On Course to the Summit!
President’s Cockpit / MG Jeff Schloesser, U.S. Army Retired: It is hard to believe it’s already February! We at AAAA National Headquarters and your National Executive Group are hard at work to make our Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit this April a REALITY. A UH-60 Black Hawk belonging to 5th Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, awaits take-off during Agile Combat Employment training at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, Dec. 18, 2020./ U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY SSGT. RYAN LACKEY As a reminder, it is 21-23 April at the Gaylord Opryland, in Nashville, TN. I wrote last month that we are taking every...
Learn MoreExercising the Gold Book in a Decisive Action Environment
From Field / By LTC Kevin J. Consedine: The 3-82nd General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB), 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade recently supported the 2-101 Brigade Combat Team (BCT) “Strike,” 159th Infantry Brigade in the first Decisive Action (DA) Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) rotation since the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a four-month moratorium on collective training, Paratroopers of 3-82 GSAB were prepared for a rotation defined by COVID-19 protocols, atrophy of skill sets, and August temperatures in Louisiana. However, after a gun raid and two battalion-sized air assaults in the opening week of force-on-force, the narrative evolved into a viability assessment of...
Learn MoreTraining for Flaw Detection Is Vital Prior To Assembly
Aviation Maintenance / Sustainment / By Della Adame:A supply chain is only as strong as the weakest link and when it comes to the rotary Aviation industry, weakness is prohibited. Notwithstanding unexpected delays in production and training due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Corpus Christi Army Depot’s (CCAD) Non-destructive Testing (NDT) program ensures that it is the strongest link in the supply chain for the U.S. Army. CCAD artisan Paul Zaklukiewicz, Non-Destructive Tester applies a concentrated fluorescent oil penetrant to the aircraft component to help detect defects under black light. / U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY DELLE ADAME, CORPUS CHRISTI ARMY...
Learn MoreModernizing the Organic Industrial Base
Aviation Maintenance/Sustainment / By Mr. Kevin Besser: The Army Vision, a transformational path to Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) 2028/2035, is distilled by the Secretary of the Army into three key priorities: People, Readiness, and Modernization. It heralds unprecedented introduction of technologically-advanced weapon systems and Warfighter capabilities, undergirded by a materiel enterprise that is critical to sustainment and repair of these systems during peacetime, surge, and large-scale contingencies. The U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Life Cycle Management Command (AMCOM), headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is operationalizing MDO 2028/2035 priorities across our diverse workforce and portfolio of Aviation and Missile weapon systems, as...
Learn MoreHistory of the 128th Aviation Brigade
128th Aviation Brigade/ By CPT Timothy Dore: The 128th Aviation Brigade’s motto “Born Under Fire” permeates everything we do as a unit in cultivating the future of Army Aviation Maintainers under the fire of rigorous training. 128th Aviation Brigade Commander, COL Bryan A. Morgan (center), with the brigade leadership at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA., September 2, 2020./ U.S. ARMY 128TH AVN. BDE. PHOTO Although our lineage is short (the Brigade was activated in 1990 in Panama as a provisional unit in Operation Just Cause and served until 1995), the team at Fort Eustis is rich with history, experiencing birth and...
Learn MoreMinimizing the Cost of Sustainment
AMCOM Commander Update / By MG K. Todd Royar: Army Aviation has been, and will continue to be, critical to how we as an Army fight. The branch provides a fundamental advantage in the combined arms fight that adversaries cannot match. SPC Coleton Clavijo, a 15T Black Hawk repairer assigned to 3rd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, is working daily to make sure maintenance gets done on the UH-60 Black Hawks. Every member of the team enables 25th Combat Aviation Brigade to remain ready at all times./ U.S. ARMY PHOTO SGT SARAH D. SANGSTER In order to...
Learn MoreAviation Sustainment Across the Strategic Support Area
This is Your Army! / By GEN Edward M. Daly: The U.S. Army Materiel Command must remain engaged in our Service’s role in both competition and conflict, all while navigating through unpredictable crises and embracing change across our institution. Armament Platoon conducting re-arms with Shops and Maintenance platoon D Co/1-3rd Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, on an AH-64D Apache at Range 301, Grafenwöhr Training Area on July 20./ U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SGT JUSTIN ASHAW As a stakeholder in the Army Modernization Enterprise (AME), AMC’s sustainment capabilities and global reach allow us to play a critical role in...
Learn MoreHypogonadism
Ask the Flight Surgeon / By LTC Roger Williams, M.D. & CPT Karl Swinson, M.D.: Q: Last year I started an over-the-counter testosterone booster. Now I hear a testosterone guideline has been published. Should I stop, change, or continue my current medication? army.mil photo FS: No aeromedical policy letter (APL) existed when this crew member started supplementation of testosterone (an androgen). However, all flight personnel should contact their aeromedical provider before starting any medications, including over the counter (OTC) medicines or supplements. Current Army Regulations? The new Hypogonadism APL requires aeromedical providers to screen for: diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, obesity, exposure...
Learn MoreMaking 2021 Resolutions Meaningful
AAAA Family Forum / By Judy Konitzer: We celebrated holidays and brought in 2021 with a serving of “black-eyed peas” for good luck and a desire to make resolutions more meaningful. I found the following suggestions from two Veterans to be worthy of consideration. GRAPHIC BY MEGHAN HUTTO Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw on Veterans Day shared his philosophy that living with certain principles and beliefs can make you happy and successful, and we should not be forgetful why Veterans fought for us in the first place. It’s important to be helpful, honest, caring, and a loving patriot while loving yourself, as...
Learn MoreSustaining Army Aviation During LSCO
Branch Chief’s Corner / By MG David J. Francis: As a nation, we rely on our ability to project power from the Continental United States and globally integrate the Joint Force’s actions. U.S. Army SPC Jedidiah Gaddie, CH-47 helicopter repairer with Bravo Company, 628th Aviation Support Battalion, 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade performs routine maintenance on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter at an airfield in the 28th ECAB’s area of operations in the Middle East./ U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SPC JOYCE AVILA-COLLAZO The Army requires that we establish and train as an expeditionary force capable of executing a series of rapidly...
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