Photo By Capt. Amy Hanna | Connecticut Army National Guard Capt. Maryann Alves, commander of Company C, 3rd...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. – Army National Guard aviation units from the 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation in Connecticut and Ohio's 1st Battalion, 137th Aviation integrated to form a single task force during the Joint Readiness Training Center rotation alongside fellow aircrews from New York's Company F, 1st Battalion, 169th Aviation.
The movement of UH-60s (Blackhawks) from Windsor Locks, Conn. and Columbus, Ohio to Fort Polk, La., is a complex mission in all its own; let alone integrating with another unit that you never worked with before.
The Blackhawk companies will conduct operations alongside the New York medical evacuation aircrews to support the infantry brigade task force.
The JRTC allows Army units to conduct combat training in a realistic environment which features a well-trained opposing force, civilian role-players on the battlefield, high-tech systems which monitor the action and observer-controllers to evaluate unit actions.
During a visit from the Connecticut Assistant Adjutant General Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Mark Russo, 1st. Lt. Mike Walter and Sgt. Darren Debo, aircrew members of the 1-137th Aviation based in Columbus, Ohio, discussed how the integration went between the two aviation units at the JRTC.
"The Connecticut and Ohio aviation abilities are very similar, and it's a great learning experience for us to integrate with other states and see how they do things" Walters said. "We will take what we learned from JRTC and apply them to future missions."
"I'm learning from this mission what is expected from me," Debo said. "We are learning different ways of doing things from the Connecticut Guard aviation."
Cpt. Maryann Alves, commander of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation Regiment, based in Windsor Locks, Conn., said she is excited to be working with the Ohio Aviation unit.
"There really hasn't been any major obstacles working with the Ohio Guard aviation, just like working with anyone new, you always have different ways of doing things and we just try to find a happy medium," she said.
1st. Lt. Emily Bowdy, from Company C, 3-142nd, mentioned this is her first mission fresh out of flight school.
"I'm excited to get some training in and work with the Ohio aviation," Bowdy said.
"My primary goal is to get the pilots as much training as possible and for them to see how flight operations work," said Alves. "I want to make sure they get the experience they need and its definitely been happening."
"I'm glad to see great cohesive training," Russo said, "They have met my expectations."
The 1-137th Ohio and 3-142nd Connecticut Aviation joined more than 5,000 Soldiers from other state Army National Guard units, active Army and Army Reserve troops as part of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team task force to hone their skills and practice integrating combat operations ranging from infantry troops engaging in close combat with the enemy to artillery and air strikes.
| Date Taken: | 07.18.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.20.2016 19:42 |
| Story ID: | 204540 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LA, US |
| Web Views: | 184 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Connecticut, Ohio and New York Aviation units fly together at JRTC, by CPT Amy Hanna, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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