GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - The Theater Aviation Sustainment Manager - Europe supported the 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment's exercise at Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels last month by providing technical expertise and logistics planning assistance.
The TASM-E, an element of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade, sent seven contract employees to assist the unit with both scheduled and unscheduled aircraft maintenance and provided a downed-aircraft recovery team for the exercise.
"The contractors provided the 1st Bn., 214th Avn. Regt. with greater flexibility during the exercise," explained Lt. Col. Kye Allen, the commander of the TASM-E. "Not only do they augment the maintenance team for the unit, they also give the unit more options in their approach to logistics support while they operate from their home base."
The 1st Bn., 214th Avn. Regt. participated by supporting the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment's exercise. The 2nd SCR is preparing for a deployment later this year.
"We supported [the 2nd SCR] with five UH-60 Black Hawks and crews and two medical evacuation helicopters and crews," said Maj. Christopher Wingate, the 1st Bn., 214th Avn. Regt. operations officer. "We provided training to the 2nd SCR's ground units by conducting air movement of platoons and companies throughout the exercise area and also provided training and exercises on the use of air medevac assets."
Wingate believes these exercises help prepare units for their deployments.
"Through these exercises, the ground units train on the use of helicopters so they understand both the capabilities and limitations of aviation support in a combat zone," he explained.
Wingate thinks the TASM-E assistance in the exercise was an integral part of his unit's success.
"TASM-E helped us by conducting both scheduled and unscheduled aircraft maintenance on our helicopters at both Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels training areas in order to keep all aircraft in flying condition," he said. "We couldn't have executed the training flights we did without their around-the-clock aviation maintenance support."
Supporting military exercises is a regular mission for the TASM-E.
"We support exercises throughout the European and African theaters eight to 12 times per year," Allen said. "We have a great deal of involvement in exercises in Bulgaria, Romania and Uganda as well as those in Germany. In addition to our regular maintenance operations and supporting exercises, we also execute DART missions and presidential and vice-presidential missions."
The TASM-E is responsible for aviation maintenance, reset and limited depot-level repair capability for the European theater of operations. Its link to the 405th AFSB connects the unit to the entire range of the Army Sustainment Command and Army Materiel Command capabilities.
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