JUNCTION CITY, Kan. - Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III visited the first home station in the Army to receive the Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial System Sept. 12 at Marshal Army Airfield.

Sgt. David Walsh, Gray Eagle instructor and operator, Company F, 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, said he was honored to have Chandler visit the CAB to see a piece of the Army's newest equipment.

"I am very proud of the Gray Eagle and what it brings to the battlefield, its capabilities and how it can possibly affect future battles," Walsh said. "We are going to be the first unit [in the Army] to fly out of our home station."

Walsh and Spc. Nathaniel Boyd, Walsh's UAV maintenance technician, both received a coin from Chandler for their work with Gray Eagle.

"I think it is very significant that the sergeant major of the Army is here [at Fort Riley], and we get to show him this Gray Eagle," said Lt. Col. Ed Vedder, senior subject matter expert on the Gray Eagle and battalion commander, 1st ARB, 1st Aviation Regiment, CAB. "This is the most complex, the most capable and most lethal platform in the military that is solely operated by sometimes junior enlisted soldiers."

The Army's UAV program is young enough the actual subject matter experts are specialists and sergeants, Vedder said. In addition to visiting with the Gray Eagle team, Chandler chatted with CAB soldiers from each battalion, who showed the sergeant major of the Army examples of all of the brigade’s aircraft.

Chandler concluded his visit by conducting a question-and-answer session and finished by thanking the soldiers for their hard work and dedication.

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