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    'Buzzards' provide eyes in the sky at Maple Resolve 14

    'Buzzards' provide eyes in the sky at Maple Resolve 14

    Photo By Staff Sgt. Derek M. Smith | Spc. Peter Riddle Spc. Michael Eck, unmanned aircraft system maintainers with the...... read more read more

    WAINWRIGHT, AB, CANADA

    05.25.2014

    Story by Staff Sgt. Derek M. Smith 

    326th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

    GARRISON WAINWRIGHT, Alberta – The present-day kinetic battlefield employs a vast array of tools and weapons. Perhaps no other piece of modern military hardware has filled a larger variety of roles than the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

    The Group Support Company, 19th Special Forces Group, Utah National Guard headquartered in Draper, Utah, is one of several U.S. Army units taking part in Exercise Maple Resolve 14 (EX MR14) here, May 5 through June 1. Approximately 5,000 Canadian, British and U.S. troops participated in the culminating collective training event that validates the Canadian Army’s High Readiness Force for operations assigned to it by the Canadian government through the Chief of Defense Staff.

    “This is an unmanned aircraft systems platoon,” explained Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ryan Runk of the GSC. “We are providing the [opposition training force] with intelligence and reconnaissance on the battlefield.”

    Runk, an Orem, Utah, native said the unit, commonly referred to as “the Buzzards,” employs the RQ-7B Shadow system. The Shadow is utilized to provide reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition and battle damage assessment. It is launched from a pneumatic catapult and is recovered with the aid of arresting gear in the same manner as a jet on an aircraft carrier.

    “The function of the unit is to provide the commanders the intelligence and surveillance to identify where those targets are,” said Runk. “We have the capability of doing more [than many land-based assets]. We’re typically going in with our special forces providing oversight they need to get them intelligence they need to know what’s around the next corner.”

    The conditions during EX MR14 have been nearly optimal for the guardsmen’s mission, Runk said. His soldiers were prepared and able to provide around-the-clock support.

    “I think we are doing very well,” Runk assessed. “We brought enough people up here to run two shifts to cover the battlefield 24/7. We’ve had a few issues with the weather, but overall, things have been really nice up here with the flying conditions, so we have done really well.”

    The exercise also provided the GSC soldiers unique training benefits not often gained at home station.

    “It gives us the opportunity to go out the door as far as load-outs and making sure our readiness is up to where it needs to be,” Runk explained. “When we get up here, we get to fly in an environment that gives us restricted air space which is a requirement for us. Sometimes it’s difficult to get live flight training because of that requirement, but we have it here. We’re able to get a lot of flight time.”

    “As well, we train our load flight operators to find things on the battlefield that we typically don’t get the opportunity to find [training at home],” Runk continued. “There’s actual armor out there that’s trying to hide from us. It’s much different than what we get at home when we don’t get to look at those things.”

    Working in unison with their Canadian partners, The Buzzards overcame communication and cultural gaps for what Runk described as a good and beneficial relationship.

    “The Canadians are great hosts,” Runk concluded. “The guys really like coming up here. It’s our second year. We came last year and it was a great training event for us. We really wanted to come again. They’ve been great to us.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 05.25.2014
    Date Posted: 05.25.2014 21:51
    Story ID: 131078
    Location: WAINWRIGHT, AB, CA
    Hometown: DRAPER, UT, US
    Hometown: OREM, UT, US

    Web Views: 110
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN