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Return to First Friday Briefing Savannah CH-47 UnitHeads to Afghanistan Article courtesy Savannah Morning
News
Sooner or later, this was bound to happen. With ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a National Guard helicopter unit at Hunter Army Airfield knew it was only a matter of time before it was called to active duty. On Wednesday, 102 soldiers of Detachment 1, Company F, 131st Aviation Regiment, left for a year-long tour that eventually will take them to Afghanistan. The Georgia National Guardsmen are pilots, mechanics and fuel pumpers who work on Chinook helicopters. "We've been ready and waiting for this for the last two years," said Staff Sgt. William Swavely, a maintenance supervisor. It will be the first combat deployment in the history of the unit, said Sgt. 1st Class Willie Brown, who has served in it for more than 15 years. Every other aviation unit within the Georgia Army Guard has been called to duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "It's a proud day for us," Brown said. The Guard sent the unit off Wednesday morning with a ceremony at Hunter Army Airfield.
About 1 p.m., six Chinooks lifted off from Hunter, circled Savannah as a farewell to their hometown and then flew to Fort Benning. The mechanics, fuelers and other soldiers rode buses. At Benning, the Guardsmen will pair up with their parent company, which is based in Birmingham, Ala. The troops will spend the next month preparing for the deployment by getting medical exams and vaccinations, writing wills and updating pilot certifications. To get to Afghanistan, the helicopters, trucks and equipment containers will be loaded onto cargo planes. "I'd be lying if I didn't say there was a degree of anxiety and apprehension, but, overall, everybody is excited to be going over and contributing to the war on terrorism," said Capt. Steve Hartman, the detachment's deployment commander. In Afghanistan, the unit's Chinooks will be called to haul troops and cargo throughout the country. The twin-rotor helicopter can carry up to 30 troops dressed in full combat gear or up to 23,000 pounds of equipment and supplies. Pilots and air crews expect to dodge enemy bullets, but ground fire in Afghanistan hasn't been nearly as threatening as it has been in Iraq. The desert heat, high altitudes and the demands of flying at night will be the biggest challenges, said Staff Sgt. Richard Sparks, a flight engineer. "The actual environment is probably more dangerous than the enemy over there," he said. As a National Guard unit, the Chinooks belong to the state of Georgia. But the unit trains with the active-duty Army at Fort Stewart and Hunter. Most of the unit's deployments have sent it across Georgia and Florida to help with floods, blizzards and forest fires. It also went on a humanitarian mission to Honduras in 1997. Because it's a Guard unit, about two-thirds of the troops have full-time jobs in addition to their military duty, said Hartman, who works at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Their employers must hold their positions while they are deployed. The Guardsmen have spent the last couple of weeks tying up loose ends at their jobs and homes. They've also had to pack and load equipment at Hunter. Swavely, a truck driver, has a wife and five children. He made last-minute home repairs and took his wife on a date Tuesday night to see the third "Lord of the Rings" movie. On Tuesday, Swavely spoke of the deployment from the back of a moving van where he and Spc. Marcus Hursey of Springfield had finished loading duffel bags. Hursey was sad about leaving behind a newborn son -- his first child. "I was just happy I got to see him be born," he said. "After that, there's not much I can do about it. "We're ready to get with it. Let's
cowboy up." |
