‘Gunfighters’ conduct escape, evade exercise
Soldiers with Co. A, 1st ARB, 1st Avn. Regt., act as a Special Forces rescue team while escorting Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew Spence, covered, from hiding during an escape and evade exercise July 26 at Fort Riley. Photo by: Capt. Drew Cochran, CAB.
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Story by: Sgt. Keven Parry
CAB PUBLIC AFFAIRS
A common saying in the Army is "prepare for the worst, hope for the best." A recent training event at Fort Riley exemplified those words by putting some Soldiers in a difficult situation that tested them on multiple levels.
Soldiers with Company A, 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division participated in a Downed Aircraft Recovery and Escape and Evade exercise July 26 in the fields of Fort Riley.
The exercise began with a simulated emergency landing by an AH-64 Apache helicopter. The training scenario required the pilots to evade the "enemy" and make their way to a "safe" zone, while a Downed Aircraft Recovery Team attempted to reach the helicopter.
Both the pilots and DART Soldiers were forced to contend with an opposing force, as they worked to accomplish their separate missions. The challenges faced by those who participated in the exercise, however, went beyond those presented by the opposing forces.
Terrain and heat considerations tested the pilots' evasion skills, while planning and communications presented difficulties to the ground forces moving to recover the aircraft and rescue the pilots.
"Trying to find cover out here in this landscape is pretty hard," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew Spence, Apache pilot, 1st ARB, 1st Avn. Regt., CAB. "That was probably one of the hardest things – trying to stay concealed."
Sgt. Chad West, squad leader, Co. A, 1st ARB, 1st Avn. Regt., and the DART convoy senior noncommissioned officer, said communications between his crew and air support kept getting disrupted, forcing him to improvise a solution while on the move.
"There were times when I was having to relay messages through one of the other vehicles just to get ahold of the air support," he said.
Despite many obstacles the Soldiers faced, each of them said they felt they were successful in achieving their goals. The pilots were able to escape to their safe point while avoiding the opposing forces, and the convoy was able to reach the downed aircraft and the pilots within the allowed time.
First Sgt. Maynard Hinkle, the Co. A senior NCO, Co. A, 1st ARB, 1st Avn. Regt., said the training was successful because of multiple factors, including realism in training, Soldier adaptability and the knowledge of the junior leaders involved in the exercise.