation. I built my first fire here, which was awesome. I've never built a fire on my own before. I appreciate these moments, these three days. Reporting from Arta Djibouti, this is Petty Officer 2nd Class, Timothy Ahern.