Purple wings over Iraq

Photo By Darriel Swatts | The deployment patch for F Company, 52nd Aviation Regiment.  

JOINT BASE BALAD, IRAQ

05.26.2011

Story by Spc. Darriel Swatts 

40th Combat Aviation Brigade

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – When thinking about Army aviation, green-suiters flying helicopters usually come to mind. However, the Army National Guard’s 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, currently deployed to Iraq, has its share of fixed-wing aircraft, operated by crews from almost every branch of the U.S. military.

About 20 fixed-wing airplanes are attached to the 40th CAB’s 1st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 140th Aviation Regiment. The soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines who fly these aircraft are said to be in a “purple unit” because of the mixture of their uniform colors.

The active-duty Army’s F Company, 52nd Aviation Regiment, based out of Weisenbaden, Germany, fly the brigade’s C-12 Huron airplanes and UC-35 Citation jets.

“This is one of the few units where you have a full complement of all the services, except the Coast Guard,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Bird. Bird, from Charlotte, N.C., is a C-12 plane commander.

“We have Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine pilots flying together, oftentimes in the same cockpit,” Bird said. “It’s been a great experience.”

Also controlling fixed-wing assets for the 40th CAB is the Army National Guard’s A Company, 641st Aviation Regiment, from Portland, Ore. The unit flies the C-23 Sherpa airplane, nicknamed the flying boxcar. The Sherpa is used to transport troops and equipment throughout the combat theater.

A detachment from the Army Reserve’s 2nd Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment, Detachment 48, from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., commands the operations cell for the brigade’s fixed-wing aircraft.

Unit cohesion is an important factor in any unit, but it is paramount in multiservice, or “purple” units, explained Maj. Braddley Parsons, from Meridian, Miss., and a UC-35 Marine Corps pilot for F Company.

“The integration of the four branches of service is phenomenal,” said Army Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Kelley, of West Jordan, Utah, and an F Company pilot of UC-35 jets and C-12 airplanes. “The camaraderie and the joking back and forth between the services is great.”

Each unit has their own unique role: F Company is in charge of transporting United States Forces– Iraq command staff and distinguished visitors; members of the 2-228th detachment are in charge of receiving, distributing and tracking the missions; A Company is in charge of transporting personnel and supplies around the country and providing direct support to special forces units from the Combined Joint Special Forces Command, explained Army Reserve Lt. Col. William Maguire, from Jackson, N.J., and the commander of the 2-228th detachment.

“In the past four months we have moved more than 2,900 passengers and more than 828,000 pounds of equipment,” said Army National Guard Capt. Adam McCarthy, from Salem, Ore., commander of A Company.

“I hope we get to work with the other service branches more often, further down the road,” said Parsons. “It has been a great learning experience and it should be done more often.”

• Date Taken: 05.26.2011
• Date Posted: 05.26.2011 06:51
• Story ID: 71106
• Location: JOINT BASE BALAD, IQ