Twenty African sailors are building partnerships on both professional and personal levels by participating in a "ship rider" program as part of Africa Partnership Station (APS) West aboard USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44).

The program pairs African sailors from The Gambia, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Togo with U.S. Navy Sailors of the same specialty for one-on-one training.

"The ship riders program is an integral part of APS that runs parallel to the more formal student activities that go on in fixed classes," said British Royal Navy Commander David Salisbury, APS director of staff. "The aim is to get African partners on board and linked up with U.S. Navy Sailors, ideally of the same age, rank, and broad professional background. We are matching an engineer with an engineer, a communicator with a communicator in order to give the African partner the benefit of seeing what a U.S. Navy Sailor does."

Salisbury added the ship riders do everything their running mates do, giving them full emersion in the U.S Navy.

"There is no red carpet treatment for these ship riders; they receive all the same trials and tribulations of their running mates. If things are difficult or different well, that's just the way it is at sea," he said.

Aside from the on-the-job training they receive, ship riders also receive two periods of formal instruction every day.

"Force protection, seamanship, medical response, and basic damage control are the four core training topics that we are working with ship riders in," said Ensign Brendan Hamm, running mate coordinator. "This formal training broadens the amount of training ship riders receive."

Hamm spoke about the friendships he has gained as a running mate and how he hopes to keep in contact with his ship rider.

"I have been having a good time and I feel the ship riders have as well," said Hamm. "My ship rider and I have exchanged e-mail and telephone numbers. He turned out to be a really great guy and I hope we will keep in touch."

The running mates will complete their training following an exercise called 'The Crucible' which incorporates scenarios from the training they received.

"The training I am receiving is really excellent," said Sierra Leone Navy Chief Petty Officer George Massaquoi, a ship rider. "I have been learning so many things from firefighting to navigation and the structure of the U.S Navy. My running mate has been doing a great job taking me around the ship."

Gunston Hall, a Whidbey Island class amphibious dock landing ship, is on a scheduled deployment in the 6th Fleet area of responsibility in support of APS West, an international initiative developed by Naval Forces Europe-Africa that aims to improve maritime safety and security in Africa.