Photo By Sgt. Joaquin Vasquez-Duran | U.S. Army Soldiers attached to the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 56th...... read more read more
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MOHAMED NAGUIB MILITARY BASE, Egypt – “You can hear the ground coming.” It’s 3:30 a.m. and paratroopers from 1-143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, Texas National Guard board a C-130 before a static line nighttime airborne exercise, during exercise Bright Star 23, at Mohamed Naguib Military Base, Egypt.
“Night jumps are so special,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Whitley Tobei, an airborne supply sergeant with 1-143rd Infantry, Texas Army National Guard. Before becoming the supply sergeant for the 1-143rd Infantry, Tobei spent the first 10 years of her Army career as a parachute rigger. “When you’re looking out of that aircraft you can’t see anything and you get this anticipation of the unknown. Night operations are necessary, especially as paratroopers, because the whole reason you’re training as an airborne paratrooper is to keep you secure from enemy ground forces. We are the first line of defense and you have to train through everything. You can’t just jump in the daytime because you never know when you’re going to exit the aircraft. You have to be proficient in day time airborne operations as well as night time airborne operations.”
Approximately 1,500 U.S. service members, alongside 32 partner nations, participated in Bright Star 23, according to a press release by U.S. Central Command. The exercise focused on regional security and cooperation while promoting interoperability in conventional and irregular warfare scenarios. Bright Star 23 is a preeminent exercise that highlights partnerships which play a leading role in counterterrorism, regional security, and the efforts to combat the spread of violent extremism.
Paratroopers billowing through the sky from a distance look like dandelions in the spring breeze. Service members from the United States, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cameroon, India, Brazil, and South Africa, among others, participated in airborne jumps to a tactical site and assaulted urbanized terrain during the airborne operation. These airborne jumps would not be possible without jumpmasters ensuring the rigging of parachutes and equipment meet strenuous standards.
“An airborne operation is just like any other military operation,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Terry, an infantry jumpmaster, with 1-143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, Texas Army National Guard. “It has a lot of components to it, and the jumpmaster has to be proficient in planning that operation and anticipate which components are going to be needed for that jump.”
Terry said that being a jumpmaster means taking responsibility for the safety and lives of other Soldiers. This responsibility prepares jumpmasters to plan an airborne operation because they also learn to prepare an aircraft.
Training Circular 3-21.220, the manual that provides all Department of Defense Airborne personnel with techniques and training guidelines to maintain an Airborne force, says the purpose of Airborne training is to qualify personnel in the use of the parachute as a means of combat deployment.
As exercise Bright Star 23 came to a conclusion, Terry reflected on the experience. “People are people,” said Terry. “When I talk to the Egyptians, Indians, or the Pakistanis…a lot of them have the same demeanor that Americans do. What I wish more Americans could do, is get out and see places like Egypt. It broadens horizons and it gives you an appreciation for home. It lets you understand how other countries view us and how you should view people from other countries; it gives you a better understanding of geopolitics.”
Throughout Bright Star 23, the 1-143rd Infantry Regiment also provided sniper training for partner nation’s sniper teams, urban warfare exercises, and trained alongside other nation’s airborne units. “My unit came to Egypt to conduct joint training with different entities,” said Tobei. “We had two teams split up. One team went to the military operations in urban terrain site where they did battle drill six, such as clearing rooms with the Egyptian Armed Forces and our other partners. The other team was our scout team and they were running the sniper ranges and helping out with weapons zeroing. While I was out here, my main goal was to make sure that they had everything they needed to be successful.”
"This specific operation, exiting over the desert of Egypt during Bright Star 23, was really cool,” said Tobei. “You’re looking over the desert and you see very small lights of the city and you get this rush of excitement watching all your paratroopers exiting the C-130 door and following them out. There is no better feeling in the world. Nothing feels better than sticking your head out of that aircraft and getting ready to exit.”
Bright Star 2023 was a multilateral U.S. Central Command exercise held with the Arab Republic of Egypt across air, land, and sea domains that promotes and enhances regional security and cooperation and improves interoperability in irregular warfare against hybrid threat scenarios.
| Date Taken: | 09.25.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.29.2023 14:25 |
| Story ID: | 454191 |
| Location: | EG |
| Hometown: | ALEXANDRIA, EG |
| Hometown: | CAIRO, EG |
| Hometown: | CAMP ARIFJAN, KW |
| Hometown: | KUWAIT CITY, KW |
| Hometown: | AUSTIN, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | CAMP MABRY, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | DALLAS, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | HOUSTON, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Hometown: | TAMPA, FLORIDA, US |
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