Photo By Staff Sgt. Shannon R. Gregory | Sgt. David L. Holton, assigned to B troop, Regimental Troop Squadron, 278th Armored...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Shannon R. Gregory
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE TAJI, Iraq -- U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to B Troop, Regimental Troop Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., with 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), earned a certificate of completion for Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment system training at Camp Taji, Iraq early Thursday evening, March 25.
They call it Snoopy, and it's almost as large as the balloons in a Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It is the "eye-in-the-sky," our first line of defense, and it enables us to watch everything around the outside of our base, according to instructor Johnny Johnson, who retired from the Army and is a native of Columbus, Ga. He explains that the RAID-A and the BETTS-C are very similar systems. "The difference would be the range. The RAID has a higher angle so it can see farther out."
"What a lot of people fail to see," said Maj. Miller, "there are over 17,000 people that live at Camp Taji. Force Protection is what the [Base Defense Operations Cell] is responsible for. But what our primary focus is, we are supposed to defend this place. We are the first guys that let somebody know if something bad is coming."
| Date Taken: | 04.13.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.16.2010 09:13 |
| Story ID: | 48223 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 407 |
| Downloads: | 256 |
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