Photo By Sgt. Bei Simmons | A soldier from Alpha Company, 1-169th Aviation Regiment, New Hampshire Army National...... read more read more
For the first time in history, the New Hampshire and Puerto Rico Army National Guards have come together for day and night aerial gunnery training exercises on March 29th at Camp Santiago, Puerto Rico. A. Co. 1-169th Aviation Regiment is split evenly between the New Hampshire and Puerto Rico Army National Guards and deployed to Kosovo together in 2021. This training event helped to unify both halves of a company, which are normally separated by over 1,700 miles and allowed the aircrew to share their varied experiences with one another.
"The soldiers based in Puerto Rico have been amazing. They're super helpful. There are some new faces for us that they've never met, but we fit right in with each other," said Staff Sgt. Carson Lowe, company flight instructor, A. Co 1-169th Aviation Regiment, New Hampshire Army National Guard (NHARNG). “Everybody here is just having a great time, accomplishing the mission that we came here to do.”
The 2-week training event culminated in day and night aerial gunnery ranges where New Hampshire and Puerto Rican soldiers flew together in mixed aircrews. The aerial gunnery ranges consisted of three stations. At the first station, crews were formed, boarded a UH-60, and then took off from Camp Santiago’s parade field. At station two they landed and received ammunition. At the final station, the aircrew flew over a valley where they engaged ground targets with the UH-60’s M240 medium machine guns. The intricacy of conducting aerial live fire was precipitated by months of planning and coordination.
"The logistic movement of being able to come down to Puerto Rico and integrate with the other half of our unit. That itself is worth the effort. Being able to do gunnery with them is just a huge plus," said Capt. Meehan, commander of A Co., 1-169th Aviation Regiment.
The Puerto Rico detachment is stationed in San Juan, PR while the New Hampshire element is stationed in Concord, NH. Many New Hampshire soldiers were particularly looking forward to this exercise as it gave them a break from the New England Winter. This training is intended to integrate A Co. so it will be more effective in carrying out civil support and defense missions. The NH and Puerto Rico Army National Guards plan on continuing their partnership and plan to conduct the next training exercise in New Hampshire.
"Everybody is getting to know their roles and integrating the two units, working together. That has been the best part of the training for us and we're looking forward to making this a yearly event," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jorge Santiago, a pilot in A Co. 1-169th Aviation Regiment, Puerto Rico Army National Guard (PRARNG).
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2023 11:23 |
| Story ID: | 441776 |
| Location: | CAMP SANTIAGO, PR |
| Web Views: | 344 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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