So, the Kenya Air Force (KAF) just unleashed another batch of Pararescue Jumpers (PJ) into the wild. On Thursday, 12 February 2026, Brigadier Samuel Kipkorir stood there, draped in medals and military PR, to tell us that Course No. 2/26 is finally ready. Ten months of training to “recover personnel.” In this city, the only thing we’re recovering is our breath after seeing the latest KRA deductions on our payslips.

They spent nearly a year teaching these guys navigation, combat medicine, and how to jump out of perfectly good planes. It’s funny how the Gava can find the budget for “close-quarter battle” training but can’t find the keys to the medicine cabinet in public hospitals. We’re building “resilience” and “endurance” in the military while the average Kenyan is doing a PhD in survival just to afford a packet of unga.

Brigadier Kipkorir talked a big game about “upholding the highest standards of professionalism.” We’ve heard that song before. It’s the same playlist they use at every graduation while the actual “operational environment” for the rest of us involves dodging potholes and bribe-hungry cops. These “specialized competencies” are great on paper, but when was the last time a Pararescue Jumper saved a mama mboga from the “dynamic demands” of an escaping city council askari?

Look at the list of colleges and directorates they’ve got - NDC, KMA, DEFTEC, even a Space Agency. It’s an alphabet soup of spending. While they’re busy perfecting their “personnel recovery capability,” the rest of the country’s wealth is being recovered by a few well-connected individuals. It’s just like how Kenya’s ‘Black Gold’ is Just Another Black Hole for Your Taxes; a fancy name for another pit where our sweat goes to die.

At the end of the day, this ceremony was just another photo op for the big dogs like Major General Bernard Walialua and Colonel Charles Munyao. They get the medals, the graduates get the “rigorous” lifestyle, and we get the bill. “Stay mission-focused,” they say. My only mission right now is wondering how many more of these “intensive programmes” we have to fund before we see a single benefit on the ground that isn’t wrapped in camouflage.