{"id":26494,"date":"2022-08-09T18:19:35","date_gmt":"2022-08-09T18:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smg.go-vip.net\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/08\/09\/marine-general-takes-over-africa-command-sees-challenges\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:09:40","slug":"marine-general-takes-over-africa-command-sees-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2022\/08\/09\/marine-general-takes-over-africa-command-sees-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine general takes over Africa Command, sees challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2022\/08\/03\/its-official-the-marine-corps-has-its-1st-black-4-star-general\/\" target=\"_blank\">Marine Gen. Michael Langley<\/a> took over as the top U.S. commander for Africa on Tuesday, heading U.S. military operations on a continent with some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/07\/21\/counterterrorism-still-a-pressing-issue-for-special-operations-africa-command-nominees\/\" target=\"_blank\">most active and dangerous insurgent groups<\/a> and a relatively small Pentagon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Langley, who made history on Saturday when he became the first African American in the Marine Corps<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2022\/07\/25\/the-marine-corps-is-set-for-its-first-black-4-star-general\/\" target=\"_blank\"> to be promoted to four-star general<\/a>, took over U.S. Africa Command in a ceremony at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany. He is the second African American to lead the command, which has about 6,000\u20137,000 troops across the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at the ceremony, the outgoing commander, Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, noted the often limited troops and resources allocated to the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is a new challenge every day and we don\u2019t have resources to throw at those challenges,\u201d said Townsend, who is retiring after 40 years in the military. \u201cSo we have to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2022\/08\/03\/its-official-the-marine-corps-has-its-1st-black-4-star-general\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Langley.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">It\u2018s official: The Marine Corps has its 1st Black 4-star general<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Lt. Gen. Michael Langley will now lead U.S. troops in Africa as the commander of U.S. Africa Command.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAmerica cannot afford to ignore Africa. The continent is full of potential but it\u2019s also full of challenges and it\u2019s standing at a historic crossroads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, turmoil in the Middle East, a greater focus on an increasingly combative and competitive China and the recent war in Ukraine have dominated the Pentagon\u2019s attention. But insurgent groups, including al-Qaida and Islamic State militants, flourish in ungoverned spaces in Africa, and al-Shabab continues to be a significant threat in Somalia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier in 2022, Townsend warned Congress that the U.S. was \u201cmarching in place at best\u201d and \u201cmay be backsliding\u201d in Somalia, because of former President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to pull all of the roughly 700 U.S. troops out of the country in his final days in office. His decision forced commanders to rotate small teams of special operations forces and intelligence personnel into the country for short periods of time in order to provide some limited support to the Somali National Army and the mission there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier in spring 2022 authorized the return of about 400 U.S. troops to the embattled country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Austin noted that decision, saying that the persistent U.S. military presence to train and assist Somali forces is crucial as al-Shabab\u2019s attacks on civilians grow more lethal and brazen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added that the African continent is \u201con the front lines of many of this century\u2019s most pressing threats \u2014 from mass migration to food insecurity, from COVID-19 to the climate crisis, from the drumbeat of autocracy to the dangers of terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he said China is expanding its military footprint there, looking to build bases in Africa and seeking to \u201cundermine U.S. relations with African peoples, governments and militaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted the historic nature of Langley\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marine, said Milley, \u201cis the right leader at the right time with the right skills to lead this command.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Austin, who is the first African American to serve as Pentagon chief, said that young Marines around the world are watching Langley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYour extraordinary achievement reminds them that they belong,\u201d said Austin. \u201cAnd it reminds them that the United States military is deeply committed to making progress, and to breaking down barriers, and to opening its arms wide to all qualified Americans who hear the call to serve their country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Langley, who was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marines in 1985. His father was in the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He told the gathering that his father always told him to aim high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And now, he said, \u201cI know I have a lot to do. We have a lot to do, as we look at the African continent and their quest for proper security and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marine Corps, which traces its roots to 1775, did not accept Black men in its ranks until 1942, a turnabout that followed the attack on the American air base at Hawaii\u2019s Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the U.S. entry into World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most recently, Langley was commander of Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic and Marine Forces Command. He also commanded troops in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army Gen. William \u201cKip\u201d Ward, also African American, was the first commander of Africa Command when it was launched in 2007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAmerica cannot afford to ignore Africa,&#8221; Africa Command&#8217;s outgoing leader said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":88,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,116,15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1418],"class_list":["post-26494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"SDKQX2BVKZAKFJ6B57YTW3TS4A","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2022\/08\/09\/marine-general-takes-over-africa-command-sees-challenges\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Marine general takes over Africa Command, sees challenges - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cAmerica cannot afford to ignore Africa,&quot; Africa Command&#039;s outgoing leader said.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marine general takes over Africa Command, sees challenges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cAmerica cannot afford to ignore Africa,&quot; Africa Command&#039;s outgoing leader said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2022\/08\/09\/marine-general-takes-over-africa-command-sees-challenges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-09T18:19:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T20:09:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lolita C. 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