Alaska National Guard team achieves milestone in Army aviation

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON — Alaska Army National Guard aviators recently graduated from the Marine Corps Weapons and Tactics Instructor course.

According to a recent press release, this was the first time a conventional (not special forces) Army Black Hawk unit engaged in the highly competitive WTI course.

A 14-soldier team from the 207th Aviation Troop Command stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson participated in an intensive seven-week course at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. They flew two UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters for over 144 hours through 16 progressively challenging simulated combat missions.

“When we go to war, it’s going to be a joint fight,” U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dave Currier stated in the press release.

Purcell stressed the importance of cooperation and the benefits of integrating Army aviators with Marine Corps counterparts.

“There are some missions where the Hueys by themselves may not have a large enough class. Throw in a couple 60s and now you get a really great training environment,” Purcell stated in the press release. “Other missions where CH-53s are doing a lot of heavy lift, major troop inserts, having a couple 60s that can go out and do CASEVAC missions, go out and do smaller [Tactical Air Control Party] inserts, some recon inserts, and integrate into that larger mission provides a huge value.”

AKARNG UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot and recent WTI graduate, Capt. Cody McKinney expressed appreciation for the opportunity to fly with a variety of aircrafts from different components while training on core war-fighting functions.

"The experience gained here allows us to focus our efforts on increasing our lethality for our federal mission but at the same time it also makes us more effective for our state mission to help the people that rely on us back home," McKinney stated in the press release. “With Alaska’s unique strategic positioning, it’s imperative to understand the evolving threat landscape and hone our skills to effectively counter dynamic and complex future conflicts.”

McKinney indicated thar planning to attend the course took over two years.

The Alaska Air National Guard transported both UH-60 helicopters via a 176th Wing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft from JBER to Yuma, and the Utah ARNG’s 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion offered a spare helicopter and government vehicle to the team.

“All of these different organizations gave up the best people that they had, their equipment and their time to be able to try to make Army aviation better as a whole,” McKinney stated in the press release. “We knew that this was the apex of what rotary wing aviation has in the United States.”

The team assembled numerous UH-60 Black Hawk mechanics for the demanding schedule with over 30 periods of instruction, six days a week, 12 hours a day.

MCAS Yuma is situated in the Sonoran Desert which is known for its extreme temperatures, endless dust, and vast expanses of land edged by rocky, rugged mountains, but the Alaska Guardsmen adapted to the new environment

“With all of the training flights that they've been doing here, they run those helicopters through the ringers,” UH-60 Black Hawk mechanic with 207th AVN TC Spc. Hannah Kinder stated in the press release. “When they get back to the flight line, they're covered in sand and dust. We wipe them down and make sure that they run smooth for the next day.”

Purcell indicated that the MTI course is designed to integrate all Marine aviation which includes ground support, command and control, crew chiefs and other officers and enlisted personnel.

“They have to know how to balance risk, the red threat and the blue threat, that's out there so that when we go into combat, we know exactly the threats that we're accepting and what we're not going to accept in order to achieve mission success,” Purcell stated in the press release.

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Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com