37 New Parachutists Get Tags & Badges

A colourful and thrilling ceremony, held recently at the Commando Regiment Training School (CRTS) in Kudaoya awarded Airborne Wings to 37 Army and Navy parachutists who successfully completed the Basic Airborne Course at the CRTS.

The ceremony to award those skydiver tags and qualification badges was headed by Major General Nirmal Dharmartne of Special Forces and Chief of Staff at Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (OCDS) as the Chief Guest at the invitation of Colonel Madura Wickramaratne, Commandant, CRTS.

Those 37 new parachutists from selected Army regiments and Marine Battalion of the Navy displayed a thrilling colourful display after jumping off from a MI-17 helicopter of the Sri Lanka Air Force before they marched to receive their Airborne Wings, Skydiver tags and Jump Master qualification badges.

Among them, there were 7 free fall parachutists of Commando Regiment and Special Forces who received skydiver tags. Similarly, 3 Commandos received their Jump Master qualification badges during the ceremony, attended by a large gathering of relatives of the achievers.

Senior Officers, invitees, Colonel Madura Wickramaratne, Commandant, CRTS, Lieutenant Colonel Sumal Wickramasekera and Major Nalin Kulathunga of the Parachute Training School were among those who were present at the ceremony.