William Hayes | The All State
U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters landed on APSU’s Dunn Bowl and Intramural Field in a training exercise conducted by the Governor’s ROTC Program on Friday between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. This operation was conducted again on Sunday, between noon and 1:30 p.m.
Some of APSU’s ROTC cadets boarded the helicopters to go to Milan, Tennessee for a Joint Field Training Exercise on Friday and returned on Sunday.
“The Military Science Department,” head educator of APSU’s ROTC program Lieutenant Colonel John Montgomery said, “conducts quality training events such as this to prepare Cadets for their roles as Army officers. Such events also help recruit the absolute best candidates for APSU’s ROTC program.”
This was a joint operation, as participating along with the APSU cadets were cadets of UT-Martin, Murray and the University of Memphis’s ROTC cadets as well.
Only select juniors and seniors endeavored in this unique maneuver.
Together, the cadets operated and fared the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, which is the vehicular workhorse of the U.S. Army; amongst its many rolls is troop transportation, cargo, medical evacuations, escort, search-and-rescue, command-and-control, electronic warfare and more.
This is a step towards conducting forms of military leadership and soldiery in practice.
The helicopters were scheduled to land on March 29 as well, so the cadets could conduct loading and off-loading training. The event was canceled due to inclement weather.
This exercise came just a week after a helicopter crash in Fort Campbell claimed the lives of two soldiers during a “routine exercise” according to the Leaf Chronicle. The deceased were flying a different type of helicopter from the cadets, AH-64E Apache helicopters.
