About 40 U.S. airmen and one Air National Guard C-130 from West Virginia spent last week in Senegal teaching medical evacuation techniques to members of nine different regional air forces.
Known as the African Partnership Flight, the training in Dakar focused on casualty evacuation, aeromedical evacuation and aviation safety. The Americans worked with 70 airmen from Senegal as well as counterparts from Benin, Burkina Faso, C”te d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Togo.
Participants included members of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa, West Virginia Air National Guardsmen, the 818th Mobility Support Squadron and the USAFE Band.
Previous partnership drills have focused on aviation maintenance, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance delivery and disaster relief missions.
Brig. Gen. Dieter Bareihs, director of plans, programs and analyses, U.S. Air Forces in Europe–U.S. Air Forces Africa, said the exercise was important because it helped air force units from different countries work together more closely.
“Another significant part of this is the building of relationships that will hopefully carry on well beyond this event,” Bareihs said. “We have 120 airmen participating and not only do they get to trade expertise and learn from one another, but in the bigger picture this is about building relationships.”
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