After completing four weeks of ground training, soldiers are now allowed to perform jumps, including operational jumps. On the second day of our immersion we boarded with them.
It was 7am this past Saturday July 27, 2024 when we arrived at Bobo-Dioulasso International Airport. The military plane is already in place, as are the 200 candidates who must make their final jumps to obtain their military parachute certification. There are four flights planned and this is the last one reserved for us. “To obtain an Army parachute certificate, the soldier must pass all levels of ground training (listed in the previous issue) before being allowed to make six jumps including operational jumps. It was at the end of this time that he received his military parachute certification,” said Battalion Chief David Sami Palm, deputy commander of the Commando Parachute Group, Air Force Training Center commander.
The time is solemn, we board the military plane with the soldiers. Once airborne, the soldiers will receive final instructions before being released. Once in the drop zone, at a height of 400 meters above the ground, the aircraft doors are open. One by one, the first group of soldiers on board are dropped off with the necessary equipment they will need to complete their mission once on the ground. Once this drop is complete, the plane reaches a height of 2,500 meters above the ground. At this point, another group of paratroopers, much more experienced in the exercise, is dropped. So an appointment will be made on the ground for the rest of the events. Once on the ground we meet soldiers in the middle of a ground operation exercise which involves some organizing themselves to carry out their mission and others being ‘ folded the parachute to send it away. “The jump went well without incident. I put in everything the instructors taught me before I went on the flight,” a parachutist told us. Another said: “I landed smoothly, I’m very happy that I did this jump, the last one for me”. For Commander Tamougré Honoré Sia, head of the Parachute Commando Group, this 2024 group, which has 200 trainees, came from the air force, the land army, the special forces group, and the national gendarmerie. The aim is to create a mix between the different groups, cohesion within the national armed forces. During the training, “we give them air tactical plans, we harden the trainees, give them a taste for risk, a taste for action, transcending themselves, self-sacrifice and above all self-confidence”, recommended the Commander of the Battalion Tamougré Honoré Sia .
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