FORT CARSON, Colo.-It's been a busy couple of years for 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, and things won't be slowing down any time soon.
S ince January 2007, the unit has deployed for Joint Task Force North operations along the Mexican border, deployed to Iraq for 15 months and now is in the process of picking up the entire squadron and moving to Fort Riley, Kan. The squadron's higher headquarters, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, is at Fort Riley.
"In January 2007, we did Joint Task Force North operations along the border of Mexico and the United States doing counterdrug/counterinsurgency operations," said Maj. Gary Cunningham, squadron operations officer.
Although the squadron's OH-58D Kiowa Warriors are designed for both reconnaissance and attack missions, the crews performed strictly reconnaissance along the Mexican border.
"It was pure reconnaissance operations: find the individuals that were infiltrating with - 95 percent of the time - with drugs and call that in to the border patrol who would action in on the individuals," he said.
The missions proved to be beneficial as the squadron learned during the JTF North deployment that it would deploy to Iraq in September 2007.
"It was very good training and very good realistic operations to get our aircrews in that mindset of looking for the enemy and seeing that something doesn't look right and calling it in."
During the Iraq deployment, the squadron's crews flew more than 30,000 flight hours and conducted more than 4,500 reconnaissance, security and attack missions. The unit's fuel handlers pumped two million gallons of aviation fuel and the maintenance crews kept the aircraft flying at a 94-percent operational readiness rate, above the Army's standard of 85 percent, Cunningham said.
The unit suffered no combat losses of Soldiers or equipment.
"We didn't have to do any memorials while we were over there. I think that's a huge accomplishment to bring everybody back," said Capt. Josh England, a squadron operations officer.
About 10 percent of the unit's Soldiers are at Fort Riley to stand up the unit there while the remaining 34 crews and the OH-58D maintenance Soldiers are at Fort Carson continuing to train, Cunningham said.
"The crews that are flying and going to PCS (permanent change of station) to Fort Riley, those crews have the priority to continue to hone their skills and conduct retraining and reintegration," he said, adding that many from the squadron will PCS to other OH-58D units throughout the Army, and a handful of support personnel will stay at Fort Carson and be absorbed into other units. "We have an aerial gunnery planned in April just to hone their skills. Right now, the maintenance personnel are crawling through the aircraft with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that there are no maintenance issues.
"The troop instructor pilots are taking the pilots out and giving them local area orientation and familiarization flights here at Fort Carson. There are some guys that came to us directly in the desert, and they've never flown here."
While the terrain and altitude will be considerably different at Fort Riley, some things will remain quite the same, making the transition a little easier for 1-6th CAV Soldiers.
"The local area (at Fort Riley) is very small compared to Colorado Springs, but there is a very good support base; the local populace is very pro-military," Cunningham said.
Still, the move could be difficult on some Soldiers who have spent several years at Fort Carson - beginning back when the unit was part of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
"The move to (Fort) Riley is tough, because we just got back (from Iraq)," England said. "We're getting all of our aircraft back, trying to get all of our aircraft and equipment reset at the same time while trying to get our crews moved over there and get our equipment moved over there, so it's tough.
"Some of our enlisted guys have been here 10-12 years when this unit was with the ACR. Now it's time to finally up and move from their homes that they've been in for the past decade and that their kids have grown up in. At the same time, it's pretty phenomenal to keep guys in the Army at one place that long."
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