Crew and aviators from New York U.S. Army National Guard to be deployed to Afghanistan in 2017 11607162

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Defence & Security News - United States
 
Crew and aviators from New York U.S. Army National Guard to be deployed to Afghanistan in 2017.
Two dozen New York U.S. Army National Guard air crew and aviators from Rochester are preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan early in 2017 while also participating in the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Teams Joint Readiness Training Center exercise here with 5,000 other Soldiers.
     
Two dozen New York U.S. Army National Guard air crew and aviators from Rochester are preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan early in 2017 while also participating in the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Teams Joint Readiness Training Center exercise here with 5,000 other Soldiers. A CH-47 "Chinook" from the Maryland National Guard's B Co, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation, prepares for takeoff at the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, Louisiana, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. (Photo Credit: Sgt. Michael Davis)
     
The Joint Training Center allows Army units to conduct combat training in a realistic environment which features a well-trained opposing force, civilian role-players on the battlefield, high-tech systems which monitor the action and observer-controllers to evaluate unit actions.
 

For most aviation units supporting JRTC, their primary focus is moving troops and equipment throughout the training area in support of the units being evaluated. For the aviators and crews of Detachment 1, Company B, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation, they've added another focus -- preparing for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

The Rochester-based aviation unit operates CH-47 "Chinook" helicopters, used widely in the Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq. They have proven immensely valuable in the mountains of Afghanistan because the twin rotors provide lift at high altitudes and in cold weather.

The heavy lift helicopter can carry between 33 to 55 troops and lift up to 13 tons of cargo slung underneath the fuselage. The helicopter is just under 100 feet long and 19 feet high. It is powered by two turbine engines driving two rotor blades that are 60 feet in diameter.

Nicknamed "Kong," the Soldiers of Co. B, 3-126th Aviation deployed to Afghanistan twice to support United States forces there. The unit is again preparing to support another overseas deployment in 2017.