Readiness: Essential roles of the Warrant Aviation Maintenance Officers
Aviation Branch Maintenance Officer / By CW5 Leonte I. Cardona: Within the Army team, Soldiers have unique positions within critical mission sets. In Army Aviation, we continuously operate, employ, maintain and manage attack, assault, or cargo assets in support of the ground combatant commander. A 101st Combat Avn. Bde. UH-60 at Forward Operating Base Bastion, Afghanistan. AMOs are critical to generating the sorties the joint team expects from Army aviation. / U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY CW5 LEONTE I. CARDONA As a branch, we conduct individual, crew and collective training to focus and prepare our personnel, resulting in the best aircrews...
Learn MoreHow We as a Nation Will Remain Resilient
Family Forum / By Judy Konitzer: Our entire family spent an amazing Thanksgiving holiday in New York City. And although I hate to admit it, I was a bit intimidated when thinking about all the possibilities for terrorist activity especially after the Paris incident. We had family arriving on 5 separate flights from different parts of the country and made plans to take in the many attractions that New York had to offer, especially for the holidays. Bonnie Carroll was one of 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 24, 2015 at the White House. She is...
Learn MoreAviation Restructuring Initiative (ARI)
By COL John M. Cyrulik and CPT John M. Commerford: The 1st Infantry Division Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB, 1ID) recently completed a significant milestone in ARI by modernizing the CAB’s Heavy Attack Reconnaissance Squadron (H-ARS). The 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment (1-6 H-ARS) at Fort Riley, Kansas is the first active component Army unit to transform its fleet of OH-58D Kiowa Warrior aircraft to the AH-64D Apache from the Army National Guard (ARNG). LTC Travis M. Habhab, commander, Gunfighters, 1-1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, arrives at Marshall Army Airfield, Oct. 15 at Fort Riley, Kansas....
Learn MoreInnovation In Today’s Fiscal Environment
Arming the Force / By MG L. Neil Thurgood and COL James S. Romero: PEO Missiles and Space (PEO M&S) and the Joint Attack Munition Systems (JAMS) Project Office are mission focused to develop, field, and sustain versatile weapon systems for the U.S. Army, the Joint Force, and our coalition Warfighters providing a decisive combat advantage. HELLFIRE launch illustration Production of these weapons and improving them remain key aspects of providing critical capabilities to Warfighters ensuring the Army can effectively destroy current and future threats. The challenge we continue to face is being able to conduct modernization of existing equipment,...
Learn MoreCCAD – Looking Beyond the Horizon
Aviation Maintenance / By COL Billingsley Garner Pogue III and CSM Stephen D. Odom: The Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) has a single unwavering mission: to support U.S. Army and Department of Defense Aviation with Joint helicopter readiness and sustainment. Our Joint Force’s helicopters are critical to national security around the globe where they provide transport, combat support, rescue, and humanitarian aid. In today’s complex security environment, our Nation’s Warfighters are called to respond to a growing number of never-before-seen challenges in Army Aviation as we face increasing threats from emergent adversaries employing the latest technology and weapon systems. With...
Learn MoreAMCOM’s Support to Soldiers
Aviation Maintenance / By Mr. Sammy Burns: While Soldiers are the forefront of the readiness equation, the Army remains reliant on external support to meet the high OPTEMPO inherent to aviation. The AMCOM Logistic Center’s (ALC) Aviation Field Maintenance Directorate (AFMD) enhances the Army’s Aviation maintenance support capabilities and aircraft readiness worldwide. As one of AMCOM’s key enablers to the field, AFMD provides augmentation to help meet requirements and continuously adapts to support dynamic global maintenance needs. A UH-60 covered at Dobbins AFB, GA. AMCOM employees provide a wide range of support, including deployment/redeployment, phase maintenance, transport, and other tasks...
Learn MoreReadiness is a Team Sport
Aviation Maintenance / By MG James M. Richardson: We make better decisions when we have less money. –Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder,Apple Computer: It is fifteen years since I deployed with my Apache battalion to Afghanistan during the earliest stages of Operation Enduring Freedom. At that moment in time, Army Aviation had spent the previous ten years training for combat at a reduced operational tempo (OPTEMPO), and essentially living off the parts purchased to support Operation Desert Storm. While we were trained and proficient in our battle tasks, Army Aviation as a whole was not prepared to sustain deployed forces in combat...
Learn MoreOn Course
President’s Cockpit / By BG E.J. Sinclair, Ret.: We are now only a few months away from the 2016 AAAA Annual Mission Solutions Summit and I will give you a brief situation report in a minute but first I want to review what we accomplished last month. CW5 (Ret.) Dave Cooper, our VP Membership; LTC (Ret.) Jan Drabczuk, VP Chapters; and COL (Ret.) Mark Weiss, VP Reserve Component Affairs were able to visit the AAAA National HQ in Connecticut, December 16-17, 2015, meet the staff, and solidify plans for 2016. A full day of intense meetings covered everything from chapter...
Learn MoreFuture Vertical Lift – Getting Affordability into the Design
AMCOM Commander / By MG James M. Richardson: The Future Vertical Lift (FVL) effort is gaining momentum across the Army and across the Department of Defense (DoD). It may be unprecedented in DoD procurement to have such a wide range of aviation users come together to participate in the development and acquisition of a family of systems. The H-60 rebuild line at Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD). Army Aviation must leverage its knowledge of current system performance to build affordability into future aircraft designs. / U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY CCAD PUBLIC AFFAIRS All DoD Services are contributing to the capabilities...
Learn MoreHo, Ho, Ho…
Reserve Component, Aviation / By COL J. Ray Davis: Greetings again from your Army National Guard (ARNG). It’s December. Cold temperatures, lousy flying weather, and holiday schedules all add up to not much flying. How better to keep your edge in this low OPTEMPO month than with simulation. North Carolina Guardsmen training on a Shadow Crew Trainer. / NORTH CAROLINA NATIONAL GUARD PHOTO BY MICHAELINE KOLBICKA The ARNG’s aviation simulation capacity is quite substantial – over 100 simulators total – use it to your best advantage. UH-60 – Since the Guard owns about 900 Black Hawks, we’ve got plenty of...
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