16 Jul 2019

The Exercise Upward Minuteman is geared towards enhancing capabilities of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Air Arm Command in expeditionary operations.

When launching commencement of the exercise at Thebephatshwa Air Base recently, Brigadier Molatlhegi Ntelamo, said the joint training effort between BDF and the North Carolina National Guard, Albama National Guard as well as forces under the United States Africa Command (AFRCOM) was a milestone that demonstrated the strength of partnership and benefits of sister militaries.

He said with emergence of the current operational environment and ever evolving threats it was befitting that collaborative efforts must be prioritised because security threats had no boundaries.

Brigadier Ntelamo said such threats required more and more military intervention and this meant that they needed to constantly review their processes to remain efficient and effective as a defence force.

He said the good relations that existed between Botswana and the United States were a fertile ground that fostered the ever increasing engagement between security sectors. 

“Botswana believes in fostering strategic partnerships with countries like the United States of America in order to build mutual trust and confidence with nations of the world” he said.

He added that the assistance of the United States over the years had been extremely valuable and consistent and would continue to go a long way in improving and enhancing the operational readiness of the BDF.

Giving an overview of the exercise, Colonel Shawne Johnson thanked the United States Africa Command for selecting Botswana and North Carolina to set the precedence of conducting future Upward Minuteman exercises.

She said the exercise was made of Botswana Defence Force participants and National Airmen and Soldiers participating from North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey.

Colonel Johnson said the core of this exercise is not about a focus on one specific and it is about developing their partnerships further, adding that the North Carolina National Guard conducts about 20 military to military events with the Botswana Defence Force yearly.

She further said during the exercise, the National Guard Airmen and Soldiers would be conducting collective training to bolster their readiness and that of the BDF.

“Over the next eight days, the Upward Minuteman 2019 partipants will improve their abilities in Command and Control, Military Police/Security Forces, Maintenance operations, Public affairs, Personal accountability, religious services, logistics, fire fighters, medical operations and military band operations”.

Colonel Johnson said Upward Minute had offered the North Carolina National Guard an opportunity to increase readiness, test and refine processes for command and control, Airfield operations, base security and others.

He said they were committed to an enduring relationship with Botswana, through the exchange of ideas, leader engagements and other exercises.

Director of the Upward Minuteman Exercise 2019 Brigadier Hendrick Rakgantswana said the exercise, which end tomorrow, followed a concept of combined joint forces operation between the United State Forces and Botswana Defence Force.

Brigadier Rakgantswana further said the exercise was aligned with USAFRICOM states partnership programme to advance relationship between the two countries to build the BDF capacity and develop readiness within forces.

He said the participating forces were the BDF, North Carolina National Guard, Alabama National Guard, Africom, Air Force Africa, US Army, and the United Nations as observers.

He added that SADC faced an unprecedented level of security challenges notably the diminishing natural resources caused by wildlife, the emerging threat to human security, transnational organized crime and climate change.

Brigadier Rakgantswana said to mitigate these challenges, it is prudent for nations and allied forces to work together and assist each other to combat these challenges.

He added that the exercise is designed to increase operational readiness in the deployment and the conduct of joint reception, staging, onward movement and integration. Ends