WISCONSIN
WEST VIRGINIA
West Virginia Guard hosts irregular warfare exercise By Edwin Wriston West Virginia National Guard | JUNE 22, 2023 KINGWOOD, W.Va. - The West Virginia National Guard and the Irreg- ular Warfare Center hosted a two-week exercise for more than 420 members of the U.S. military, special operations community, allies and partners from 16 nations, and observers to provide validation for deploying special forces in an irregular warfare scenario. The Ridge Runner Irregular Warfare Exercise 23-01 was held throughout West Virginia and wrapped up June 16 at Camp Daw- son. The Department of Defense’s summary of the Irregular Warfare annex to the National Defense Strategy defines irregular warfare as the struggle among state and non-state actors to influence popula- tions and affect legitimacy. Ridge Runner focused on building long-term interoperability between U.S. and foreign national special operations and conven- tional forces, enabling mission essential tasks, and assessing read- iness while enhancing strategic and operational irregular warfare capabilities. Participants from Charlie Company, 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forc- es Group (Airborne); 92nd Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne); Bravo Company, 6th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne); and the United States Marine Corps 193rd Special Operations Group, 4th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, 4th Civil Affairs Group, and 4th Marine Corps Advisor Company Alpha trained alongside forces from the United Kingdom, Latvia, Lithuania, Polish Territorial Defense Force, Polish GRYF, and Polish JKW. Observers from Canada, Georgia, Moldova, Qatar, Hungary, Germa- ny, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Australia, and the United Kingdom Special Air Service also attended. “The Ridge Runner Irregular Warfare exercise helps provide critical cross-training and preparation of both special operations and joint forces to conduct irregular warfare activities while deployed into potentially hostile or contested environments,” said Maj. Gen. Bill Crane, adjutant general for the West Virginia National Guard. “Today’s complex environment demands we look to this type of realistic training to prepare our forces to combat malign and mali- cious activities by adversaries and peer competitors.” Crane said the IWC partnership enabled the expansion of the Ridge Runner program to a premier training venue for domestic and international forces.
“In addition, we were able to work with other state adjutants generals through the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program to bring partner and allied forces to train in West Virginia on irregular warfare tasks,” he said. Exercise participants assimilated into communities in two simulated nations in northern and southern West Virginia. Participants met with actual local government officials, law enforcement and emergency services personnel. They monitored simulated economic and political situations in each “nation” through simulated newscasts and media engagements, mirroring procedures and operations they would con- duct during actual deployments. Information from these engagements drove additional training and missions, eventually countering a simulated invasion by hostile forces from neighboring nations. “These simulations are critical to ensuring America and our allies are prepared and ready to handle the destabilizing tactics we’re seeing Russia and China employ through organizations like the Wagner Group,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, a Senate Armed Services Committee member. Before the exercise, attendees participated in a three-day irregular warfare academics program through the Joint Special Operations University. “The benefit of what the IWC and Ridge Runner brings the knowl- edge of the non-kinetic skills and base knowledge to operate in an environment that is presenting the greatest non-kinetic threat to freedom around the world,” said 2nd Lt. Marek Zaluski, Polish Territori- al Defense Forces. “Freedom of not only the United States but also its partners and allies.” In another component of the exercise, the Ridge Healer event, the 193rd Special Operations Medical Group, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, tested its ability to support irregular warfare medical tasks in an austere environment. Sen. Shelley Capito said the Ridge Runner exercise demonstrated “the strength and leadership of West Virginia authorities across all levels of government and allowed our Special Operators to train in unique settings across the entire state.”
Wisconsin Guard conducts Black Hawk training operations
Afghanistan and the Middle East.
By Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office SEPT. 25, 2023
The Army continues to integrate technology enhancements into the Black Hawk fleet.
FORT MCCOY, Wis. - Aircrews with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment, operated UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters Sept. 14 for a training operation at Fort McCoy.
“Developing and fielding an aircraft that has earned and maintained an extraordinary reputation of remarkable service supporting Sol- diers over a full spectrum of military operations these past 40 years is the direct result of the incredible efforts of all the government and industry teammates who have supported the Black Hawk pro- gram throughout the history of the program,” said Col. Billy Jackson, program manager for Program Executive Office for Aviation’s Utility Helicopters Program Office. Today, the UH-60 Black Hawk makes up the Army’s largest rotary wing fleet, with more than 2,100 airframes, according to the Army Program Executive Office for Aviation. As production of the most current H-60M model continues, the Army will divest its remaining UH-60A and L aircraft to be replaced by 760 UH-60Vs. With multiple versions of the H-60 Black Hawk in service, the heli- copter is considered the workhorse of Army aviation. Besides being the U.S. Army’s primary tactical transport helicopter, approximately 1,200 H-60s operate in 30 partner and allied nations. “For nearly half a century, the Black Hawk has served remarkably as the primary medium-lift, multi-role helicopter for the U.S. Army. With planned major upgrades on the horizon, the platform will be a key component of the Army aviation fleet through 2054,” Army Program Executive Office for Aviation officials said.
Unit members regularly train at Fort McCoy and support training events at the installation each year.
According to the Army fact sheet for the Black Hawk, its mission is to provide air assault, general support, aeromedical evacuation, command and control, and special operations support to combat, stability and support operations. The UH-60 is also the Army’s utility tactical transport helicopter. The versatile helicopter has enhanced the Army’s mobility due to dramatically improved troop capacity and cargo lift. Now in its fourth decade of service, the Black Hawk was developed due to the Army’s requirement in 1972 for a simple, robust and reliable utility helicopter to satisfy projected air-mobile requirements around the globe. Named after the Native American war chief and leader of the Sauk tribe in the Midwest, Black Hawk, the first UH-60A was accepted by the Army in 1978 and entered service in 1979 with aviation com- ponents of the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. Since then, the Black Hawk has accumulated over 9 million fleet hours, support- ing Soldiers in every major contingency operation the Army has executed, including in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans,
U.S. Army Maj. Mikael Susick, Ridge Runner director, said lessons learned from the exercise would help improve future iterations.
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