Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Griffis | An M1A2 Abrams main battle tank inches forward as Air Force crew members and 1st Bn,...... read more read more
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SALINA, Kan. - The 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team did something unprecedented for a unit from Fort Riley on March 12.
For the first time, with the help of the Air Force’s 433rd Airlift Wing out of Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Fort Riley transported an M1A1/2 Abrams main battle tank from Fort Riley to the National Training Center in California on a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy in a short amount of time.
“The emergency deployment readiness exercise is really to show that even though we are an Armored Brigade Combat Team, we still have rapid deploy capability,” said Capt. Brian Kossler, commander of Company D, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd ABCT, 1st Inf. Div.
The EDRE was part of the beginning phase in deploying 2nd ABCT to NTC and could be a game-changer for not only the Dagger Brigade but for all units training and deploying from Fort Riley, Kansas.
“The EDRE shows that even though Fort Riley and the 1st Infantry Division are in the middle of the country, we can still get where we need to be and get in the fight quickly,” Kossler said.
The preparation and coordination for the EDRE took over four months and was the near sole focus for Capt. Dallas Rainey, a plans officer for 2nd ABCT.
“Part of our NTC training is practicing our deployment skills and we deploy things by rail, we deploy things by ground but one thing we need to practice our skills on is to deploy things by air,” said Rainey.
Rainey stated that heavy equipment such as tanks are rarely flown by air by either the Army or Air Force, but can be if needed.
The ability to deploy a heavy combat brigade and its assets is crucial to the effectiveness and responsiveness of units that have traditionally been light units or airborne units.
“With enough aircraft, I can get a platoon of tanks anywhere in the world in a reasonable amount of time,” said Kossler.
The exercise allowed the Army and the Air Force to cooperate and synchronize their efforts in order to accomplish these goals.
Rainey said, “It’s a really great training opportunity to practice everything that is required to get us to the airfield and once we get to the airfield, getting us on the aircraft and on to our final destination.”
A lot of training and preparation led up to the exercise and a great deal of research also had to be done.
“Primarily we focused on load planning, because nobody in our formation had ever loaded a tank onto a C-5 before,” said Kossler.
Kossler said that the company’s unit movement officer was an integral piece in researching what it would take to fly a tank to NTC.
“What we focused on was load planning, how we could expedite the process and help the Air Force get that tank secure so that we could take off,” said Kossler.
Rainey said the training event was significant because it shows the capabilities that Fort Riley has.
“With this capability, it shows that even though we are in the middle of the country, we can still get where we need to be and get in the fight quickly,” said Kossler.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2015 11:40 |
| Story ID: | 158495 |
| Location: | SALINA, KS, US |
| Hometown: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 842 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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