The 1st Air Cavalry Brigade "Warriors", 1st Cavalry Division "First
Team" stationed at Killeen-Hood AAF, Fort Hood, Texas returned to Europe
on November 25. Half of the brigade arrived on ARC Endurance in the port
of Vlissingen, The Netherlands. The other half of the brigade was
transported to the port of Alexandroupoli, Greece onboard ARC
Independence which arrived a few days later. For the "Air Cav Warriors"
it is the second Operational Atlantic Resolve (AOR) rotation. From
October 2017 until June 2018 the brigade arrived and departed using the
port of Zeebrugge, Belgium.
1st ACB brought approximately 85 helicopters to Europe assigned to 2-227
GSAB "Lobos" equipped with the CH-47F Chinook and UH-60L/HH-60M
Blackhawk, 3-227 AHB "Spearhead" equipped with the UH-60M Blackhawk and
7-17 ARS "Pale Horse" equipped with the AH-64E
Apache and MQ-1C
Gray Eagle. An undisclosed number of its helicopters remained in Texas
for training missions while 1-227 ARB "Attack" equipped with the AH-64E
was deployed to the Central Command area of responsibility.
In the port of Vlissingen nine Apache's were offloaded (one company),
one UH-60M, twelve CH-47F and nine HH-60M
and eight UH-60L. Most likely the Chinooks and Blackhawks will take up
residence at Illesheim and deploy to forward operation locations when
required. The Apache's will most likely operate from Powidz, Poland.
Helicopters offloaded in Greece will continue their journey to Romania.
These battalions will train together with allies and operate from
forward operating locations in Bulgaria and Greece when required.
When the official change-of-command ceremony is held the eight AOR
rotation as officially begun. 1st Combat Aviation Brigade "Demon"
Brigade", 1st Infantry Division "BIG RED ONE" is in the process of
redeploying back to Marshall AAF, Fort Riley, KS. 1st CAB will also same
ports as their 1 ACB colleagues.
Personnel assigned to none flying unit the 615th Aviation Support
Battalion "Cold Steel" worked on the helicopters in the ports of
Beaumont, Texas for shipment and in Alexandroupoli/Vlissingen to prepare
the helicopters for flight operations. The same applies for the
brigade's headquarters and headquarters company whose personnel works
behind the scenes to support the 2.000 "Air Cav" men and woman deployed
to Europe.
Based on the nine month AOR rotation cycle of the U.S. Army the 1st Air
Cavalry Brigade will support the operational requirements of U.S. Army
Europe and Africa until the August/September 2022 timeframe.
Please visit the U.S. Army
Combat Aviation Brigade for an overview of active duty, national
guard and reserve CAB's or the
Combat Aviation Brigade structure for more detailed information.
A more detailed article covering 1st ACB's deployment to Europe will be
published in the future. |
