FORT BLISS, Texas -- Division West observer-coach/trainers from Fort Hood, Texas recently traveled here for environmental flight training as part of the Ohio National Guard's mobilization training.
1st Battalion, 351st Aviation Regiment, 166th Aviation Brigade OC/Ts trained the Ohio Guard's 1st Battalion, 137th Aviation Regiment aviators and crews on proper high altitude flight procedures as well as appropriate take-off and dust landing techniques in an extreme dust filled environment.
"The heavy dust in environments like Kuwait and Fort Bliss makes it more difficult to see, forcing pilots to use different techniques to control the helicopter than they would in a clear dust-free environment," said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Eric Petricka, an instructor pilot with the 1-137th Aviation Regiment. "This opportunity will serve the Pale Riders well as they go forward."
The 1-137th is an aviation task comprised of Guard elements from Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Mississippi, all training to deploy in support of worldwide contingency operations. To ensure the flight environment would resemble what the 137th would face downrange, the 351st temporarily deployed instructor pilots, crew chiefs, and support Soldiers from Fort Hood, to one of only a hand-full of locations in the United States that can pass for the real thing -- Fort Bliss.
In true train-the-trainer fashion, 1-351st instructor pilots first demonstrated dust take-offs and flight and landing tactics and procedures in a desert environment to instructor pilots assigned to the 137th. The 137th instructors, in-turn, flew with, and certified their own pilots and crew chiefs, setting the tone and standards for all flights the 137th will make during its deployment.
"The integration of active component and National Guard training was aimed to fully support the Army Total Force Policy," said Capt. Jeremy K. Walters, 1-351st Operations
Officer.
During the training, the 137th also completed more than 375 hours using night-vision goggles, completed individual proficiency training for organic aviators, and provided flight support for several Fort Bliss active component units as well as the German Air Defense Artillery School where Soldiers learned about air assault operations during an orientation flight. The 402nd Field Artillery Brigade, Division West, also conducted multiple iterations of medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) training with 137th aviators.
Despite unfavorable weather, the 137th and 166th successfully redeployed all personnel and equipment to Fort Hood and are continuing to work together as they train and prepare the 137th for operations downrange.
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