COMBAT AVIATION BRIGADE BRINGS LIVE FIRE TRAINING BACK TO LIFE

UNITED STATES

09.29.2016

Story by Staff Sgt. Tanjie Daniels 

1st Armored Division Combat Aviation Brigade

“This training was significant because we’re starting to focus on the decisive action fight and we need to be able to integrate aviation forces with our ground forces,” said Maj. Anthony Pankuch, the operations officer for the CAB. “We have to integrate the fires and infantry, and we have to de-conflict airspace. Essentially we’re trying to conduct multi echelon training.”
“Normally, aviation units are integrated into a ground brigade combat team’s training plan,” Pankuch explains. “While the training objectives and scenarios are usually driven by the ground forces, this event is uniquely different because the aviation companies were the primary training audience. These companies were able to conduct troop leading procedures, rehearsals, execute training without ammunition, and then fire day and night iterations. The Combat Aviation Brigade was able to have senior leaders observe the training, provide feedback at each step along the way, and adjust timelines to conduct retraining as necessary.”
“During the certifications we give a problem and mission to company commanders,” said Col. Thomas O’Connor, commander of the CAB. “They (company commanders) plan and execute an operation in which they synchronize maneuver and fires into the engagement area as they face a bunch of complex problems along the way and have to resolve them. This helps us qualify and certify our leaders in the formation. It is great to see an apache helicopter company operate as a company in battle positions, integrating artillery fires, and unmanned systems while engaging targets, and managing platoon rotations to the forward arming and refueling points.”
One of the company live fire training events focused on certifying the CAB’s CH47 or “Chinook” Company. Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st Aviation Regiment conducted a live fire air assault assisted by Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment.
The scenario was for the CH-47 Chinook Company to fly to the objective and land, while the door gunners faced multiple targets enroute. Upon landing, the infantry companies assaulted and cleared the objective in order to secure an urban village. Enabling this operation was the shadow unmanned aerial system, artillery fires and the Apache helicopters.
“These types of training missions are great because it gives me as the company commander an opportunity to assess the force,” said Bobby Lelito, company commander for B. Co., 2-501st AVN. “I can assess the force on what I have and what I’m capable of. We have a lot of senior pilots and crew as well as a lot of junior crew in the company and this gives them a great opportunity to sit next to those experienced guys and get a lot of pointers and tips on how to execute a mission safely.”
Lelito described the day mission as a stepping stone and a great rehearsal in preparations for the night mission. “This whole training event is like a crawl, walk, and run phase. The night flight we will use night vision goggles and execute the same mission. That will be more of our run phase, we’re going to tweak a few things and make the night flight better.”
“This is absolutely essential for us to train our junior leaders in an environment where they can solve complex problems, they can leverage this experience to build upon for the rest of their careers,” explains O’Connor. “There’s no doubt that the leaders in our formation will face a multitude of challenges throughout their service and the lessons they learn here will be the fundamental building blocks for those young leaders to fall back on in the future.”
Lelito looks forward to executing more exercises like this in the future. “Missions like this that involve other units really gives us a good look at our skill set and builds that camaraderie; that team work so that we can execute, actual real world combat missions safely and effectively.”

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• Date Taken: 09.29.2016
• Date Posted: 11.30.2016 13:27
• Story ID: 215997
• Location: US