Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Asunción, ParaguayAir advisors begin new partnership with Paraguayan air force
                        
                        
                        Staff Sgt. Cory Ridenour, 66th Training Squadron SERE specialist, conducts rope rescue training with search and rescue personnel from the Paraguayan air force during a mobile training mission in Paraguarí, Asunción. (Courtesy Photo)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Air advisors begin new partnership with Paraguayan air forcePublished Oct. 4, 2018
                    
                    By Master Sgt. Jonathan Hall
                    
                    
                    571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron
            **ASUNCION, Paraguay (AFNS) --**The 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron completed a mobile training team mission with the Paraguayan air force, or FAP, in Asuncion, Paraguay from Sept. 17 to 28.
During the MTT, air advisors focused on rotary wing aircraft water survival and twin tension rope rescue techniques.
“This mission was the first time we have advised in Paraguay and I can tell the friendship and camaraderie we have built with the partner nation will be a lasting one,” said Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Wilson, 571st MSAS MTT team sergeant.
One of the FAP students, Sargento Primero Alexis Araujo, explained how this training provided them with the necessary tools to expand their search and rescue capabilities and to better enable them for future operations.
“This training was really good and something new for us,” Araujo said. “We learned new things, especially the rappelling and new ways to create an anchor point. The Stokes litter was also a very good piece of equipment we hadn’t seen before.”
Staff Sgt. Cory Ridenour, who augmented the 571st MSAS as the lead instructor for the rope rescue course, explained how the MSAS motto “Knowledge is power” gave him a different perspective on being a survival, evasion, resistance and escape specialist and training people.
“I learned that I may find myself training people who don't always have the same access to equipment as we do in the U.S. Air Force,” Ridenour said.  “Our team focused on teaching these students safe ways to rescue people with a high angle ropes system that are very minimal and lightweight. This was my focus because we could not leave them with a ton of gear to use, but instead we left them with knowledge on using what they had, and knowledge is the lightest backpack they will ever carry.”
The MSAS was also able to use this training to teach one of their own fire protection personnel for future twin tension systems training missions.
“While rope rescue is a key responsibility for fire fighters, the twin tension system was new for this individual and attending this training enabled him to become familiar and increase the number of instructors from the unit qualified to teach it,” Wilson said.
The MTT mission, which was accomplished at four different locations throughout Paraguay, required extensive coordination by the FAP liaison officer, Major Mario Adorno.
One particular location of the training was in a field near Paraguarí, Asunción. This location enabled instructors to provide real world scenarios to students which built on their critical thinking skills and provided realistic practice.
“It was an amazing experience and beneficial as we now have 11 personnel capable of fulfilling the search and rescue mission,” Adorno said. “We look forward to future training and plan to ask for this course again.”
Being in the field with the students also provided an opportunity to build upon the personal and professional relationships between the students and instructors to improve the long term partnership.
“It was important to build a strong relationship between the Paraguayan rescue community and ours to provide the same standard of care in case of any rescue operations or humanitarian missions,” said Tech. Sgt. Giacomo Zignago, 571st MSAS medical air advisor. “During this training the students proved that they were professional, willing to learn and excited to put their new knowledge into practice.”air advisors 



partnership 



alliance 



Paraguay 



Paraguayan air force 



expeditionary 



571st MSAS 



MTT 



mobile training mission 



FAP 



rotary wing aircraft 



water survival 



twin tension rope rescue 



AF 



Air Force Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil