00:00Wisconsin National Guard's 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery holds winter sling load training
00:05at Fort McCoy. Story by Scott Sturcoll for the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.
00:11With one CH-47 Chinook and three UH-60 Blackhawks from the 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment
00:17supporting, soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 120th, 1st 120th, Field Artillery held cold
00:24weather sling load training January 28th at Firing Point 421 at Fort McCoy. Because the focus was to
00:30operate during cold weather, Mother Nature didn't disappoint as temperatures were as low as minus
00:3510 degrees Fahrenheit at the start of the training. Soldiers with the 120th prepared for the event,
00:41setting up a couple of Arctic 10-person tents with heaters. Soldiers also donned their Army Extreme
00:45Cold Weather Clothing System, or a CUES, that issued to soldiers. The system includes a lightweight
00:50undershirt and underwear, mid-weight shirt and underwear, fleece jacket, wind jacket, soft shell
00:56jacket and trousers, extreme cold-slash-wet weather jacket and trousers, and extreme cold-weather parka
01:02and trousers. It's a layered system that allows for protection in a variety of climate elements and
01:07temperatures, said Fort McCoy Central Issue Facility Property Book Officer Thomas Lovgren, whose facility
01:13manages the EQ's distribution for Army Reserve members. Each piece in the EQX fits and functions either
01:19alone or together as a system, which enables seamless integration with load-carrying equipment
01:23and body armor. With helicopter blade wash just increasing the wind chill factor tenfold during
01:28the training operations, all the cold-weather preparation was a good thing, said Command Sergeant
01:33Major, CSM, Nick Kletzine, Battalion CSM. And the training provided a realistic feeling for what
01:39120th members would have to face in extreme cold-weather conditions possibly somewhere else in the world.
01:45This was a great opportunity to test our equipment, Kletzine said, and a good opportunity to have
01:50a training event that's realistic to what we could face. For the sling loads, the helicopter
01:54air crews were lifting the M119 howitzer. According to Army facts about the howitzer, the M119 is a
02:01lightweight, 105-mm towed artillery piece used by the U.S. Army for mobile fire support, based on the
02:07British 119 gun, known for being air-transportable by helicopter or parachute and towed by Humvees,
02:13with upgrades like the M119A3 adding digital fire control for increased accuracy and effectiveness
02:20in rapid deployment scenarios. This training event was completed over several hours. Teams of
02:25soldiers took turns hooking up the sling load howitzers to the different helicopters. The
02:29helicopters would then pick up the pieces, take them for a short flight, and then return them to
02:33the same spot they were picked up from. According to U.S. Army training manuals, Army sling load operations
02:38enable rapid transport of equipment via helicopters, such as the UH-60 and CH-47, to remote or hard to
02:45access areas. This effort involves three key elements, the supported unit, rigging, the aviation
02:51unit, lifting, and the receiving unit. These operations are critical for sustaining forces,
02:56enhancing mobility, and delivering supplies when ground methods are hindered. There are also three
03:01phases to sling load operations. First is inspecting and preparation. Cargo is prepared and inspected for
03:07safe air transport, including rigging nylon ropes or chains to equipment like Humvees, artillery,
03:13or supply containers. Second phase at the hookup. Ground crews, a hookup team, secure the load to the
03:19helicopter using reach pendants, ensuring all attachments are secure, and guide the aircraft
03:23if necessary. Third phase is inspection and release. Here, a certified inspector reviews the load,
03:30and upon arrival at the destination, the load is released from the aircraft. Staff Sergeant Dylan Baird,
03:35one of the 120th Soldiers training during the sling load event at McCoy, said sling load training is
03:41not something they do very often, especially in extreme cold temperatures. This is to help us get
03:45proficient, Baird said in a video interview by Greg Mason with the Fort McCoy Multimedia Visual
03:51Information Office. It's really nice opportunity because when you think of artillery, this definitely
03:56doesn't come to mind. It's not something we do very often. It's a big morale booster, so it's really
04:01nice to just get hands-on and have the actual training on how this stuff actually works.
04:05Kletzine said the first 120th has done a lot of cold-weather-related training in recent years
04:10supporting an exercise at Camp Grayling, Michigan. But this year, with many of the battalion's members
04:15supporting deployments and off at training schools, they decided to complete a smaller,
04:19similar version of the Grayling training during January at Fort McCoy. The first 120th held their
04:24training on post from January 21st to 31st. Also, sling load training is a regular activity at Fort
04:30McCoy. Students in the 89B Ammunition Supply Course at Regional Training Site Maintenance
04:35hold sling load training with ammunition pallets several times throughout the year.
04:39Sling load training has also been a part of many major exercises at Fort McCoy in the past
04:44number of decades on post. Fort McCoy's motto is to be the Total Force Training Center.
04:48Located in the heart of the Upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in
04:53Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom
04:57training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
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