AMLC supports MEDLOG integration in African Lion 24

Story by C.J. Lovelace

U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command

BEN GHILOUF, Tunisia — U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command experts coordinated the critical handoff of life-saving medical materiel to Army Reserve units participating in African Lion 2024, a training exercise that concluded in May.

The shipment included 242 lines of materiel — medical equipment, supplies, blood products and other cold-chain items — delivered to three units, including a forward resuscitative surgical detachment, that trained during the exercise in Tunisia.

AMLC’s role in the exercise focused on testing medical logistics capabilities and functions as well as integration within the sustainment enterprise.

Maj. Raquel Guinta, a pharmacist assigned to the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency, a subordinate unit to AMLC, participated in the exercise, alongside Staff Sgt. Parror Jones, a MEDLOG specialist with AMLC, and Sgt. Nicolette Whisker, a biomedical equipment specialist from the 51st Medical Company based in Fort Liberty, North Carolina.

The team picked up medical materiel from the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center-Europe in Germany and coordinated its transport into Tunisia for the exercise.

“We ensured all Class VIII, including temperature-sensitive medical products such as blood, were packed, delivered and stored during the exercise with zero losses,” Guinta said.

Jones added that the successful mission provided the MEDLOG team an opportunity to demonstrate its distribution capabilities, also calling it “a unique training experience.”

Along with USAMMA, USAMMC-E is a direct reporting unit to AMLC, headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland. AMLC serves as the Army’s Life Cycle Management Command for medical materiel.

African Lion 2024, held April 19 through May 31, marked the 20th anniversary of U.S. Army Africa Command’s premier and largest annual, combined, joint training event that includes more than 8,100 participants from over 27 nations and contingents from NATO.

The exercise focuses on enhancing readiness between U.S. and partner nation forces. The joint all-domain, multicomponent and multinational exercise showcases a full array of mission capabilities, with the goal of strengthening interoperability among participants and setting the theater for strategic access.