The Parachute Commando Group (GCP), based at Camp Ouézzin Coulibaly in Bobo-Dioulasso, houses the Airborne Troops Training Center (CITAP). This center’s mission is to train and strengthen the parachutist commandos of the Burkinabè army. For two days, during an immersion, we immersed ourselves in the daily life of this group, the parent company of parachuting in Burkina Faso, where paratrooper soldiers are molded through theory and practice.
The sky is relatively clear this morning of Saturday July 27, 2024. Only a few light clouds continue their frantic course towards the East. It’s 6 a.m. on the tarmac at Bobo-Dioulasso international airport. In the cool of the morning, 200 trainees from the Airborne Troops Training Center (CITAP), all equipped, are preparing for their last jump session. This jump is the last of six planned for each of the trainees during the training. Training which lasts 6 weeks and where they will be awarded a military parachutist certificate, the first CITAP qualification.
Four weeks
were spent on ground training and two for air practice. The trainees must board in waves in the ‘Hercules C130 H’ , a military plane assigned to the day’s exercise for a series of drops above the Ouézzin Coulibaly camp in Bobo-Dioulasso. The commanders of CITAP and the 25th Parachute Commando Group (GCP) (Group to which CITAP belongs) are all present, as are the instructors.
At 7 a.m. the aircraft crew members arrived. The start of boarding is imminent. The 200 learners will be transported in 3 waves for their daily exercise. 7 hours 50 minutes. We are embarking with the 2nd wave . The trainees, seated with firm faces, are lined up in four columns in the plane. Two passages are planned during the in-flight release. The technical supervision multiplies the final instructions to the trainees. They will be alone in the clouds in a few moments. About ten minutes after takeoff, the aircraft reached the right altitude, 400 meters above the ground, and positioned itself above the Ouézzin Coulibaly camp.
The paratr
oopers will land in a large, clear space. The countdown is on, the two side doors of the aircraft are now open, time for the most sensational part. From the top, you can see the city’s districts in miniature. One by one, and in two passes, the parachutist trainees are pushed into the void. The entire operation, from takeoff to landing of the plane including the release of the paratroopers, lasts about fifteen minutes.
Ground training
These jumping exercises are the final phase of instruction. The day before, Friday July 26, 2024 in the afternoon, we visited the ground training process under the direction of Commander David Palm, Commander of CITAP. The 200 trainees are divided into several groups, each group occupying a workshop. CITAP, explained at the outset, has a total of five instruction workshops.
One by one, the paratroopers are pushed out of the aircraft
In the first workshop, called ‘landing’ , the trainees and the instructor are at coal. The learners carefully carry out the ‘mono’ instructions i
n perfect harmony (Editor’s note: term designating the instructor in CITAP jargon). Everything is done, indicates Commander Palm, to teach the trainees the gestures and postures to have in order to land on the ground with the minimum possible risk.
The 2nd workshop is the one called ‘equipment’ . Under the watchful eye of the ‘monos’ , this group of trainees learns to check the conformity of the equipment and put it on, depending on the type of parachute, before boarding for the jump. The 3rd workshop is called ‘model’ . A device set up represents the plane into which the parachutists must jump. The behavior to follow when boarding, once on the plane and when leaving the plane, is methodically instilled in the group of learners. They proudly repeat the recital given by their parachutist instructor in unison. ‘First plane, first pass, cable A.
First plane, first cable B passage (…)’ we can, for example, hear them repeating at the top of their lungs. Finally, the ‘suspended harness’ , the workshop where the t
rainees receive instructions on all the operations and maneuvers to be carried out once they exit the aircraft in the sky until they make contact with the ground. The jumping area is presented in miniature with harnesses suspended from concrete beams. The last workshop in the chain is the one called ‘operations after the jump’ . We discuss with the learners all the operations to be carried out just after landing. ‘It brings together all the operations to be carried out by the parachutist after having landed safely in the area in order to continue his mission ,’ explains Commander David Palm.
Passionate women
Although a minority, women are also present in the world of commando paratroopers. Zarata Congo is the only girl among the 200 trainees in this session. It comes from the Air Transport Group of the National Gendarmerie where it is in service. Since childhood, she said, she has nurtured a love for the military, and specifically skydiving.
Joined the National School for Gendarmerie Non-Commissioned Offic
ers in 2011, today thanks to her hierarchy, she was able to realize her childhood dream: to become a paratrooper commando. Sergeant Jacqueline Toé is already an experienced commando paratrooper. She joined the GCP since the end of her initial military training at the Armed Forces Instruction Group (GIFA) in 2010. Along with some professional fallers from CITAP, she performed a training jump on the sidelines of the last day of trainee jumps. She fell from an altitude of 2,500 meters.
To be a good skydiver, she says, you must have courage and self-sacrifice and, above all, follow the wise advice of instructors. The one for whom the profession of parachutist is a passion, encourages the fairer sex to do like her, to take an interest in this specialty of the great mute.
The parent company of Burkinabe skydiving
The GCP, on which CITAP depends , is the parent company of all commando paratroopers in Burkina Faso. Currently, he is under the command of Battalion Chief Tampougré Honoré Sia. According to the command
er, this first training session of the year, like the previous ones, aims for several objectives. The first is operational: instilling airborne techniques and tactics in trainees. ‘We harden them on a physical level, give them a taste for risk and action, surpassing oneself, self-sacrifice and above all self-confidence ,’ he says proudly.
Operational skills, said Mr. Sia, which are essential for the army in the context of the defense of the national territory, and particularly in the fight against terrorism. The second objective sought through this training, and not the least, he continues, is cohesion within the national armed forces. ‘These trainees come from almost all entities of the national armed forces such as the Air Force, the National Gendarmerie, the Special Forces Group, the Army, the National Commando Training Center and the GCP » explains the Battalion Chief.
He is delighted with the results of this training session, the first of 2024. ‘The results are positive. They learned to plan and conduc
t airborne troop exercises together. What remains when you have learned well is to put it into practice on the ground ,’ he says with satisfaction. Which, according to him, will have a positive effect on the ground. The GCP, Commander Sia recalls, has classic missions as well as special missions. The soldiers of the group, like any other soldier, can be deployed to intervene in the national theater, he specifies.
Also, they can specifically be deployed as airborne troops, to act faster behind the enemy. Recruitment within CITAP and GCP is meticulously carried out. The required conditions are to already be an active soldier, to be a volunteer and to be medically and physically fit. Whether it is the initiation course or the qualification course, all training for Burkinabè commando paratroopers (and often trainees from friendly countries) takes place at CITAP.
Source: Burkina Information Agency