Fewer helos, same workload keep aviation brigade busy

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Passengers troop to Blackhawks from the 3rd Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment lined up Wednesday afternoon on the airstrip at Taji, Iraq.


Fewer helos, same workload keep aviation brigade busy
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, February 23, 2008

TAJI, Iraq — The flight line was ghostly at 5 a.m. Tuesday, but the hangars just off the tarmac were bustling.

A half-dozen young mechanics with the 3rd Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment had hauled one of the Black Hawks out of the dusty Iraq night and into a canvas clamshell hangar for an in-depth inspection that must be done every 120 flight hours. Two of the soldiers stood on top of the bird, trying to coax the first rotor blade back into place while others coached them from the ground.

They were on the back side of their shift but still plugging away at their work. They’d probably have another such inspection to do tomorrow. If not, then surely the day after. The days, after all, have been extremely busy.

“Tonight as soon as we got here, we were working, and we’ve been working ever since,” explained Sgt. Brett Knerr, a 27-year-old team chief from Allentown, Pa., who was working on the Black Hawk.

The mechanics’ experiences are becoming a common theme among aviation units in Iraq. A drawdown after the troop “surge” has left fewer units to do about the same amount of work as before. There were four U.S. aviation brigades during the “surge.” Officials kept the same number of brigade headquarters in country afterward. But these were full brigades in name only. Combined, they had combat resources closer to three brigades, said Col. Tim Edens, commander of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52724