Photo By Sgt. Robert Montieth | A member of the Burkinabe free fall team lands in front of local villagers after...... read more read more
Subscribe
The African morning sun rises over an airfield in Burkina Faso near the capital of Ouagadougou. Villagers look to the sky with eager anticipation as the children point upwards and smile once they witness the opening of parachutes. For many of these villagers this is the first time to ever witness a plane, let alone see a parachutist jump from one.
Flintlock is an annual African-led exercise that enables airborne operations and provides participants the opportunity to work with African, North American and European partners to build trust and confidence. This was evident at the airfield outside Ouagadougou where Burkinabe, Malian, American, Austrian, Polish, Spanish and Portuguese paratroopers performed High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) and static line jumps.
U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Andrew Young, symbolized this devotion by jumping tandem with a partner nation.
“The demonstrated interoperability of Flintlock with so many nations working together to show we are stronger as a team than individually," said Young. “By me jumping out of the aircraft, I threw myself into that commitment.”
One of the highlights was the Bukinabe Free Fall Team who descended back to earth into a resounding applause from their countrymen.
Adjutant Chef, Woro Godso has logged more than 700 jumps since 1994. He has jumped with several African partners to include Niger, Mali, Uganda, Morocco, Ghana, Benin and Togo.
“It’s a good thing that we can jump with so many countries— the collective experience is important," said Godso.
Filled with pride, many of the villagers exclaimed that they had never before seen a plane or a parachutist.
“If they give me the opportunity to jump, I will do so!" said local, Bougma Adama. “Being here with the soldiers today makes me feel like a soldier.”
Following the jump, the U.S. team recognized two Malian troops who earned the U.S. paratrooper jump wings during a ceremony in front of their peers and platoon members.
“I have many jumps but jumping with the U.S. was new to me and great to add to my military experience," said Malian Captain Lassine Togola.
Flintlock develops capacity and collaboration to protect civilian populations and bolster partnerships between African and Special Operations Forces. The local population was on-hand to see and feel both. Today, the multitudes of Burkina Faso’s children saw their country’s heroes wearing red, green and gold descend to the ground in a parachute, turn and cheer back to them.
| Date Taken: | 04.16.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.19.2018 11:29 |
| Story ID: | 273677 |
| Location: | BF |
| Web Views: | 150 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, African, Western Partners conduct airborne operations during Flintlock 2018, by LTC Will Cambardella, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT