NORTH MACEDONIA - Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew Mercier, a pilot with the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, manned a UH-60 Black Hawk for a sling load operation during Defender 23 at the Krivolac Military Training Center.
“We are here to support the ground forces with any aviation training they want to do,” said Mercier. “ It's also good training for ourselves too.”
Sling load training is conducted regularly to qualify and maintain proficiency for airfield assessment teams and to have the capability to insert or extract equipment in tactical environments. Mericier, alongside his pilot in command, is working with multi-national troops during Defender 23, and training the Minnesota Army National Guard during this exercise.
Becoming a pilot is a passion that was passed down from his father. “My dad was actually a medevac pilot,” explains Mercier. “While I was enlisted, I hopped in one of the Apaches, kind of like these guys might do when they do a static display, and I just knew - this is it. This is what I’m going to be doing.”
DEFENDER 23 is a U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) joint exercise designed to enable combat-ready, multi-national forces. DEFENDER 23 demonstrates USAREUR-AF’s ability to aggregate U.S.-based combat power quickly in Eastern Europe, increase lethality of the NATO alliance, build unit readiness in a complex joint, multi-national environment, and leverage host nation capabilities to increase USAREUR-AF’s operational reach. DEFENDER 23 takes place April 22 to June 23 and includes more than 7,000 U.S. and 17,000 multi-national service members from more than 20 nations.
| Date Taken: | 03.16.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.08.2023 10:42 |
| Photo ID: | 7845826 |
| VIRIN: | 230531-A-KJ355-003 |
| Resolution: | 1080x748 |
| Size: | 260.21 KB |
| Location: | MK |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 6 |
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