The 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion trains personnel recovery, CSEL radio

Photo By Crystal Farris | Aircrews from the 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion conduct personnel recovery training where they learned how to get rescued from a notional downed aircraft during the unit’s annual training in the Idaho National Guard’s Orchard Combat Training Center, July 23.  

BOISE , ID, UNITED STATES

07.30.2018

Story by 2nd Lt. Crystal Farris 

Idaho Army National Guard

“Aircraft overhead, this is Lane 3. Preparing signal and authentication,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Johnson, 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion instructor pilot.

“Authenticate with the third letter out of the word of the day,” said the recovery helicopter pilot.

“That would be ‘papa,'” said Johnson.

“Activate your primary signal,” said the recovery helicopter pilot.

An Isolated aircrew of the 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion radioed to a recovery asset flying overhead as they waited on the ground for extraction.

One hour earlier the aircrew egressed from a notional downed aircraft and set off afoot for a secure rescue site. After they traversed approximately four kilometers of desert, they found a predesignated pick-up site where they had to authenticate their identity to a recovery helicopter.

The training was part of the 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion’s personnel recovery training exercise in the Idaho National Guard’s Orchard Combat Training Center, July 23, which gave Soldiers an opportunity to practice navigation and communication techniques using their survival tools.

“The intent of this training is to prepare aircrews to understand the tools they have and how to use those tools in helping them get rescued from emergency situations,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Thomas Budge, battalion aviation mission survivability officer. “If they invest the time now while in a training environment, it will be less stressful when they actually need to use them."

Helicopter aircrews risk situations where their aircraft may go down and they need to survive until help arrives. Personnel recovery training is an annual requirement for both pilots and crew chiefs because it teaches them how to be rescued from isolating situations.

Some of the survival tools aircrews use include GPS watches, maps and compasses and the Combat Survival/Evader Locator hand-held survival radio.

The CSEL radio is specifically useful to search and rescue forces when locating, authenticating and communicating with downed aircrew. Its capabilities include providing GPS and navigation data and two-way communication.

“I’ve dealt with the CSEL radio before but nothing this intense and actually using it to navigate,” said Spc. Joshua Dilworth, 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion crew chief. “It’s nice to see that it works and the equipment we are flying with is actually going to help us out.”

Prior to the exercise, aircrews received training on the CSEL radio and an evasion plan of action designed to improve their chance of a successful recovery. Aircrew teams were then dropped off at the OCTC and instructed to find their pick-up sites.

The exercise concluded once aircrews authenticated their identities with the recovery helicopter using a series of security question and answers according to an evasion plan of action.

• Date Taken: 07.30.2018
• Date Posted: 07.30.2018 13:03
• Story ID: 286249
• Location: BOISE , ID, US