Photo By Scott Sturkol | An aircrew with the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment of the Wisconsin National...... read more read more
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From April 11-13, Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment of the Wisconsin National Guard brought more than a dozen helicopters as well as crews and support personnel to hold a drill training at Fort McCoy.
Helicopters included UH-60 Black Hawk medivac helicopters from the battalion’s West Bend, Wis., location as well as Light Utility Helicopters (UH-72A Lakota) from the same location. Personnel and equipment also were on hand from the 147th location in Madison, Wis.
“We were doing a field training exercise to help get ready for an upcoming mobilization,” said Capt. Cole Hamilton, operations officer and more with the 147th who helped organize and conduct the drill training.
Hamilton said the training focused on a wide variety of scenarios, training lanes, and even hot and cold load training for moving patients in a medivac situation.
James L. Hubbard, airport manager with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security Airfield Division, said the 147th had people and aircraft operating from the Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport, Young Air Assault Strip, and other training locations on the installation’s South Post.
Members of the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment regularly complete training operations at Fort McCoy, and the unit also supports numerous training events at the installation each year. In 2024, the unit supported training on Fort McCoy nearly every month, and it’s been similar with their training in 2025.
According to the Army fact sheet for the Black Hawk, its mission is to provide air assault, general support, aeromedical evacuation, command and control, and special operations support to combat, stability, and support operations.
The UH-60 also is the Army’s utility tactical transport helicopter, the fact sheet states. The versatile helicopter has enhanced the overall mobility of the Army due to dramatic improvements in troop capacity and cargo lift capability over the years as well.
Now well into its fourth decade of service, the Black Hawk was developed as a result of the Army’s requirement in 1972 for a simple, robust, and reliable utility helicopter system to satisfy projected air-mobile requirements around the globe, according to the Army Program Executive Office for Aviation.
Named after Native American war chief and leader of the Sauk tribe in the Midwest, Black Hawk, the first UH-60A was accepted by the Army in 1978 and entered service in 1979 when it was delivered to aviation components of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, according to the office, the fact sheet states. Since that time, the Black Hawk has accumulated more than 9 million total fleet hours and has supported Soldiers in every major contingency operation the Army has executed, including Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East.
With multiple versions of the H-60 Black Hawk in service, the helicopter is considered the “workhorse” of Army aviation, the fact sheet states. Besides being the U.S Army’s primary tactical transport helicopter, approximately 1,200 H-60s operate in 30 partner and allied nations.
The UH-72A Lakota is a light utility helicopter specifically designed to meet the requirements of the U.S. Army, according to a description at https://www.army-technology.com/projects/uh-72a-lakota. The UH-72A Lakota helicopters were acquired to replace the UH-1H Iroquois and OH-58 A/C Kiowa helicopters.
Based on the EC145 multi-role helicopter, the UH-72A serves the Army principally for logistics and support missions within the U.S., the description states. It is also used by the Army National Guard for homeland security and disaster-response missions and medical evacuations.
With more training scheduled for the rest of 2025 at Fort McCoy, officials with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security expect many more Black Hawk crews to support that training.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy,” on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/fortmccoywi, and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@fortmccoy.
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.22.2025 18:29 |
| Story ID: | 495928 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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