Intervertebral Disk Disease
Ask the Flight Surgeon / MAJ Theresa M. Long: Q: I am a senior UH-60 pilot who was recently permanently grounded for chronic lower back pain after having lumbar disc fusion. I still have some recurrent numbness, tingling and pain in my legs that requires treatment with a drug called Gabapentin. I currently have a P2 for no sit-ups and an alternate aerobic event. I have a friend in the Infantry who was sent to the medical evaluation board (MEB) and medically retired for almost the exact same thing. Why doesn’t my flight surgeon submit me for an MEB too?...
Learn MoreNot An Ordinary Fire Season
Reserve Component / By MAJ Sean Summerall: The California Army National Guard’s 40th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade (ECAB) (TF Phoenix) is no stranger to wildland firefighting. After a light season in 2019, all appeared well going into the 2020 season until COVID struck and hampered some of the normal preparation. CH-47F aircrews from the California Army National Guard conducting water bucket operations during recent wildfire support./ LOS ANGELES TIMES PHOTO BY MARCUS YAM – BY PERMISSION The California Military Department along with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), United States Forest Service (USFS) Region 5, and the...
Learn MoreDenied, Degraded, and Disrupted Space Operational Environment – D3SOE
Branch Chief’s Corner / By MG David J. Francis: Operating effectively in the space domain is a top Department of Defense (DOD) priority. Since Operation Desert Storm, the reliance on space-enabled equipment has expanded exponentially. Pilots from Company B, Task Force Lobos, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, conduct pre-flight checks from the cockpit of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter April 6. / U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SGT FELIX ACEVEDO, 1ST ACB, 1ST CAV. DIV. PUBLIC AFFAIRS This equipment not only enables detailed planning and preparation for a full range of operations from dispersed and remote locations, but it is...
Learn MoreOn 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...
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