The Camp Grayling based Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicle unit, returned from the Republic of Latvia June 29, 2014, where U.S. and Latvian military forces worked closely together to improve readiness.
The Shadow platoon spent the past two months participating in military exercises Namejs, Flaming Sword and Saber Strike 14. In each of these military exercises the Shadow platoon provided aerial surveillance to enhance the capabilities of the military forces of NATO partners who were involved in the training exercise.
The Shadow commander, Capt. Mark Wurth said, "We conducted the first UAS flights in the Baltics, the first UAS flights from both Lielvarde and Adazi airfields. We achieved our goal of integrating our Shadow UAS system with the Latvian military air and ground controllers which validates the interoperability of our forces.
Spc. Brendan Shavers said, "I had a number of different experiences, mission related and through interaction with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies such as the United Kingdom Forces. We got to play rugby with the UK Forces, my first time doing that. I also worked through my first "wave off" landing approach during a mission. This occurs when the aircraft is being controlled by the automatic landing sytem; if a cross wind or other disturbance puts the aircraft out of safety control limits for the ALS, we resume control and have it make another pass until conditions change, allowing it to land. We were successful and the aircraft was able to land safely."
Spc. Daniel Welburn said, "I enjoyed Latvia, learned about 30 words and 10 phrases of Latvian, but it's good to be home. The exercises we participated in brought up my proficiency level and our platoon is well prepared for our next mission, the XCTC exercise in July. My military professional development and personal education goals are going to be advanced soon. I'm looking forward to attending Warrior Leader School in the future, and in August, I'll be attending Healthcare Administration classes at Grand Valley State University."
The UAS platoon conducted recovery operations and took care of post-mission administrative requirements the following day. Sgt. 1st Class Richard Ochoa, the UAS platoon sergeant said, "We aren't just stowing our gear, we're preparing for our next mission, now. Our goal is to prepare our equipment for the July 14-18 XCTC. We will support the 119th Field Artillery during this exercise and we're going to have our mobilization boxes staged so we can load up as soon as we assemble and conduct flight operations in a timely manner once we get in the field to support the artillery. We are home for now, however, our operations tempo isn't letting up anytime soon!"
The UAS platoon performed its aerial surveillance mission for almost two months overseas in three exerices supporting Latvian forces and other NATO nations.The operators and maintainers of the UAS platoon honed their respective skill sets and broadened their world views at the same time, while performing many first time events in Latvia. It is fair to say the UAS platoon sharpened their performance edge, made history in the Summer of 2014 and will continue to do so in upcoming years.
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