thedrifter
02-22-08, 08:16 AM
Friday, February 22, 2008
Marines get some hang time with MH-60 Pave Hawk
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, February 23, 2008
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Six Marines stand ready in the landing zone. The rhythmic thump of an approaching chopper can be heard. The Marines look up, fitting unfamiliar rope-rigging to their bodies.
The bird is here.
As helicopter rope-suspension training instructors, the Marines are familiar with the helicopters flown by the Marine Corps — the CH-46 Sea Knight and the CH-53 Sea Stallion — and the techniques for using those helicopters to insert and extract troops by rope.
But what hovers above them now is a bird they have yet to try these techniques on — an Air Force MH-60 Pave Hawk flown by 33rd Rescue Squadron pilots.
Thursday’s training familiarized members of the Special Operations Training Group with the equipment used to fast rope and rappel from the MH-60.
Once you have that down, the techniques for getting to the ground are the same no matter what craft you’re using, said Gunnery Sgt. Dennis Dodd, an instructor with the group’s anti-terrorism force protection course.
Instructors plan to add the MH-60 to their 11-day course now that they are familiar with the rigging used on this craft, said Staff Sgt. Michael Dase, the course’s senior instructor.
The course, which runs four times a year, teaches techniques to get to the ground quickly in urban, shipboard, dense jungle and other environments where landing a helicopter is not practical, explained instructor Sgt. Kevin Parish.
That’s a great benefit. But for some, the purpose of Thursday’s training was simple. “It’s always a good time to get out and jump out of a bird,” said Sgt. Stephen Szopa, an assistant instructor.
Ellie
Marines get some hang time with MH-60 Pave Hawk
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, February 23, 2008
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Six Marines stand ready in the landing zone. The rhythmic thump of an approaching chopper can be heard. The Marines look up, fitting unfamiliar rope-rigging to their bodies.
The bird is here.
As helicopter rope-suspension training instructors, the Marines are familiar with the helicopters flown by the Marine Corps — the CH-46 Sea Knight and the CH-53 Sea Stallion — and the techniques for using those helicopters to insert and extract troops by rope.
But what hovers above them now is a bird they have yet to try these techniques on — an Air Force MH-60 Pave Hawk flown by 33rd Rescue Squadron pilots.
Thursday’s training familiarized members of the Special Operations Training Group with the equipment used to fast rope and rappel from the MH-60.
Once you have that down, the techniques for getting to the ground are the same no matter what craft you’re using, said Gunnery Sgt. Dennis Dodd, an instructor with the group’s anti-terrorism force protection course.
Instructors plan to add the MH-60 to their 11-day course now that they are familiar with the rigging used on this craft, said Staff Sgt. Michael Dase, the course’s senior instructor.
The course, which runs four times a year, teaches techniques to get to the ground quickly in urban, shipboard, dense jungle and other environments where landing a helicopter is not practical, explained instructor Sgt. Kevin Parish.
That’s a great benefit. But for some, the purpose of Thursday’s training was simple. “It’s always a good time to get out and jump out of a bird,” said Sgt. Stephen Szopa, an assistant instructor.
Ellie