Photo By Brandon Honig | Spc. Martin Rebollo performs pre-flight checks before an RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial...... read more read more
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CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. - Carlos Altamirano got a big surprise when he returned to his unit in 2004 after completing advanced individual training to become a power generation mechanic.
“They told me, ‘You’ve been selected to go to school and then Iraq as a UAS maintainer,’” said Altamirano, now a staff sergeant and unmanned aerial system (UAS) maintenance chief for the California Army National Guard’s Detachment 1, Delta Company, 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion. “Well, I had never heard of a UAS before. I really don’t know how they chose me, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
Altamirano had his 21st birthday in Iraq, which was not the place he had envisioned celebrating that occasion, but he wouldn’t trade the deployment experience. He enjoyed the camaraderie with the other soldiers, learned a ton about his job and, most importantly, grew into an adult.
“The deployment changed me, from a personal perspective,” he said June 15 at the Cal Guard training base Camp Roberts, Calif. “I matured a lot quicker over there. When I came back, I needed responsibilities in my life.”
On a professional level, he found that unmanned aerial systems — like the 12-foot-long RQ-7 Shadow flown by the Camp Roberts-based Detachment 1 — are tremendously valuable to troops in a variety of situations.
Altamirano’s unit flew 3,500 hours during its 10-month deployment, supporting convoys, performing surveillance on high-value targets, monitoring power lines — which were a target for enemy forces — and fulfilling many other missions.
“We would follow patrols and make sure there were no ambushes waiting for our troops or snipers on top of buildings, so our guys could take them out before they hit our soldiers,” he said. “We’d be doing flight operations [later], and random soldiers would come up and want to shake our hands and thank us for saving their lives.
“It was really touching, and it motivated us to keep doing our jobs as best we could to help out our battle buddies.”
Altamirano and the other members of his detachment are honing their skills during two weeks of annual training this June at Camp Roberts. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Daniel Choi said the detachment’s soldiers learn the basics of their UAS specialty during about two months of full-time school, but they master their craft during training at Camp Roberts.
Choi, an operations technician for the detachment, said there are many potential uses for the Shadow and pointed out that operating it (or its hand-launched cousin the RQ-11 Raven) is cheaper than using a manned aircraft or a larger remotely piloted aircraft: The Shadow requires less fuel, no satellite link, less maintenance and fewer man-hours.
The Shadow also can be launched from just about anywhere, using a hydraulic system that can be swiftly assembled to catapult the aircraft skyward.
“This unit is mobile,” Choi said. “We just need a clear area that is unobstructed and controlled, where we can launch and [safely integrate with] civilian and military aircraft.”
Choi, who flew for three years as a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot before switching to the UAS mission, said the Shadow is an ideal aircraft for supporting civil authorities in a domestic emergency.
“If something happens like a dam breaks or an earthquake, we can put eyes on the scene and gather near-real-time imagery for the incident commander,” he said. “We can provide damage assessments and help them understand what they’re dealing with.”
Choi said his experience as a helicopter pilot helped ease his transition to the UAS section three years ago: The physics surrounding flight doesn’t change, and neither do the rules regulating airspace. Nonetheless after 15 years in the Army, including six on active duty, he said the UAS mission is the most challenging — and therefore most gratifying — of his career.
“Learning the tactics is very different [from manned aviation], to understand how to share the airspace and best use it against the enemy,” he said.
Once those tactics are learned, though, the aircraft has great potential, and Choi hopes its role will grow for the Cal Guard.
“UAS is a growing industry, and technology will continue to improve,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential for the Shadow to help in disaster-response efforts, and many other applications for the National Guard.”
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.16.2015 11:11 |
| Story ID: | 166795 |
| Location: | CAMP ROBERTS, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 356 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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