WEBVTT

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^- The African Partnership Flight that we commonly refer

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^to as APF is a program really designed to help the Africans

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take charge of their own security,

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especially in the air domain.

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So this is the opportunity to bring in countries within

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one region, for example, the ECOWAS region,

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which is the Economic Community of West African States.

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We bring those countries together to work on very specific

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air related issues that they want to address in order

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to improve their security.

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Challenges in the Air Force on a continent like Africa,

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which is huge, with not very good infrastructure,

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makes air capabilities very important attribute to have

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existing on the continent.

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We also know that it's resource intensive.

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So that means countries that don't have the resources

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often times have to learn to work together

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in terms of one country having the capability

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assisting another.

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So what we do is we bring all of those countries together

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for them to practice.

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So those that don't have aircraft, for example,

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are able to contribute something else

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in order to help a region deal with a crisis.

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^- The operation we are involved in is multi-national.

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^There are several countries involved,

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^and when one person, or two people, or a group

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require to be recovered, that is not the time to ask

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which countries are they from.

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All friendly forces come together and that's why we decided

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to exercise, to invite partners form the region

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so that we can train together.

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We look forward to bring more joined multinational

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exercises in this or that together.

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^- Partnership Flight improves not just our interoperability,

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^but for example, our understanding of each other's cultures.

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(chanting in foreign language)

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^- We don't come down here just to train and leave.

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^We come down here to train and sustain.

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We always look to our partner nations on the continent

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for what their requirements are,

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where their needs are and we try to fill those needs

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^the best way we can.

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We try to do it in a coalition based fashion,

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and try to include as many partners

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to specifically identify that same issue

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maybe that the other countries are experiencing as well.

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Them being in the same classroom together,

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hearing the same exact TTP's, procedures, and processes

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helps them refine together how best

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to extend that combat capability.

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^- It is very important to do this joint training

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^in order to develop military orderships,

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develop common procedures,

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and also develop common tactics.

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- Both of you search different sides of the truck,

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under the wheel wells.

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- I really can't find a downside to an exercise like this.

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^I think you can have all the textbook solutions you want,

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^all the PowerPoint slides you want to train,

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unify everybody together, but until you actually train

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in the field together, fight together,

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you don't know that other person,

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and don't establish that trust and rapport

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that you need on the battlefield.

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That's what we're doing here.

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^- During this APF, exercise, we've definitely helped

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^to build the trust and confidence of our partner nations,

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as a PJ, I'd say that this training is definitely essential

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and crucial to be teaching both our partner nations

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so that way they understand what happens

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from the very beginning to the very end.