3-6 ‘Heavy Cav’ wins aviation award
Soldiers conduct training with 3rd Squardron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, during a deployment to the Middle East in 2015. Photo by Sgt. Alton Pelayo, 3rd Sqdn., 6th Cav. Regt., CAB, 1st AD.
By Abigail Meyer, Fort Bliss Bugle Staff:
Deployments to Iraq have changed drastically over the years. 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment “Heavy Cav,” Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, navigated the complex missions of operations Inherent Resolve and Spartan Shield on their recent deployment as Task Force Heavy Cav to Iraq and Kuwait from August 2015 to April 2016.
The battalion received the Lt. Gen. Ellis D. Parker Award for “Aviation Battalion of the Year” for 2015. The battalion had a lot going on in the early part of 2015, when they were reflagged as a Heavy Attack Reconnaissance Squadron and had RQ-7B Shadows, tactical unmanned aircraft systems, added to their fleet of AH-64 Apache helicopters just a few months before they deployed, becoming the first unit in the Army to be converted.
While deployed, the unit was split up in multiple locations. Their mission was two-fold.
At Taji Air Base, Iraq, the TF headquarters occupied just a small portion of the base and had to fix or build up many facilities, nine of them were large-scale projects including a new tactical operations center, new passenger terminal and two new maintenance hangars.
“We put in an office complex. We really did a lot to improve the infrastructure and facilities portion on that airfield, so that felt pretty great,” said Capt. Nate Blackford, FOB mayor and commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Sqdn., 6th Cav. Regt. CAB, 1st AD, during the deployment. “A lot of that had to do with the people that went before us. We took their projects to completion and then created some of our own.”
A major mission of the task force was movement.
“So the biggest thing for Iraq was anything that needed to move, moved by air. So there was the Air Force and then rotary wing to move assets. We were the only task force in Iraq. If people needed to be moved, or supplies needed to be delivered, parts or pieces, contractors, VIPs, you name it … then that’s what we were doing,” said Capt. Brian Anderson, who worked in S-3 operations during the deployment.
The portion of the unit down in Kuwait worked with the Navy and conducted training exercises with Kuwaiti forces. Most of the maintenance on aircraft was performed in Kuwait.
“The majority of our main heavy lifting of maintenance happened in Kuwait, so all of our 500 hour inspections and phase maintenance we had to rotate the aircraft to and from Kuwait via C-17,” said Capt. Dan Hall, who spent time as the Alpha and Delta troops commander during deployment.
There were a little more than 300 Soldiers directly from Heavy Cav deployed, so they worked with many other units, including National Guard units, to complete their missions. They were a multi-functional aviation task force, so they had units with Apaches, Chinooks, Black hawks and medevacs assigned.
“I think we as a team did a fantastic job, the most interesting part about the team to me was the integration of the Guard units with us on a short notice,” Anderson said. “The teamwork seemed to come across almost instantly.”
Because Heavy Cav was the first HARS unit to deploy, theater commanders had to figure out how best to use their Shadow capability. After a couple months in Kuwait, the Shadow platoons were brought forward to Iraq and went into action.
“The two platoons that went up, Alpha and Bravo troops, had such a strategic impact for such a small echelon unit that, I just never heard of such a small platoon having a huge impact like that,” Hall said.
The mission was large, encompassing all of Iraq, and the number of those serving was small, so each individual had a role in the mission’s success.
“From the staff guys doing the planning for it to the lowest junior enlisted Soldier brand new to the Army packing all the stuff in the container. With all the moving pieces during the deployment I think that’s what really contributed to it, we were able to accomplish so much with so little,” Hall said. “In many respects, through sheer willpower we were able to get it done and that, to me as a commander was really empowering.”
“I really think the ones who make it happen are the line pilots, the line troop commanders, the line company commanders – all of those leaders,” Anderson said.
Their aggressive train up and volume heavy deployment earned them the award, and Blackford said the positive command climate fostered by Lt. Col. R.J. Garcia and Command Sgt. Maj. Terri Clavon kept the Soldiers motivated.
“What allowed us to win such an award, was that even in a split-based environment like we were, which can be challenging enough, we had a lot of great leadership at different levels that had a really positive command climate, I feel like, starting at some of the higher levels,” Blackford said.
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