By Lamin Cham
A Gambian serving in the US army, Lt. Ebrima F M’Bai yesterday took command of NATO’s allied forces south battalion based in Naples, Italy.
Lt. Col. Ebrima F. M’Bai is son of former Attorney General and Gambian legal luminary Fafa E. M’Bai. The Allied Forces South Battalion supports NATO and U.S. Army Europe and Africa missions by conducting individual soldier and family readiness through training, logistics, and human resources support, in order to strengthen the resiliency of soldiers and their families, while building and maintaining joint and multinational partnerships.
M’Bai comes to the command from United States Indo-Pacific Command where he served in the J1 section.
In his speech taking over the command, Lt. Col. Ebrima M’Bai said: “To the soldiers and civilians of AFSOUTH, I can’t promise you the days ahead will be easy, but as the author James Kerr intimated in his book, legacy, organizations with sustainable success are purpose-driven, vision-led, and values-based. We know what we stand for. We have a clear idea of the world we want to bring into existence. We have asked and answered the question why does it matter.
I promise you we will meet our challenges together and we will emerge as a disciplined, trained, and ready team. Finally, I am truly humbled and honored to serve as your battalion commander and I look forward to all the opportunities and challenges that await us”.
In his farewell address, outgoing commander Lt. Col. Travis said of the new commander Lt. Col. M’Bai: “A significant win in his career as we know less than a third of lieutenant colonels earn the right to command soldiers.”
