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CAMP BONDSTEEL, KOSOVO
01.29.24
Story and photos by Staff Sgt. Terry Rajsombath
110th Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo – Members of 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, retrograde nine UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, in support of Kosovo Force (KFOR), Jan. 29, 2024.
Army FM 3-90 defines retrograde operations as an organized movement away from the enemy in three variations: delay, withdrawal, and retirement. Enemy units can cause the conditions to execute a retrograde or units can do so voluntarily, to preserve combat power for future operations.
Capt. Tyler Donovan, commander of Delta Co., 1-126th Aviation Regiment, said that this is the first retrograde of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in roughly 10 KFOR rotations.
With thousands of flight hours providing transportation, reconnaissance, joint training and around the clock medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) capabilities, it was time to retire the helicopters.
“These aircrafts that we fell in on were very tired,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Spears, platoon sergeant and maintenance non-commissioned officer with Alpha Co., 1-126th Aviation Regiment. “These aircrafts have double the amount of hours on them than the incoming aircrafts which makes maintenance tough; so, having these incoming helicopters will certainly help us stay mission ready.”
To begin the retrograde process, components that won’t be shipped along with the helicopter are removed from the aircraft, then the helicopter is scrubbed clean inside and outside of the airframe.
“We have to make sure the entire helicopter is cleaned out because a customs inspector will do an inspection before allowing us to fold the aircraft or not,” said Staff Sgt. Samuel Bryan, a crew chief assigned to Alpha Co., 1-126thth Aviation Regiment. “After we get the, ‘o.k,’ that’s when we start to make preparations to move the blades in the correct position.”
Utilizing a fold kit, the rotor blades on the main rotor head are folded back and pinned to the side of the helicopter with the tail of the rotor secured to a fixed position as well.
As a team, members of the 126th pushed and pulled the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter onto a C-17 Globemaster III, utilizing a small tow, plywood, and lots of elbow grease. Through coordinated efforts, they managed to load two helicopters onto the C-17 with relative ease.
Many of the Soldiers were happy to retrograde the aircrafts but they also acknowledged that there were many lessons learned from having to maintain the outgoing helicopters.
“I’ve been doing this for 17 years and I’ve ran into some issues I’ve never seen on an aircraft before,” said Spears. “Some of the challenges were very surprising but I think it was a good experience and good exposure for everyone to see to various levels of maintenance.”
Spears and members of his unit have had previous training and real-world experience folding a helicopter and loading it onto an aircraft.
“We’ve trained with C-17s back in Rhode Island before and it’s prepared us thoroughly for this,” said Donovan. “It’s something we don’t often do with the National Guard, so it’s been a great force projection and exercise for our Soldiers. Overall, it’s been a great job by everyone involved. As soon as we got into country, we’ve been preparing each month and now we’re seeing it all come to fruition, which will help out readiness for KFOR the next few years.”
The incoming UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters are arriving from the Oklahoma and Louisiana Army National Guard.
| Date Taken: | 01.29.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.31.2024 11:02 |
| Story ID: | 462799 |
| Location: | ZZ |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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