395th Ordnance Company delivers critical ammunition support during African Lion 26

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TAN-TAN, Morocco - U.S. Soldiers with the 395th Ordnance Company, 646th Regional Support Group, 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Reserve, played a critical role in supporting African Lion 26 by providing ammunition storage and distribution through an Army ammunition supply point, April 23.

The ASP served as a centralized location for the receipt, storage, accountability and distribution of ammunition, essential to ensuring units have safe and reliable access to munitions during training and combat operations, while maintaining strict safety and accountability standards.

During African Lion 26, the 395th executed full-scale ammunition operations, receiving munitions from overseas and distributing them to participating units across the training area.

"We receive the ammunition from Germany, bring it down to the operational ASP near the training site, and then we issue it to the participating units," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Theodore Alecos, ammunition warrant officer for the 395th Ordnance Company. "After they're done with the training, we take in any live ammo as receipts and all their dunnage, repackage that, and then move it to the port so it can all return to Germany."

From a U.S. Army Reserve perspective, ordnance units like this company provide critical sustainment capabilities that mirror active-duty operations. These units ensure ammunition accountability, safety and distribution in both training and deployed environments, often integrating with joint and multinational forces.

Alecos emphasized the importance of the unit's mission in maintaining operational effectiveness and safety.

"We need to maintain accountability of it and explosives can be very dangerous, so it's important that we handle it safely and that we ensure that the using units are able to use it, handle it safely, store it and move it," he said.

Participation in AL26 provided valuable training opportunities that enhanced unit readiness by providing Soldiers the opportunity to operate in a realistic, multinational environment while refining technical and leadership skills.

"It's fantastic for our unit readiness in that we have a mixture of experienced Soldiers from previous deployments that can pass on that information to more junior Soldiers," Alecos said.

The hands-on nature of the exercise proved especially beneficial for Soldiers gaining experience with equipment and live munitions.

"A lot of times we don't get to handle live ammunition," Alecos said. "Now they can do that. Having that real hands-on training is valuable."

For U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers, AL26 also provides unique opportunities to connect military training with civilian careers. U.S. Army Sgt. Shawn Cichosz, an ammunition stock control and accounting specialist with the 395th, highlighted how his role directly complements his civilian occupation.

"In my civilian life I work in shipping and receiving," Cichosz said. "This is a really good opportunity for me to work with not only international shipments, but also the handling of sensitive or hazardous materials, which is something I'm not exposed to very often on my civilian side. This exercise really helps me get to experience that for three weeks and translates directly into what I do on a day-to-day back home."

Beyond technical skills, this exercise also offered professional and personal growth opportunities.

"I think this exercise has been a really great experience for all of our guys, genuinely," Cichosz said. "I've always wanted to travel more with the military. I get to do that here and I've been enjoying myself."

Overall, AL26 reinforced the 395th Ordnance Company's mission readiness while strengthening its ability to support large-scale operations. For Alecos, the exercise highlighted the unit's broader purpose within the U.S. Army sustainment enterprise.

About African Lion

African Lion 2026 is U.S. Africa Command's largest annual joint exercise, designed to strengthen collective security capabilities of the U.S., African nations and global allies. Co-led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) from April 20 to May 8, 2026, and hosted in Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, AL26 involves over 5,600 personnel from more than 40 nations, using innovation to drive partner-led regional security.

African Lion content can be found on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).

About SETAF-AF

U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.

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