The Central Command differs from the military's three other geographic commands -- Europe, Latin America, the Pacific -- in that its headquarters is not based in its region of responsibility.
Diplomacy, too, requires the equivalent of geographic commands — with top-notch assistant secretaries of state to manage relations in each key region without worrying about getting on the daily agenda of the secretary of state for menial approvals.
This represents an enormous increase from the 172 "missions, activities, programs, and exercises" that AFRICOM inherited from other geographic commands when it began operations in 2008. .
In 2011, the 6'5" former paratrooper received his fourth star and two years later the coveted helm of one of the Defense Department's six geographic combatant commands, becoming the third chief of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).
Many military-to-military activities and advisory missions are carried out by soldiers from the Army's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, as part of a "regionally aligned forces" effort that farms out specially trained U.S. troops to geographic combatant commands, like AFRICOM.
It is one of three similar teams on the continent -- the others being SOCFWD-Central Africa and SOCFWD-North and West Africa -- which, according to the military, "shape and coordinate special operations forces security cooperation and engagement in support of theater special operations command, geographic combatant command, and country team goals and objectives". .
Add to those task forces the Special Operations Command Forward (SOC FWD) elements, small teams which, according to the military, "shape and coordinate special operations forces security cooperation and engagement in support of theater special operations command, geographic combatant command, and country team goals and objectives".
The proposal is part of a broader blueprint for reorganizing the Unified Command Plan, other elements of which could deal with changing the geographic responsibilities of other combatant commands, military officials said.
Nothing had yet happened, in other words, yet the fact that nuclear waste would be passing through common geographic points of reference clearly commanded attention.
The Department of Defense divides the world into six (formerly five) areas of geographic responsibility, or "regional combatant commands": European, Northern, Southern, Central, Pacific, and now "Africa".
