Photo By Staff Sgt. Mahsima Alkamooneh | Members of the Nebraska National Guard's 1-376th Aviation Battalion practice water...... read more read more
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May 25, 2021 (CAMP RIPLEY, Minnesota) — A Nebraska National Guard aviation battalion is training on Camp Ripley. The unit arrived after an approximately 8-hour convoy from Lincoln, Nebraska on May 11, 2021.
A Company, D Company, and Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) of the 1-37th Aviation Battalion trained together and separately throughout their time here.
The Battalion is a multipurpose domestic response unit with the ability to detect and observe from long distances using a UH-72 Lakota. The Lakota is a twin-engine helicopter with a single, four-bladed rotor designed to take on a range of missions, from general support and medical evacuations to personnel recovery and counter-narcotics operations.
“We are very much like a regular unit during our annual training; we start around zero-six and then our training will either go 24 hours or ENDEX around midnight,” said Maj. Peter Matthews, A Co 1-376th Aviation Battalion Commander. “We have flight operations throughout the period depending on weather and depending on other training conditions.”
For many soldiers, this AT has been marked their first training mission as a group in almost two years. For roughly 30 soldiers, this is the first mission in their career.
One soldier, Pfc. Deante Mason, just returned from Advanced Individual Training (AIT) two months before coming here and had never met anyone in the unit before.
“This is my first AT; it’s been hectic because I just got back from AIT not too long ago,” said Mason, a supply specialist with HHC. “I am trying to learn as much as I can before we go back.”
Throughout the training period, the unit qualified on rifles, pistols, crew-served weapons and hand grenades. They also completed water bucket training, medical training, personnel recovery, and operations at the battalion and unit levels.
It is important for aviation units to train on all aspects of soldiering, especially conducting Personnel Recovery Lanes. Personnel recovery teaches soldiers what to do when they must land in unsafe areas.
“It teaches soldiers how to survive, communicate, where to get help and how to find their way out of a problem,” said Matthews. “If we find ourselves in one in the future.”
| Date Taken: | 05.25.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.26.2021 14:12 |
| Story ID: | 397464 |
| Location: | LITTLE FALLS, MN, US |
| Web Views: | 172 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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