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Helicopter numbers double at Fort Lewis

Jun-15-2005 » Filed Under: General Military

An aviation uit will train with Stryker brigades stationed at Fort Lewis.

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By MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

The Army is doubling the number of helicopters at Fort Lewis with the arrival, beginning today, of a new aviation squadron from Louisiana.

The squadron will bring 48 helicopters and about 600 more soldiers over the next several months, post officials said Tuesday. The first 10 aircraft – UH-60 Black Hawks – are to fly in this afternoon. [...]

The new unit previously was part of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Polk, which has nearly completed its move to Fort Lewis and has begun to be recast as a Stryker brigade combat team.

Stryker brigades don’t have aviation units, and originally, the Army planned to move the Polk aviation unit under the control of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C.

But late last year or early this year, the Army apparently changed its mind. It redesignated the squadron as the 4th Squadron, 6th Aviation Regiment, and decided to send it to the Pacific Northwest.

Fort Lewis spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Costello said the squadron will train with all three Stryker brigades stationed at Fort Lewis.

The two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades that have deployed to Iraq went with aviation squadrons attached from other Army posts.

Costello said the post made no announcement about the squadron’s move because it was considered part of the larger relocation of the 3,900-soldier 2nd Cavalry Regiment to Fort Lewis. [...]


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