JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
Along a half-mile radius at Joint Base Langley-Eustis,
Virginia, large warehouses filled with 300 different training simulators and
approximately 3,000 computer stations provide a real-life training experience
for U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force helicopter maintenance students.
In those warehouses, instructors and course developers
assigned to the 128th Aviation Brigade transform approximately 6,000 aviation
maintenance, logistics and leadership students into technically qualified
aviation maintainers and logisticians as tactically proficient aviation
maintenance leaders every year.
The 128th Avn. Bde. earned its name, ‘Born Under Fire,’ when
it was temporarily formed during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989. The
brigade served there until its deactivation in 1995, and was then reactivated
in 2012.
Today, the 128th Avn. Bde. is made up of three battalions
that trains roughly 1,750 students a day, where initial entry Soldiers learn
how to repair and maintain avionics, electrical systems and armaments for the
AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk.
According to Mark Jones, 128th Avn. Bde. deputy to the
commander, each battalion ensures training is realistic, relevant and rigorous
to establish a well-rounded aviation specialist for each battalion’s aerial
platforms.
“We try to make the atmosphere here as professional and
realistic as possible for the students,” said Jones. “We teach our students
with tangible equipment and full-scale helicopters to provide realistic training
opportunities and prepare them for real-world scenarios in aviation repairs.”
As technology continues to advance, the training equipment
throughout the program is upgraded to reach the demands of the aircraft and
students.
“Our Logistics Training Department is constantly looking at
better ways to train our Soldiers and Airmen,” said Jones. “We have to be
cognizant of how each generation learns, and with this generation we can cut
down the amount of time it takes to train through technology and web-based
models.”
According to Jones, the U.S. Air Force has plans to build
new UH-60 Pave Hawk virtual trainers, which will help prepare Airmen in the
Brigade’s courses on how to repair the advanced aircraft.
The technology upgrades benefit more than initial entry Soldiers.
The 128th Avn. Bde. offers advanced NCO technical-level classes, warrant and
armament officer technician courses and international student studies, shaping Soldiers
of all ranks and backgrounds into proficient aviation mechanics and leaders.
“There’s a lot of support from our instructors here to
completely understand what we are doing,” said U.S. Army Spc. Benjamin Conover,
128th Avn. Bde., 1st Battalion, 222nd Avn. Regiment student. “They are
constantly pushing students to ask questions, so we have everything we need when
we go out into the real-world.”
According to Conover, the program emphasizes discipline and quality work within
the Soldiers during the 12 to 24-week courses. Instructors teach maintenance
procedures ‘by the book’ and stress repetition as the key to safety in the
workplace.
“It never ceases to amaze me as the different generations
flow through here, they are as motivated and as patriotic as the previous
generation,” said Jones. “They may do things a little differently but their
motivation is just the same. The pride that the folks who work here have in
seeing these young Soldiers graduate and move on to do great things is what
makes working here really neat.”
Through demanding courses and realistic training
opportunities, the 128th Avn. Bde. Trains the new generations of Soldiers and
Airmen with advanced technology to repair and maintain the military’s air
assault weapons.