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3rd Battalion, 149th Aviation

The Texas National Guard's 149th Aviation Battalion flies Chinooks out of Hensley Field in Grand Prairie.

Eight Texas Army Guard units were mobilized for the Persian Gulf War between September 1990 and January 1991. Four Texas units, the 1104 Transportation Detachment; the 217th Evacuation Hospital; Company G., 149th Aviation Battalion; and the 49th Air Traffic Control Platoon were deployed to the Middle East--a total of 657 personnel.

During the summer of 1996, Pat Mayse Lake near Paris, Texas, was used for testing a CH-47D Chinook helicopter. The Corps of Engineers lake was the site of water training exercises held by Company G, 3rd Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, a Texas and Oklahoma National Guard unit which supports 16 CH-47Ds. The Republic of Singapore Air Force recently purchased six Chinooks, and has a close relationship with the Dallas-headquartered guard unit. The day-long training included three exercises for pilots, crew, divers and other unit members. First, pilots and crew practiced landing on the water, then taking off. The CH-47D will float but, like the Volkswagen Beetle, not indefinitely. A second scenario saw soldiers in full uniform being air-dropped into the water after a simulated attack, swimming more than 100 yards to shore, gathering their gear and rifles, and then disappearing into the woods around the lake to rendezvous with other unit members. The third training session consisted of soldiers being air-dropped into the water where divers helped them reach the helicopter's cable for a trip back up into its belly.

A section of Sanders Cove was buoyed off for the exercise, and a Corps boat was used to warn other boaters away from the area and to carry the unit's radioman and medic during the training scenarios. The Paris Fire Department sent two divers to help, and a member of the Powderly, Texas, Volunteer Fire Department provided his time and boat for the day. Pat Mayse Lake with its adjacent National Guard lands was a natural choice for the training. The lake staff worked closely with the guard unit while the project was coordinated. Paul Gray, project manager, said he and the staff were happy to cooperate with the exercise, which promoted safety and provided some positive public relations for the lake.

Kupa'a or "Stand Together" was the motto as members of 12 Air and Army National Guard, Reserve and active-duty units from six states recently participated in Operation Pacific Lift in Hawaii in the summer of 2001. Orchestrated by the Hawaii Army National Guard and involving nearly 2,000 troops, the battalion-level, air-assault exercise, or BATL-AAXE, was the largest Army aviation training event in the state's history. The BATL-AAXE is a relatively new type of Army exercise. Using a multi-echelon approach, it tasks units with specific missions in support of the overall scenario then allows them to work together as they would in a wartime situation. Participants included Hawaii Army Guard's Company C, 193rd Aviation; the Hawaii Air Guard's 199th Weather Flight; the Arizona Army Guard's 416th Air Traffic Services Company; the Texas Army Guard's 3rd Battalion, 149th Aviation; and the active-duty Army's 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light). Over three days in July 2001, they lifted 500 troops and 40 sling loads of equipment aboard CH-47 Chinook helicopters from Wheeler Army Airfield on Wahiawa to the Pacific Missile Range on Kauai and back.