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| A CH-47 "Chinook" from the Maryland National Guard's B Co, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation, prepares for takeoff at the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, Louisiana, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. (Photo Credit: Sgt. Michael Davis) |
By: Wording OD
Two dozen New York U.S. Army National Guard air
crew and aviators from Rochester are preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan
early in 2017 while also participating in the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat
Teams Joint Readiness Training Center exercise here with 5,000 other Soldiers.
The Joint Training Center allows Army units to conduct combat training
in a realistic environment which features a well-trained opposing force,
civilian role-players on the battlefield, high-tech systems which monitor the
action and observer-controllers to evaluate unit actions.
For most aviation units supporting
JRTC, their primary focus is moving troops and equipment throughout the
training area in support of the units being evaluated. For the aviators and
crews of Detachment 1, Company B, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation, they've added
another focus -- preparing for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. The Rochester-based aviation unit operates CH-47 "Chinook" helicopters, used widely in
the Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq. They
have proven immensely valuable in the mountains of Afghanistan because the twin
rotors provide lift at high altitudes and in cold weather.
The heavy lift helicopter can carry
between 33 to 55 troops and lift up to 13 tons of cargo slung underneath the
fuselage. The helicopter is just under 100 feet long and 19 feet high. It is
powered by two turbine engines driving two rotor blades that are 60 feet in
diameter. Nicknamed "Kong," the
Soldiers of Co. B, 3-126th Aviation deployed to Afghanistan twice to support
United States forces there. The unit is again preparing to support another
overseas deployment in 2017.
SOURCE: armyrecognition.com
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