NORFOLK, Va (WVEC) – It might not be for long, but the time spent together on a rare joint training creates a lifelong bond between French and American Navy sailors.
"The past few weeks we've been training with them and getting a chance to kind of fight together. We've been landing at the field together,” said Lt. Brandon Rodgers. “I mean, [the French] are great, they're professional dudes."
For French sailors aboard the USS George H.W. Bush, they have to overcome a language barrier and learning curve when it comes to American practices, but that doesn’t really get in the way.
"We are here to make sure everybody will understand each other all of the time. That everybody will operate safely at any time," said French Navy CDR Stephane. “The deployment is not only for training, right? It's to maintain some type of brotherhood between our two Navy's."
For many pilots, they’ve fought in missions before, but have never met face-to-face.
"We've heard their voices on the radio, so it's kind of nice to meet them for the first time,” said Rodgers. “You get to kind of work in a joint environment where you can see what they're capabilities are from the training perspective and also what they bring to combat... We probably don’t have the same, sophisticated food that they’re used to, but it gets the job done.”
"I don't know how to describe it... but it's wonderful. It's a wonderful experience," said CDR Stephane. "This kind of brotherhood, I'm sure that now my guys that we'll connect with some guys from the Bush...we'll maintain this relationship."
Training aboard the Bush will last until May 18th as France's only aircraft carrier, the Charles De Gaulle, undergoes maintenance.
"You want to keep perfecting your craft and keep perfecting what you do best, which is taking it to the enemy,” said Rodgers. So, [the French] have that same mindset, that same fighter spirit that we do and that's really cool to see."
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