South Carolina HART (SC-HART) came to the Patriot South exercise with a dose of real-world missions fresh in their minds, having recently served in response to last year’s hurricanes.
“Our role [here at Patriot South], just like in any real natural disaster or anytime that we are called up to serve, was providing aviation support for the State,” LTC Leslie explained. “We deployed assets to both Houston and Puerto Rico, so we had that under our belt and were able to bring real-world experience to the training scenario.”
Patriot South provided participants the opportunity to hone the skills required for each group to properly execute their unique role in an emergency situation. Soldiers were given a venue where they could put their specific training to the test and watch it play out on a large scale.
“We were responsible for the hoist operation,” said SGT Bryon Lunsford, SC-HART crew chief for the 2-151st. “We train regularly for it and [during the exercise] had people on helicopter cables with multiple aircraft in the same vicinity, so it was a big deal. Being able to rescue people off of building tops was exciting.”
SSG Hughes noted how the experience of the exercise directly aligned with the Guard’s core mission.
“Any natural disaster, whether it’s hurricane Harvey, floods or an earthquake in Mississippi, we are going to be the ones responding,” he said. “It’s going to be the Guard doing their State mission. That’s one of the biggest reasons why it’s a great exercise. It helps us grow and learn a little bit more about what we are supposed to do in the event we have a natural disaster.”
The second leg of the exercise, Patriot North, occurred July 14–20 and was hosted by both the Wisconsin Army National Guard at Fort McCoy and the Wisconsin Air National Guard at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center. Like Patriot South, the exercise simulated an emergency that required a joint response from military and civilian personnel.
