Photo By Sgt. Amy Wieser-Willson | Staff Sgt. Tomas Rivera and Spc. Raymond Muthig connect 100-foot fuel lines in a Y...... read more read more
HOHENFELS, Germany -- Moments after a CH-47 Chinook helicopter lands in a field here, Soldiers race from the lowered loading ramp with hoses, spill kits and fuel nozzles. As one of the many training exercises for Saber Junction 15, they're scrambling to prepare a refueling jump site for two AH-64 Apache helicopters.
It takes "a lot of preparation and planning, and then it's game time, pack up, roll out and get ready," said Spc. Jarid Cobb, Distribution Platoon, Company E, 2059th Squadron, 12th Cavalry Regiment.
It's a chance to refine their skills to expedite potential real-world missions in the future.
"It enables us to have quick operations," Spc. Edward Bonner, also with the Distribution Platoon, said of the exercise. "So, we get on the ground, we set it up as fast as possible and as safe as possible, and then after we set it up we fuel the birds … and fly to the next grid coordinate to do the same thing. So, it just helps us to move fast, and set up the fuel and keep moving."
The multinational exercise takes place across the Joint Multinational Readiness Center's 40,000 acres. It's the far northwest corner where the Chinook landed April 16, carrying a Fat Cow bladder filled with 820 gallons of fuel.
In a mere 10 to 15 minutes, Soldiers ran a 100-foot fuel line from the bladder and then attached two more lines, forming a Y pattern leading toward two landing pads where the Apaches were expected to set down.
Not far away, near a short runway, 2nd Cavalry Regiment Soldiers also are training with aerial assets, but of a different kind.
2nd Cavalry Regiment Soldiers with Shadow Platoon, Military Intelligence Troop, Regimental Engineering Squadron are doing pre-operational checks on a RQ-7B Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle. The plane may be small, with a wingspan of a mere 20 feet, but it provides immeasurable value in a wartime situation.
Upon the request of commanders on the ground, the platoon deploys the Shadow to specific grid coordinates over the training area to scan for enemy activity as part of the force-on-force role-playing scenarios taking place. The commanders then know if oppositional forces are moving their direction, and they have a better feel for the battle space.
"It's basically giving the commander a snapshot of the battlefield," said Spc. Laronn Horton with the platoon.
It's an important asset to not just U.S. but Allied forces.
"We're going to be working with allied forces downrange, so we should practice before we find ourselves in combat," he said.
That theme -- whether on the ground or in the air -- continues to carry through Saber Junction as it heads into its third week.
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2015 06:42 |
| Story ID: | 161253 |
| Location: | BISMARCK, ND, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Whether ground or air: More than land training at Saber Junction 15, by SGT Amy Wieser-Willson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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