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Spc. Fernando Herrera, ammo team chief for Gun 1, Alpha Battery with 1st Battalion, 206th Artillery Regiment, 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team crouches against the rotor wash as he waits to hook up his howitzer to a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the 1st Battalion, 185th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 77th Theater Aviation Brigade, June 9, 2025, Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.
“This was the best. This right here,” said Spc. Fernando Herrera, ammo team chief for Gun 1, Alpha Battery with 1st Battalion, 206th Artillery Regiment, 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, describing “hooking up” the M119A3 105mm Howitzer to the belly of a 1st Battalion, 185th Assault Helicopter Battalion UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
This was only the second time Herrera had hooked during a sling load exercise, and despite only having two people hold his legs while he worked against the buffeting wind, it was satisfying to see all their work pay off and watch their gun successfully lift off safely and correctly.
“Seeing the gun get picked up, watching all the break-ties break, in unison. It felt good, knowing we learned something and that we could do it again,” said Herrera. “I feel like I learned a lot this AT.”
This sling load exercise completes 1-206th’s qualification for Field Artillery Table III which is part of their annual section qualification, or Table VI.
(Arkansas Army National Guard photos by 1st Sgt. Jim Heuston)
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2025 10:33 |
| Photo ID: | 9105988 |
| VIRIN: | 250609-Z-DR641-1001 |
| Resolution: | 7706x5504 |
| Size: | 14.73 MB |
| Location: | FORT CHAFFEE, ARKANSAS, US |
| Hometown: | CLARKSVILLE, ARKANSAS, US |
| Hometown: | FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS, US |
| Hometown: | LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Ark. Artillerymen Conduct Sling Load At Chaffee, by 1SG Jim Heuston, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
