Soldiers with 1st Inf. Div. complete aircraft recovery training at JRTC

Photo By Staff Sgt. Richard Andrade | Combat aviation brigade soldiers assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, based out of Fort Riley, Kan., take a knee as a CH-47 Chinook helicopter arrives onsite in preparation to sling-load a simulated downed AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter for an aerial extraction at the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, La., March 15.  

FORT POLK, LA, UNITED STATES

03.17.2012

Story by Staff Sgt. Amber Greenlee 

354th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

FORT POLK, La. - In preparation for a future deployment to Afghanistan, a downed aircraft recovery team from 1st Infantry Division participated in a two-day situational training exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La., March 13 and 15.

Soldiers had to provide not only security for the ground and air extraction of battle damaged aircraft, but also convoy to the ground recovery site; both of which are not common tasks for aviation soldiers.

“We are an aviation unit, so the tactical movement on ground and securing an area was different for us, but definitely useful in seeing what we need to work on,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Darryl Stedman, DART officer-in-charge, B Company, 601st Aviation Support Battalion, and native of Auburndale, Fla. “As far as recovering the aircraft, they did excellent, it was more of the maintenance part of the mission and training we are used to.”

DARTs are formed from organic soldiers within aviation maintenance units. They are expected to be proficient in battle damage assessment, repairs, rigging kits and combat recovery techniques.

This DART was compiled of soldiers from D Troop, 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade; 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment and B Company, 601st Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, based out of Fort Riley, Kan.

The mission for day one consisted of a convoy to the downed simulated OH-58AC Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter site in a mock Afghan village, while reacting to possible improvised explosive devices along their route. Once the soldiers successfully arrived to their destination, a perimeter was set up to secure the area using Humvees to block the road on either side of the extraction site. Soldiers pulled security to fill in the rest of the boundaries around the battle damaged aircraft. The DART group also had to interact with civilian role players acting as villagers who wanted an explanation for the downed aircraft and disruption in their community.

“I benefited from the mission by interacting with the civilians and having to keep them out of our perimeter,” said Pfc. Scott Gates, of Moody, Texas, a Black Hawk mechanic assigned to D Troop, 1-6 Cav.

The team then went straight to work overcoming several minor setbacks. They had to winch out both a recovery trailer and a Humvee from the deep mud below the downed aircraft site. As they hoisted the Kiowa with a crane onto a trailer, the crane became stuck in the same muddy mess. The soldiers quickly reacted, pulling the crane out and loading it back on the flatbed truck. The mission was successfully completed once the soldiers and aircraft safely arrived at the forward operating base.

“If something arises when I am in Afghanistan and they need a soldier for a DART team or security or a convoy, I now feel confident that I can jump in there and get that job done,” said Gates.

The DART soldiers also had to react to indirect fire twice and direct fire from a second-story building once with casualties from both simulated attacks while trying to complete their mission.

“This training is a little different from training I had received for prior deployments because they had us do a hasty recovery and provide our own security and we definitely need to be prepared for that, but when I recovered aircrafts in actual combat we had a security element already in place, so this was definitely a learning experience,” said Stedman.

The second part of their training was to conduct an aerial aircraft recovery of a simulated AH-1 Cobra using a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

“The security team was dropped off first [by UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter] to secure the area and check the aircraft for booby traps. Then the aircraft was prepared for sling-load,” said Gates.

After the landing zone was secured, the second team moved off of the CH-47 Chinook to prepare the aircraft for aerial extraction. They used a complex system of cables to hook to the aircraft and recover it. The aircraft was then hooked to the Chinook and airlifted to Forward Operating Base Forge, successfully completing the extraction exercise.

“The soldiers learn and improve with each day of training out here and will apply what they have encountered thus far with upcoming STX lanes. It is much better to learn all of this in a training situation than in a real combat situation,” said Stedman.

• Date Taken: 03.17.2012
• Date Posted: 03.19.2012 20:52
• Story ID: 85466
• Location: FORT POLK, LA, US