Current Issue Articles
Training to Task in Varying Conditions
Branch Command Sergeant Major / By CSM Eric C. Thom: There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. – Colin Powell The Army’s Training Concept (ATC) 2012-2020 was designed to strike a balance between operational and institutional training, and offers flexibility, efficiencies, and a broad range of training capabilities for leaders to maintain an agile, ready Army in a period of reduced resourcing. Soldiers from Delta Company, 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, assess casualties while recovering a downed aircraft during Decisive Action Rotation 15-03...
Learn MoreSimulation Integration
Aviation Warrant Officer Advanced Course / By CW5 Allen R. “Randy” Godfrey, CW4 Shawn N. Paris, and CW3 Charles L. Brown: The current Aviation Warrant Officer Advanced Course (AWOAC) is a distinct improvement from AWOAC past. There are now two distinct resident phases. Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) Master Control Station operations during an exercise at the Seneff building, Fort Rucker, AL. The first is the warrant officer mid-grade learning subjects required for all warrant officers. The second is the technical specific track phase. This phase allows our aviation warrant officers to build on training and education received in...
Learn MoreTraining Leaders Who Thrive
From the Aviation Branch Chief / By MG Michael D. Lundy: As we continue to prepare to fight in unknown and unknowable conditions and threats, leaders who thrive in uncertainty are our primary weapon system. Tough, realistic, performance based training is how we prepare our leaders to operate in these environments. Simulators, such as this CH-47 Chinook simulator at the Southeast Regional Flight Simulation Training Center on Simmons Army Airfield at Fort Bragg, NC, replicate the complexity of current and future environments and provide the rigor and repetitions necessary to present tough training. / U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SSG APRIL...
Learn MoreTurning Up the Heat
President’s Cockpit / by BG E.J. Sinclair, Ret.: Summer is in full swing, but the Army Aviation Branch and AAAA remain very engaged. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter promotes LTG Ron Lewis in a private ceremony in the Secretary of Defense’s Office in the Pentagon on July 2nd, 2015. / AAPI PHOTO I had the great pleasure of visiting the Aloha Chapter last month and getting to know some outstanding Americans who were honored with The Order of Saint Michael (OSM). The Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA) from Hawaii and Gold Star father Alan Hoe, and...
Learn MoreGlobal Special Operations Forces Network
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) / By COL Michael J. Hertzendorf and MAJ Roger P. Waleski: On any given day the Regiment’s professional aircrews, support staffs, and maintenance personnel, operate around the globe in austere and uncertain environments accomplishing a multitude of diverse Special Operations Forces (SOF) missions. These dynamic full spectrum SOF operations support the Global SOF “Network,” a U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) initiative to globally link SOF, the Interagency, Allies, and our DoD partners. MH-60M Black Hawks assigned to the 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) prepare to extract Marines from the Marine Special...
Learn More