First Army Guardsmen Trained to Fly Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

National Guard, Jul 2004 by Breitenfeldt, Rick

Maryland, Pennsylvania

Twenty-four Guardsmen from Maryland's 629th Military Intelligence Battalion and 20 members of Pennsylvania's 56th Infantry Brigade completed 16 weeks of intensive tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV) training last month. They will deploy overseas later this year to fly and maintain the Shadow-a small TUAV.

The Guardsmen received instruction on flight-line operations, military intelligence as well as several weeks of actual flight training-the equivalent of 34 undergraduate college credit hours.

They now can operate the Shadow, four of which, operating simultaneously, can provide aerial views of an entire brigade area for up to four hours at 50 kilometers from the launch and recovery site.

"It's a lifesaving device," said Maryland Army Guard Staff Sgt. Gabriel Golden. "This piece of equipment is much easier to replace than someone's life."

It also provides Army enlisted personnel with the rare opportunity to take control of the skies.

"It has been a long time since an NCO has climbed into an airplane and flown a combat mission in a war," said Maryland Army Guard Spc. William J. Sowa.

"UAV pilots don't actually climb into a cockpit and take off," he said, "but we are flying that aircraft. It is the closest an Army enlisted soldier can get to piloting an aircraft in a combat environment, and I think that is a really high honor."

Army officials say the Shadow has flown at more than four times its projected operational tempo in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Ground commanders want more. The Army, however, began 2004 with less than 300 trained TUAV pilots.

That's why these citizen soldiers have been pressed into service.

-By 1st Lt. Rick Breitenfeldt