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Photo: Members of Det. 1, 185th Aviation Company, show respect for the posting of the colors as the ceremony welcoming them home from deployment begins. Holding the unit guidon is Sgt. Robert Kirkham, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew chief. With him is Sgt. 1st Class William Adcock, the detachment’s noncommissioned officer-in-charge. (Georgia National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Roy Henry) |
earns honor following
NATO mission
By Staff Sgt. Roy Henry
Georgia National Guard
Public Affairs Office
ARMY AVIATION FLIGHT FACILITY, WINDER – Six months after their return, flight crews and ground personnel assigned to Detachment 1, 185th Aviation Company were honored for their service in support of the NATO stabilization and peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
Family members, unit supporters and fellow Guardsmen gathered here, Saturday, May 3, 2008, pay homage to the Soldiers of what was once the 148th Air Ambulance Company. Among those congratulating the aviators for a job well-done, was Brig. Gen. Maria Britt, Georgia Army Guard commander.
“We’re finally home,” said Sgt. Robert Kirkham, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew chief who made the deployment. “Yeah, we’ve been back for quite a while now, back with our families and friends, but this…this really brings closure to the year that we were away.
“It’s great to finally be home,” he said, smiling as he looked out over the crowd. “It’s great to finally be home.”
The 148th was the only Georgia Army aviation unit still flying the Vietnam War era UH-1 “Huey” helicopter. It was July 2006, not long after its re-designation to the 185th, that it got the call to deploy.
Another unit had been alerted to deploy, but declined the opportunity, said Col. Brent Bracewell, 171st Aviation Group commander. The Marietta-based 171st is the 185th’s parent headquarters.
When the active Army and National Guard Bureau asked if the Georgia unit was up to the task, he told them that it the unit was ready. He also reminded them that 185th would be doing that job with Hueys.
“The powers-that-be at the time, then asked if our fliers and ground crews could still do the job if given the UH-60s with which to do it,” Bracewell explained. “Again, we let them know that would not be a problem.”
And apparently it wasn’t.
During its time assigned to Task Force Eagle with Michigan’s 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment, the 185th completed more that 4,200 flying hours, with no major accidents or incidents, according to unit statistics. Quite an accomplishment by anyone’s standards, said Sgt. 1st Class Tim Loveless, another Black Hawk crew chief who went with the detachment.
“An even greater accomplishment is the fact everyone came home,” said Det. 1’s commander, 1st LT. Austin Allen. “The missions were good, the fact that we got to work alongside our allies was great and the flight hours are certainly impressive, but more important – to me, to us all– is that 19 of us came home.”
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