US Army, November 30, 2022 - CORPUS CHRISTI, TX by Capt. Hayley Haka - Ten months after departing Texas on a vessel to Europe, the helicopters, vehicles, and equipment of the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade return to Fort Hood, Texas.
Two months ago, as the Air Cav concluded their nine-month Atlantic Resolve mission, they loaded their equipment, vehicles, and aircraft onto a large shipping vessel in Europe that sailed to Corpus Christi, Texas. There, it was all offloaded, prepared for departure and transported back to Hood Army Airfield.
Chief Warrant Officer 5, Eric Anderson, port maintenance officer-in-charge and 1st Air Cavalry Brigade support operations officer, says offloading and preparing the aircraft is the hardest part.
“The aircraft are folded when they come back from deployment, so we have to roll them off the boat, unfold them, do inspections on them and get them prepared to fly,” Anderson said. Each aircraft must be towed from station to station for various maintenance teams to reinstall rotor blades and specialized exterior equipment.
For the AH-64E Apaches and the UH-60L Black Hawks, that means taking the four blades that were folded along the back of the aircraft and rotating them forward into their proper positions. For the CH-47F Chinooks, that means fully reinstalling all six rotor blades, each weighing more than 300 pounds.
Anderson said the unit is continually training teams on the tasks required to successfully complete port operations. “Before we went to Europe, we had our Soldiers training on unfolding and folding,” he said. “We usually have some experienced Soldiers that then train the newer Soldiers. We’re always looking ahead to when Soldiers will [move duty stations or get out of the Army]; we want to have a core group of experienced Soldiers that we keep trained.”
Each aircraft takes four to five hours to unfold and get back in the air, depending on the experience level of the teams, consisting of 8-10 Soldiers each. Throughout the process, 1ACB was supplemented by employees from Amentum - the civilian maintenance company that supports the Air Cav’s aviation maintenance program year-round and supports special missions like port operations or aircraft recoveries when needed.
SPC Anthony Gonzalez, an aircraft pneudraulics repairer, from Delta Co., 2-227th General Support Aviation Battalion, said port operations is a great opportunity to get to know and work with new people.
“It helps us build our teams,” Gonzalez said. “We can all learn something new from each other and learn more about each other.”
With an operation involving so many Soldiers and moving pieces of equipment, Anderson stressed the importance of communication and safety.
Gonzalez noted how important it is to keep his team motivated. “It’s important to keep everyone motivated here,” he said. “We had such a high tempo in Europe that it’s important to keep everyone working hard during this final part of redeployment. Everyone is really motivated to get the aircraft back and then get back to training after the holidays.”
Anderson commended the work being done at both the Port of Corpus Christi and Corpus Christi International Airport. “I've been to maybe 10 or more ports now, from Kuwait to Germany to Afghanistan. We've had a lot of good Soldiers and leaders here in 1ACB that have been working really hard to make this all happen. We [finished] ahead of schedule because of their dedication, which is great.”
Two months ago, as the Air Cav concluded their nine-month Atlantic Resolve mission, they loaded their equipment, vehicles, and aircraft onto a large shipping vessel in Europe that sailed to Corpus Christi, Texas. There, it was all offloaded, prepared for departure and transported back to Hood Army Airfield.
Chief Warrant Officer 5, Eric Anderson, port maintenance officer-in-charge and 1st Air Cavalry Brigade support operations officer, says offloading and preparing the aircraft is the hardest part.
“The aircraft are folded when they come back from deployment, so we have to roll them off the boat, unfold them, do inspections on them and get them prepared to fly,” Anderson said. Each aircraft must be towed from station to station for various maintenance teams to reinstall rotor blades and specialized exterior equipment.
For the AH-64E Apaches and the UH-60L Black Hawks, that means taking the four blades that were folded along the back of the aircraft and rotating them forward into their proper positions. For the CH-47F Chinooks, that means fully reinstalling all six rotor blades, each weighing more than 300 pounds.
Anderson said the unit is continually training teams on the tasks required to successfully complete port operations. “Before we went to Europe, we had our Soldiers training on unfolding and folding,” he said. “We usually have some experienced Soldiers that then train the newer Soldiers. We’re always looking ahead to when Soldiers will [move duty stations or get out of the Army]; we want to have a core group of experienced Soldiers that we keep trained.”
Each aircraft takes four to five hours to unfold and get back in the air, depending on the experience level of the teams, consisting of 8-10 Soldiers each. Throughout the process, 1ACB was supplemented by employees from Amentum - the civilian maintenance company that supports the Air Cav’s aviation maintenance program year-round and supports special missions like port operations or aircraft recoveries when needed.
SPC Anthony Gonzalez, an aircraft pneudraulics repairer, from Delta Co., 2-227th General Support Aviation Battalion, said port operations is a great opportunity to get to know and work with new people.
“It helps us build our teams,” Gonzalez said. “We can all learn something new from each other and learn more about each other.”
With an operation involving so many Soldiers and moving pieces of equipment, Anderson stressed the importance of communication and safety.
Gonzalez noted how important it is to keep his team motivated. “It’s important to keep everyone motivated here,” he said. “We had such a high tempo in Europe that it’s important to keep everyone working hard during this final part of redeployment. Everyone is really motivated to get the aircraft back and then get back to training after the holidays.”
Anderson commended the work being done at both the Port of Corpus Christi and Corpus Christi International Airport. “I've been to maybe 10 or more ports now, from Kuwait to Germany to Afghanistan. We've had a lot of good Soldiers and leaders here in 1ACB that have been working really hard to make this all happen. We [finished] ahead of schedule because of their dedication, which is great.”
AH-64E Apache, 7-17th Air Cavalry Squadron
UH-60L Black Hawk, Alpha Co., 2-227th General Support Aviation Battalion
NAS Corpus Christi / Truax Field See also |
1st ACB
1st Air Cavalry Brigade US Army Aviation Hood Army Airfield - Fort Hood 
