California Guards Trained with Coast Guard

US Army, July 10, 2021 - SEAL BEACH, CA by Sgt 1st Class Amanda Johnson - The water sprayed into the Soldier’s face like a category five hurricane; the gale force wind whipping the breath from his mouth as he struggled to make his way through the water toward the rescue swimmer.

The U.S. Coast Guard helicopter that hovered above seemed to be generating a weather pattern of its own, but he swam on against the unrelenting waves to his target. He finally reached the swimmer and secured the rescue equipment around his torso, slowing to catch his breath only when the helicopter began to lift him up to safety.

Nearly 20 Soldiers participated in the Cal Guard's first joint water rescue training operation with the United State Coast Guard near Seal Beach, June 5.

“Going into the rotor wash, it felt like you were getting pushed back, and it was more difficult than I thought,” said U.S. Army Spc. Roberto Miramontes, an aircrew Soldier with the 1st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 140th Aviation Regiment, California Army National Guard. “It was a really cool experience and something I’ve never done before.”

The aircrew were challenged with several tasks for the training exercise, including acquainting themselves with Coast Guard gear, nuances in organizational terminology, and preparing for the physical challenges of water rescue operations, including being hoisted out of the ocean by an MH-65 Dolphin twin-engine helicopter.

Downed aircrew

“First was gear familiarization for the aircrews,” explained 2nd Lt. Nick D’Alencon, an aviation officer with the battalion. “Second was to run a scenario with the Coast Guard of a downed aircrew and for us to employ all the procedures and tactical operations associated with us being recovered if we were to go down.”

The air assault helicopter unit is responsible for the tactical movement of people and equipment in hostile areas, said Cpt. Scott Giles, commander of the battalion's A Company. Based in Southern California and just south of Los Angeles International Airport, he said the unit operates in a complex and saturated air space.

“Ocean, desert, mountain, city. You name it, we have it,” said Giles. Their usual training consists of sling loading and transporting cargo attached by a line and swivel beneath the helicopter.

The mission on this day harnessed a different aspect as the Soldiers became the sling load and personnel being transported by Coast Guard aircrews.

Using equipment such as a life preserver unit and experiencing being hoisted by a helicopter were key elements of the training, said Giles. Training with the Coast Guard promoted teamwork, fostered commonality with unique equipment, terminology and critical communication.

“We have aviation life support equipment vests. It’s basically a rock climbing harness that has survival gear,” described 1st Lt. Austin Rompel, a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter pilot who serves as an aviation officer with the battalion. “If we are ever in a survival scenario such as our helicopter crashes, or we have to do a precautionary landing somewhere, then we can use that to signal for pick up and actually facilitate our survival if needed.”

In the last year alone, the unit assisted with law enforcement missions, CAL FIRE firefighting operations, sling-load rehearsals with the Army Corps of Engineers for flood scenarios, and transportation of cargo to hospitals.

“What’s interesting about the Cal Guard in particular is we have a pretty wide breadth of mission sets,” said D’Alencon. “We don’t just do the air assault mission. We have fires, we do search and rescue sometimes; there’s so many different things we can do in this small area and different types of terrain we operate in.”