French army soldiers stand on armoured vehicles as they leave Bamako and start their deployment to the north of Mali as part of the "Serval" operations on January 15, 2013 . (ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)
French troops are now patrolling in Mali, a situation that has obvious parallels to several other counter-extremist operations in recent years. Thus far we aren’t seeing major casualties, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for developments. Check in after the break for another photo of the preparations.
French soldiers prepare their ammunitions on January 16, 2013 at the military airbase in Bamako, before their deployment as part of the "Serval" operation against Islamists occupying northern Mali. (ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)
Pat H
It’s interesting to note how the French military, which has extensive overseas commitments, have not joined in the migration to either digital camouflage or a variant of Multicam.