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For more than 40 years, Fort McCoy’s Young Air Assault Strip has been a go-to for austere training for not just the Army but also the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and more.
Built in late 1984 by members of the 618th Engineer Company, (Light Equipment), 82nd Airborne Division, from Fort Bragg, N.C., the airstrip was named after Pfc. Raphael Young, a member of the 618th who died in September 1984 while training on heavy equipment in advance of the mission to build the airstrip.
Looking back at the history of the airstrip’s construction, it was documented in the Oct. 18, 1984, edition of The Triad newspaper in the article: “Engineers here to complete airstrip.”
The story, written by Crystal Laureano of the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office, states, “Almost 200 of them fell from the sky two weeks ago to embark on a monthlong mission of training and construction. They are members of the 618th Engineer Company, (Light Equipment), 82nd Airborne Division, from Fort Bragg, N.C., here to complete an assault airstrip begun by a sister unit last year and add a taxi-way.
“When completed, the assault airstrip will be capable of accommodating aircraft up to the size of a C-130, thus increasing training opportunities at Fort McCoy. The construction project is also a valuable training mission for 618th, says Capt. William N. Prokopyk, company commander. Because of their airborne status, most of their equipment at Fort Bragg is sectionalized. It can be broken down into pieces which are air dropped.
“The equipment they are using here, ‘exceeds the capability of our equipment, volume wise,’ said Prokopyk. There are a lot of new people in the unit, and Enii have not worked with the heavier equipment since advanced individual training, said Prokopyk.
“‘Even though we don’t have that equipment in an airborne unit, it is part of their skill qualification test,’ he added. Some of the equipment used are bulldozers, bucket loaders, and compactors. The equipment was drawn from the 416th Engineer Command and Fort McCoy’s Equipment Concentration Site.
“Since the runway was already laid out, and covered with gravel, they began by re-surveying and re-compacting the runway. They then moved soil and trees for the taxi-way. Top soil had to be removed, and the land shaped with scrapers to bring the taxi-way to the proper elevation, explained Prokopyk. Under the surface of the runway and taxi-way are many layers of compacted green shale, which is mined by the 618th from a pit on post.
“Each layer must be compacted before another is applied. The surface will be compacted gravel,” the article states. “The more than 200 Soldiers here comprise a headquarters section, complete with dining facility personnel, maintenance, transportation and three engineer platoons. Surveyors and soil analysts from other units at Fort Bragg are attached to the unit for this mission.
“The Soldiers ‘work from first light to dark on a one day on, one day off schedule,’ said Prokopyk. Their day begins with a 4:30 a.m. wake-up and breakfast at 5 a.m. At 6 a.m., they board for the trip to the air assault strip construction site. At 7 a.m., after a preventative maintenance check on the equipment, they begin work. Construction continues until 7 p.m. with a half-hour break for lunch. Twice daily, each piece of equipment must be lubricated and fueled, said Prokopyk, which is performed by the maintenance section in an assembly line type procedure.
“The 618th Engineer Company are scheduled to complete the job by Oct. 26 (1984). The completed runway will be 60 feet wide, and 4,200 feet long, including two 300-foot overruns, said Prokopyk. The taxi-way will be essentially the same length and 30 feet wide.”
James Hubbard, chief of the Airfield Division at the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS), said Young Air Assault Strip has and will continue to serve as an excellent training location for a wide variety of training.
It’s a unique space,” Hubbard said. “A lot more people are starting to see that. When they know that, they tend they started using it more now.”
In April 2025 alone, lots of training has taken place at the air assault strip. Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment completed different kinds of training on multiple days.
Additionally, Airmen with the Air Mobility Liaison Officer Qualification Course worked at the air assault strip for nearly a week practicing take-offs and landings with C-130s.
Over the years, the Air Force has landed A-10s, C-130s, C-17 Globemaster III planes, and Special Tactics Airmen at the strip; the Army has had many exercises in the location with UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinooks; and even the Navy has landed Sea Stallion helicopters there.
“It’s a special place for training for special missions for units all throughout the Midwest,” Hubbard said.
And besides the air assault strip itself, there’s since been facilities/training aids added to the area, including a retired C-130 Hercules parked there for loading training, storage and airfield operations buildings, and even a C-17 load trainer facility.
According to DPTMS officials, the trainer “provides a unique, realistic loading training for warfighters so they can maintain their individual/collectives training and skill sets required to properly upload and download a C-17 Globemaster aircraft. The warfighters training and skill sets can be accomplished without having the requirement to have an actual C-17 aircraft.”
The load trainer also is able to help train loadmasters on weight and balance records and cargo manifests, DPTMS officials said. It will also be able to determine the quantity of cargo and passengers or troops loaded and proper placement in aircraft, compute the load, cargo distribution, weight, and balance and determine the amount of weight to be placed in each compartment or at each station within the aircraft.
As the future continues, Hubbard said he expects the air assault strip to continue to be a busy area for training. Essentially, the sweat equity of the 608th Engineers in 1984 has really paid off.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 04.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2025 18:26 |
| Story ID: | 496514 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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