Page 4 - Ft. Irwin High Desert Warrior 1-8-16

4 High Desert Warrior www.aerotechnews.com/ntcfortirwin
January 8, 2016

In the Box

Keeping aviation skills sharp

Story and photos by Jason Miller landing zones and intelligence briefs of Barasu and surrounding An Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from C Company,
areas. Information changed hourly and several update briefings 2916th Aviation Battalion, 916th Sustainment Brigade lands
Public Affairs Office were scheduled throughout the day. at the training village of Barasu at the National Training
Center, Dec. 3.
Soldiers with the 2916th Aviation Battalion, 916th Sustain- “Prep time for a training mission typically is two or three
ment Brigade here, took to the skies on a training mission deep hours per one hour flown,” said Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin security team at Barasu. Once on the ground, the Sokol aircraft
into the National Training Center, Dec. 3. Jenkins, a UH-60 Blackhawk pilot. could be heard circling the village, providing aerial security. The
Blackhawks were sent to loiter in the distance.
The mission was straightforward: deliver a ground force com- As time moved closer to take off, the mission became more
mander with security team, utilizing three UH-60 Blackhawk complex during an update brief by Capt. William Fry, assistant Change of Plans
helicopters, for a 45-minute key leader engagement with the S-3, 2916th AV BN. Intelligence reported an insurgent target After 10 minutes on the ground at Barasu, a large detona-
mayor of the training village Barasu. in the vicinity of Barasu, which had to be neutralized prior to tion of a training improvised explosive device could be heard
infiltration of the ground force commander. The decision was near the security team, followed by cries for help and moaning.
The task of transporting leadership, via a Blackhawk, is rather made to have two Sokol aircraft, armed with Multiple Integrated Those who were role-playing casualties were gathered and a pe-
routine for A Company, 2916th AV BN – also known as the Laser Engagement Systems, destroy the target to provide a safe rimeter was set by the remaining security team. Moments later,
“Desert Hawks.” They fly senior leaders into the training area landing for the Blackhawks at Barasu. a radio operator reported the incident and called for immediate
several times a month, while rotational brigade combat teams
“fight” the NTC opposing force in the same area. However, Mission See AVIATION, page 5
this was a battalion-level exercise that included assets from: B Aircraft lined up at Barstow-Daggett Airfield early with Sokol
Co., the battalion’s enemy threat replication aircraft (LUH-72 aircraft leading the flight, but approximately 10 minutes before
Lakota, call sign “Sokol”) performing as a friendly attack asset; the flight, Garber’s concerned voice came over the headset:
C Co. air medical evacuation teams, and; Headquarters and “You’re burning gas that you haven’t planned on burning.
Headquarters Company, 2916th AV BN, as mission command The ground force commander thinks he’s getting 45 minutes
and the ground security team. of loiter time. Is that still the case?”
Jenkins, piloting a UH-60 replied, “That is less likely based
“Each quarter we conduct a battalion collective training off of the changes. We started engines too early, I will have to
event that allows us to validate the battalion mission tasks compute our new loiter time.”
and confirm standardization across the flight companies,” said The commander would later give his feedback during an
2916th AV BN Commander Lt. Col. William Garber. “It helps after-action review, explaining that inaccurate route planning
keep our aviation skills sharp for larger operations and provides and early engine start cost the ground force commander 10
an excellent venue for leaders to test their skills with a more minutes of valuable engagement time.
complex environment.” During the flight, the Sokol aircraft signaled to the UH-60s
over the radio: insurgent target destroyed. Shortly after, the
Planning Desert Hawks delivered the ground force commander with
Planning an exercise of this scale began days earlier at
Barstow-Daggett Airfield and covered route planning, weather,

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