Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Adrian Borunda | Arizona Army National Guard AH-64D Apache pilots Chief Warrant Officer 2 Hunter...... read more read more
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NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev.— Arizona Army National Guardsmen and their AH-64D Apaches enhanced training and added to the joint flavor of the U.S. Air Force Fighter Weapons School curriculum here this month.
While Army leaders move forward with plans to reallocate all of the National Guard’s Apache helicopters to the active component, Arizona Guardsmen strive to keep their skills razor-sharp through joint training in case there is a turn of events in Washington.
Guard officials say their aggressive pursuit of training despite the projected loss of their aircraft will prove to be essential to their readiness if Congressional intervention leads to some retention of attack aviation capability in the Army National Guard.
“We provide Army attack helicopter support during the close air support phase of the Air Force’s Weapons School. The school offers the most challenging and realistic training to their students in order to expose them to all types of units that they would encounter in a combat theatre of operations,” said Army Capt. Timothy Wheeler, training officer for the 1-285th Attack/Reconnaissance Battalion from Silverbell Army Heliport in Marana, Ariz.
In addition to Arizona’s Apaches, the biannual training includes Air Force A-10 Warthogs and joint terminal attack control students from the 66th Weapons Squadron at Nellis as well as A-10s from the 354th Fighter Squadron out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.
During each mission a JTAC student coordinated fire on designated targets in the Nevada desert ranges.
“We must be constantly looking for ways to evolve and improve our organization and processes. Working with the Air Force we are exposed to a service whose main focus is aviation and aerial warfare. Seeing how this service does business allows us a look into ways to streamline our operation,” Wheeler said.
For the 1-285th, preparations were six months in the making. Equipment, logistics, quarters, pre-mission training, and integration with the 66th Weapons Squadron were pre-coordinated – a worthy investment according to the Guard.
“This is the highest level of training available to our Soldiers and it is as close to actual combat conditions as I have seen anywhere in the U.S.,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler and the other 400 Arizona Guardsmen assigned to the 1-285th fully understand actual combat conditions. They flew the full-spectrum of combat operations in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008 and returned on two company-sized deployments in 2012 and 2013. They augmented active duty Apache units in some cases, and in others provided the sole Apache capability for an entire region of the country.
Today the aviators at the 1-285th actively seek joint training opportunities and the regular exposure at Weapons School has sparked much interest in Apache’s among other services and partner nations.
“I have not stopped receiving phone calls and e-mails from Air Force, Marine Corps, Special Forces, German, British, and Dutch units who are desperately looking to train alongside that Army asset,” Wheeler said.
Army Capt. Randy Cochran, an Apache pilot and the exercise commander for the 1-285th, recognized the chance for Guard aircrews to prove their skill.
“As a Guard unit, our pilots and maintainers can get out there and conduct the same training as our active counterparts and be just as proficient,” Cochran said. “It is important to instill confidence in our joint partners while we show airmen from other services how they can employ Army attack aviation. By the end of the exercise we were conducting continuous fires on targets with A-10s and AH-64s.”
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2014 18:00 |
| Story ID: | 127687 |
| Location: | PHOENIX, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 669 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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