2 CAB Soldiers support local high school assignment

Photo By Sgt. Jesse Smith | A Soldier with the 3rd GSAB, 2nd CAB, 2nd Inf. Div. and a student from the Camp Humphreys Middle/High School explore the top of an AH-64 Apache helicopter Oct. 30, 2014, at Nightmare Ramp on Desiderio Airfield here. The students were able to look around most of the aircraft while the Soldier answered any questions.  

PYEONGTAEK, 41, SOUTH KOREA

10.30.2014

Story by Sgt. Jesse Smith 

2nd Combat Aviation Brigade

CAMP HUMPREYS, South Korea -- In the late morning of Oct. 30, students from Camp Humphreys Middle/High School gathered around an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter on Nightmare Ramp at the Desiderio Airfield here. They were eagerly awaiting the explanation of the helicopters mission here on the Korean Peninsula and the history behind how the helicopter got its name so that they could complete a school assignment, or maybe they were just excited because they wanted to get inside the helicopter and play with its many gadgets.

Capt. Bowman J. Spillane, the assistant operations officer for the 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division here, had a part in the planning of the helicopter display. The goal of the display was to help provide support and trust for its Soldiers' families he said.

“I feel like this is really our chance to support them the way that these families are supporting our Soldiers,” Spillane said.

One of the teachers that was in charge of the students during the display was Nikki Allen from the Camp Humphreys Middle/High School here. “If you reach out to the military community and ask them to support what you are doing in the education arena, what I found is that they are more than willing to help out,” Allen said. The display was very organized, and the students had been looking forward to it she said.

Leia Fowler, an eighth grade student from the school, found the display to be very informative. “It’s one thing to learn about all the different native tribes and all the helicopters in the classroom, but it’s another thing to learn about them and actually see them get in them,” Fowler said in reference to how the students got to see the pilots inside the helicopters.

She said her father was actually a CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilot, but that she had never been able to go onto the airfield and get inside the four helicopters that were on display. Those helicopters were the OH-58 Kiowa, CH-47 Chinook, UH-60 Black Hawk, and AH-64 Apache. If she got to do something like this again, Fowler said she would want to go even more in depth and learn as much as she could about the helicopters.

Another eighth grade student, Joseph K. Ellsworth, had completed the first part of the school assignment before even coming to the display. He had to present information regarding the tribe or native leader for which the four helicopters are named. Ellsworth’s teacher and the 3rd GSAB thought the project he presented was so great they decided to put it on display inside the 3rd GSAB hanger for everyone to see and learn from.

Ellsworth said he had never done anything like this before and that he would definitely want to do this again. “I would try to come up with more questions,” he said in regards to what he would do the next time he got a chance to do this.

One of the Soldiers in charge of giving a class on a helicopter was Chief Warrant Officer 2 Terrance J. Bailey, an OH-58 Kiowa pilot with the 6th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment in support of 3rd GSAB, 2nd CAB, 2nd Inf. Div. for the helicopter display. He was there to give a 15 minute class to the students about the mission and history of the OH-58 Kiowa.

“Within our squadron we do a lot of stuff like this,” Bailey said. He has not been able to do anything to this scale, but hopes that events like this continue.

Allen hopes that the Army is able to do events like this in the future and said that it was a privilege to have done this with her students. “The Army Aviation 3-2 GSAB led by Lt. Col. Kenneth Cole here at Camp Humphreys did an amazing job in planning this event to support our efforts in providing a 21st century learning environment for our military children,” she said.

This was a great way for 3rd GSAB, 2nd CAB, 2nd Inf. Div. to get involved with the support of its military families.

“Throughout our study of the Apache, Blackhawk, Chinook and Kiowa tribes and leaders coupled with an in-depth tour of each of the four helicopters, our students have been able to walk away not only with a knowledge of the history and mission of each aircraft but have developed an appreciation for the Army’s tribute to the native history of our country through the naming of Army helicopters,” Allen said.
 

• Date Taken: 10.30.2014
• Date Posted: 11.04.2014 20:43
• Story ID: 146987
• Location: PYEONGTAEK, 41, KR