Nebraska Guard unit conducts Helocast training at Fort Riley, Milford Lake

FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Provide the means and opportunities for training, and they will come -- the National Guard Soldiers from the region, that is.

Returning to the region June 9 to receive Helocast training were members of Company C, Long Range Surveillance, 1st Squadron, 134th Cavalry Regiment, Nebraska Army National Guard.

The team of around 60 Soldiers manned eight boats called "Zodiacs." After briefings from castmasters, the crews made eight passes over Milford Lake where they were cast into the water from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, also from the Nebraska National Guard.

With them were Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, adjutant general for the state of Nebraska, and Command Sgt. Maj. Marty Baker, senior non-commissioned officer for the Nebraska National Guard.

Helocast training is an airborne technique used by special operations forces to insert into a military area of operation. The training ensures the units are trained and ready for any combat situation.

According to Bohac, the keys once again are the strong ties between the units he commands, the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley.

"Those relationships with both the division headquarters and the installation, are really, really strong," Bohac said. "So, what I hear from my Soldiers time and time again is, 'hey they want us here (at Fort Riley), they make sure we get what we need to accomplish our training objectives,' and that, of course, drives readiness."

Bohac described the 1st Sqdn., 134th Cav. Regt., as one that is "on the march and getting to where they need to be with the training models we're using today. And that's a function of having great training access here at Fort Riley and to the ranges."

According to Baker, these kinds of opportunities, and the relationships that produced them, are vital to the readiness of his Soldiers.

"These training opportunities are great, especially when we come to Fort Riley," Baker said. "You know, we don't have these kinds of training facilities in Nebraska, and the National Guard as a whole really doesn't have what the active duty has so with the proximity to Fort Riley, it's just so important that we maintain those good relations.

There is also a morale aspect to the training of this type.

"Our Soldiers just love it," he said. "We don't have the opportunity to do this kind of stuff, but every time we come down here we do something a bit different."

This kind of training supports the on-going Total Force doctrine as outlined in the May, 2014 edition of Stand-To!, an informational web platform that discusses Army doctrine and programs.

"Army Total Force Policy directs active and reserve component forces to integrate their Soldiers and unit capabilities into pre-deployment collective training events to maintain Army readiness standards throughout components, provide predictable, recurring and sustainable operational force capabilities and prepare for deployments as multicomponent expeditionary forces," the website said.

To that end, the 1st In. Div. and Fort Riley continue to assist in the train thousands of Soldiers.