Hightstown High Grad Part of Operation African Lion

By Air Force Staff Sgt. Jessica Switzer, Joint Hometown News Service

CAP DRAA, Morocco — The sun barely peeked over the horizon when the stillness was shattered by the roar of artillery. The son of an East Windsor man crawled out of his tent into the southern Moroccan morning to begin another day.

Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Edward M. Dixon, son of Edward M. Dixon of Debbie Lane, East Windsor, is in Morocco supporting exercise African Lion 2011.

"I am a construction wireman responsible for running telephone and data lines to the central, high priority locations," said Dixon, who graduated in 2005 from .

African Lion is an exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the U.S. that involves more than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. The exercise serves as a way for both U.S. and Moroccan military members to hone their skills and learn to work together to accomplish missions.

"Training here is a little different mainly because of the weather," said Dixon, who is assigned to the 6th Communication Battalion, Brooklyn, N.Y. "I've done training in a desert environment before, but the speed at which the weather changes here is incredible."

In spite of the barriers, Dixon and his fellow servicemembers worked with the Moroccan forces on different types of military training, including command post, live fire, peacekeeping operations, disaster response, aerial refueling and low-level flight training. Both the Moroccan and U.S. forces receive valuable training during the course of the exercise.

"I am helping train the Moroccans on some of the gear that we use," said Dixon.
Dixon and his fellow service members not only trained in the Moroccan desert, they lived there as well. They experienced sandstorms, the rain showers of the wet season and the heat that traditionally goes with a desert. They even had an opportunity to spend some time off-duty experiencing the culture and seeing the sights.

"I didn't really know what to expect from Morocco, but I thought it would look a little more like Africa and less like the Middle East," said Dixon, who has been in the military since 2006.

As the artificial thunder of artillery fire dies away for a moment, the sun rises fully above the desert horizon and begins its journey toward the nearby Atlantic Ocean. Dixon and the other participants in African Lion 2011 go about their business sharing experiences and knowledge with each other and their Moroccan counterparts.