VENTSPILS, Latvia - A CH-47F from Company B, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y., participated in an aircraft display at Ventspils International Airport in Latvia, May 6, 2017.
The 3rd GSAB is deployed to Latvia to support Operation Atlantic Resolve, which is a U.S. -led endeavor to fulfill the U.S. commitment to NATO by rotating throughout Europe and training alongside NATO Allies and partners.
The aircraft display featured 10 helicopters and planes from within Latvia. Included in the display was a Mi-17-1V Hip and a PZL Mi-2 Helicopter from the Latvian Air Force and a YL-HML Agusta A 109E Power from the Latvian Border Guard. The crew of the Mi-17-1V Hip opened its doors to an inside walkthrough and a closer view of equipment inside the aircraft, such as gear and kits.
The Latvian National Guard was also present in support of the event, holding a booth and activities for its audience. The unit's booth held pamphlets, military equipment and weapons used by the Latvian National Guard. For activities, the booth had a small, timed obstacle course for a child to don gear, carry ammo cans, crawl through a camouflage net tunnel, and pull a sandbag with rope. The booth also had a timed plank challenge.
Booths at the aircraft display sold food for the audience, with kebabs, hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, ice cream and drinks on the menu.
U.S. Army Sgt. Amanda Wallace, a flight engineer with 2nd Flight Platoon, Bravo Company, 3-10 GSAB, was present at the aircraft display.
The unit wanted to show their support for the display, Sgt. Wallace said.
"Getting out here is very important, not only to us but I believe, with our Latvian partners and Nato Allies, to be able to show our support and hopefully give the public a little insight of our aircraft and what we're doing here," said Wallace.
Working closely with NATO Allies presents difficulties like language barriers, but working hand in hand in a deployed environment has its advantages, Wallace said.
"There is some of our base taskings that we don't get to use a lot within the states, but we've been able to go through paradrops (dropping people and equipment by parachute from an aircraft in flight), LCLAs (Low-Cost, Low-Altitude Aerial Resupply), are a lot of different types of assaults with different countries," Wallace said.
----------------
U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned in its 51st country area of responsibility to advance American strategic interests in Europe and Eurasia. The relationships we build during more than 1,000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnership and enhance global security.
Social Sharing