Rising Thunder 21 Combined Hellfire Missile Shoot
An AH-64D helicopter assigned to 1st Battle Helicopter Unit, Japanese Ground Self Defense Force, launches a Hellfire missile down range at Yakima Training Center, Wash., on Dec. 6, 2021. The unit is conducting a combined shoot with 1-229th Attack Battalion, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, and the combined American and Japanese observation post as part of Exercise Rising Thunder 21. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Kyle Abraham, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade)
Learn MoreGetting Back in the Saddle!
AAAA President’s Cockpit / MG Tim Crosby, U.S. Army Retired: One AAAA national event down with two more to go before the end of the calendar year. By all measures the September 11-13, 2022 Aircraft Survivability Equipment Symposium in Lexington, KY was a great success. From the over 400 attendees and the outstanding awardees and families, to the terrific industry partner support in the exhibit hall, we were very fortunate indeed to have such a record-breaking event considering we had not held one since 2019! See page xx for more details and photos. All that said, I feel I owe the...
Learn MoreImplementing the Strategic Plan
AAAA President’s Cockpit / MG Tim Crosby, U.S. Army Retired: Your AAAA Leadership Team has been quite busy since we left the 2022 Summit in Nashville. We assembled the AAAA National Executive Group up in Connecticut at the beginning of May. Our purpose was to review short term initiatives for the next year, and we started to implement the longer-term Strategic Plan for AAAA which was so ably drafted by COL (Ret.) Shelly Yarborough. All ten of your NEG (eight in person and two virtually) were introduced/re-introduced to the AAAA staff members. What a great team of dedicated professionals that passionately...
Learn More2022 Summit – The Best Ever!
AAAA President’s Cockpit / MG Tim Crosby, U.S. Army Retired: I hope everyone has recovered from last month’s Summit in Nashville. If you could not make it, you missed our largest and what many are declaring our best AAAA Summit ever. It may have taken us three years to get there, but the 2022 AAAA Annual Summit by all metrics was a huge success. You could just feel the energy throughout the briefings, down on the floor and at the social events. Navigating the last six months leading up to the Summit were high adventure indeed as COVID cases rose and...
Learn More1st Air Cavalry Brigade Runs in German 5K Race
1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division Public AffairsStory by Capt. Taylor CriswellSunday, March 20, 2022#####By. Capt. Taylor Criswell BAD WINDSHEIM, Germany – U.S. Soldiers from the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, currently on rotation to Europe for Atlantic Resolve, took an opportunity last week to build community relations and internal comradery by entering the annual Bad Windsheim Wine Tower Run on March 20. Col. Reggie Harper, Command Sgt. Maj. Tyrone Murphy and Chief Warrant Officer 5 Scott Durrer ran in the race, as did other leaders from the brigade. 1st Lt. Will Derrick of Charlie Company, 2-227, an avid athlete...
Learn MoreClank Stories
History / By Dario Politella: The term “Grasshopper” is no longer used with pride and affection of World War II days. Army Aviation today also frowns on the term “light” plane because the adjective no longer applies. But some of the old timers of the “organic” air observation for artillery days are still nostalgic over the printable names they were called. L-4 Piper Cub / Army Aviation photo “Air OP,”[1] “Flying Jeeps,” “Horseflies,” “Puddle Jumpers,” “Dragonflies,” “Maytag Messerschmitts.” The derivations of these terms are obvious, but just who used what first and how come would make interesting reading. For example.—During the summer...
Learn MoreOperation: URGENT FURY Part II: Plan of Action
. . . the marshal observes that the boldest and most extended plans are generally the wisest and most successful. When we are determined upon war, . . . we should carry it on vigorously and without trifling. Napoleon Bonaparte[1] * * * * * President Ronald Reagan sitting in session with members of Congress in discussions with the unfolding situation in Grenada, October 25, 1983. To the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the prospects for success outweighed the hazards. It was only ten years since the United States had incurred its worst political defeat, thus far, in the twentieth century....
Learn MoreLincoln & Lowe
Historical Perspective – Part 1 / By Mark Albertson: Thaddeus Lowe lifted off from Cincinnati, Ohio. This was a trial flight preparatory to a grander effort of aeronautical significance… Europe, via a lighter-than-aircraft across the Atlantic which required a better understanding of the jet streams and how to cope.1 For his test flight, Lowe chose his balloon, Enterprise.2 The 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, supported the idea of aerial observation and reconnaissance in the Union Army and, was a supporter of Thaddeus Lowe./ WIKIPEDIA COMMONS PHOTO Lowe’s quest ended prematurely, as he was blown off course, due south, into the Confederacy....
Learn MoreThe Invasion of Grenada — A Modern Version of Siege Warfare
Army Aviation History / By Mark Albertson: The invasion of Grenada was a modern version of siege warfare. Cuban defenders were isolated, with no hope of relief. Reminiscent, in part, of the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific Theater, 1942-1945. The Pacific Theater of operations was emblematic of a naval version of siege warfare; a version of naval warfare certainly possible as the Pacific Fleet rebounded from the drubbing incurred at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. And by 1943, the U.S. Navy was able to neutralize the Imperial Japanese Navy. Garrisons on Japanese island outposts that were bypassed were left...
Learn MoreAirmobility: A New Board on Army Aviation is Fourteen Years Overdue
Army Aviation History / By General Hamilton H. Howze, U.S. Army (Ret.) — Source: Pages 53-56, Army Aviation, Vol. 25, Nos. 8 & 9, Army Aviation Publications, Inc., Westport, Ct., August-September 1977. / Edited By Mark Albertson I have in the recent past, visited both the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. In both cases I was much impressed by the appearance of officers and men: Lean, sturdy, smart looking soldiers, alert and neatly uniformed. General Hamilton H. Howze In each case also the division staffs were good enough to brief me on what they considered probable division overseas missions on certain international...
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