Photo By Sgt. Brendan Mullin | A U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Viper assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron...... read more read more
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NAVAL AIR STATION JOINT RESERVE BASE NEW ORLEANS, La. – The skies over New Orleans historic West Bank neighborhoods were filled with the screams of soaring military aircraft last weekend, as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans held the New Orleans Air Show.
The air show retuned this year, last held in 2017, where it previously drew over 130,000 visitors over the span of two days. This year’s show featured exhibitions from U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Air National Guard aircraft.
To Staff Sgt. Andrew Gregory, a Pittsburgh, Pa. native and UH-1Y Venom crew chief with Marine Light Attack Helicopter (HMLA) Squadron 773, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 49, Marine Forces Reserve, it was, “a neat way to show off the uniqueness,” of the H-1 platform.
“The Marines that work with the H-1s,” the platform that the AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom are derived from, “they’re commonly referred to as Skid-Kids, a joke because these aircraft have skis, or skids, to land on rather than wheels. This lets the aircraft land and take off in more places, improving their utility for the ground troops that we are there to support,” says Gregory.
During combined arms operations, the ground personnel are the main effort, and the H-1s are able to provide direct support to those personnel.
“Our mission [as an HMLA] squadron is to provide offensive air support, utility support, armed escort, and airborne supporting arms coordination, both day and night, and under all weather conditions during expeditionary, joint, or combined operations,” explained Gregory.
Gregory explained that their demonstration at the New Orleans Air Show was a perfect example of what that looks like.
“We started with a simulated attack run before landing and dropping off the guys that were in the [Venom], taking off and making a few gun runs to simulate that close air support that we can provide, then landing to extract those troops,” says Gregory.
Marines with HMLA-773 are constantly training to maintain their mission readiness, not just with their fellow Marines during annual training events like Integrated Training Exercise in Twentynine Palms, California, but with joint training events with the Army at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and with Air Force ground personnel in Hurlburt Field Air Force Base, Florida.
“Being in New Orleans, we don’t have as many opportunities as our active duty counterparts to train with Marines, but we are still able to maintain mission readiness by conducting joint training with Army and Air Force personnel,” says Gregory.
Gregory continued, “We have a decent mix of active duty and reserve Marines [at HMLA-773], with the active guys keeping the lights on and the aircraft running, allowing the reservists to come in during their annual training and demonstrate their MOS proficiency.”
Staff Sgt. Gregory and the active duty personnel, of HMLA-773, act as continuity and enablers in support of the entire reserve force in order to ensure the Marine reservists remain sharp, effective, and readily available to activate and augment the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) in a timely and efficient manner.
Who We Are: The United States Marine Corps Reserve is responsible for providing trained units and qualified individuals for mobilization to active duty in time of war, national emergency, and crisis or contingency operations. On a day-to-day basis, Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES) consists of a talented and dedicated pool of nearly 100,000 Marines able to augment the Active Component in a myriad of ways, to include operational deployments, support to training, participation in bi/multi-lateral exercises with partner nations and allies, and service-level experimentation in support of Force Design 2030 and refinement of new concepts, tactics, techniques, and procedures.
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| Date Taken: | 03.24.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2022 14:14 |
| Story ID: | 417186 |
| Location: | NAVAL AIR STATION JOINT RESERVE BASE NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US |
| Hometown: | PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 283 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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