Photo By Master Sgt. Jeff Lowry | Army Spc. Joshua Kimbro, Elizabeth, Colo., and an A Company, 3rd Battalion, 158th...... read more read more
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Task Force 38's A Company, 3rd Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment flew VIPs, including United States Forces - Iraq commander, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and its Soldiers did it while stationed in Baghdad, away from battalion and brigade level headquarters.
"Our senior leadership has put a lot of trust in our unit to operate and function autonomously," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Chris Carson, an A Company maintenance test pilot from Frederick, Md.
Yet he also said the A Company Soldiers relied on the battalion and brigade headquarters for maintenance and administrative support.
"But without that lifeline we wouldn't be able to function as well as we have," he said. "We can't survive without the parent unit. We get good support, excellent support, which enables us to excel down here."
Carson said the A Company Soldiers were able to maintain their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters on their own, yet for required inspections, A Company Soldiers sought repairs from their battalion headquarters.
"We have a very small stock of maintenance equipment, test equipment, and parts and repair equipment to the keep the birds up," said Carson.
He said there were other challenges associated with being nearly 50 miles from its headquarters at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.
"We don't have the constant face-to-face interaction, but we're still doing good just keeping everything up and running," said Carson. He said they conduct business via telephone and e-mail conversations.
While the decentralized issues challenged the A Company Soldiers, there were also rewards related with flying Odierno and other generals around Iraq, according to another one of the unit's pilots.
"[Odierno] is the number one guy in Iraq, and we get to go to a lot of different places a lot of other people don't get to go," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Will Towery, an instructor and maintenance test pilot with A Company. "We're flying throughout the whole country, from Mosul to Tikrit."
Odierno praised A Company for its hard work and dedication.
"I'm extremely proud to be supported by the A Company Soldiers. They all work so hard to be incredibly professional, efficient. They seamlessly meet all of the diverse mission requirements I have," said Odierno. "I could not do my job without them."
While some Soldiers may have been intimidated by flying high ranking officers, A Company Soldiers remained professional and focused on the mission, like Sgt. Christopher Hobbs, an A Company crew chief from Douglasville, Ga., did.
"People tend to get anxious and over-excited around important people. I try to think of it as a normal mission," said Hobbs. "You try not to think about it and just get the job done."
However, even the rewards of flying generals had their own challenges.
"If [Odierno] needs to go, we have to be ready. It's a lot of long hours and a lot of waiting [for the general]," said Towery, San Luis Obispo, Calif. "His schedule changes so much; he's a busy man."
It wasn't just the flight crews who had to react to the generals' changes, the Soldiers who worked in the operations center also had to adjust their schedules.
"It's semper Gumby (always flexible). We play by their rules," said Spc. Andre Clark of tracking the generals' flights."They give us a plan, and sometimes we have to make adjustments."
Clark was a flight operations specialist with the battalion's headquarters company but worked in A Company's operations center.
Like the maintenance pilots, he also stayed in contact with headquarters Soldiers.
"I'm chatting or talking with battalion constantly. There are constant updates," said Clark. "Anything we do is updated with them."
While Clark kept his headquarters abreast of any changes, the A Company commander, Capt. Brian Schapker, said they were able to easily adjust to those changes because his troops planned for them.
"We're always planning a contingency plan, a backup plan, and a counter plan," said Schapker of Enterprise, Ala.
With those plans A Company Soldiers were able to meet mission, fly generals where they needed to go, and they did it while away from their headquarters.
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.06.2010 10:30 |
| Story ID: | 47742 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 174 |
| Downloads: | 133 |
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