BOISE, ID (CBS2) — The Idaho Army National Guard sent off the 1st of the 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion this morning, as more than 100 personnel deployed to Kosovo in support of Operation Joint Guardian.
"Over one hundred and eighty-five Idaho soldiers will deploy over the next four months," Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Reid said. "We're going to Kosovo to support a peace keeping operation."
Orders like the ones sending the 1st of the 183rd to Kosovo are called 'federal orders' and Reid said he was proud of the Idaho National Guard for being ready to answer the call of the federal government.
He told his soldiers gathered at the sendoff this morning to embrace the deployment for the opportunity to learn from each other, and allies, as well as embracing the role the unit will play in the defense infrastructure of allied nations while deployed.
Preparing for such a deployment has taken over 18 months, and for pilots of the UH-60 Blackhawk, the primary aircraft of the unit, preparation is crucial for staying safe in unfamiliar skies.
"Looking at the geography, the temperament of what we'll be flying over in Kosovo has a similar geographic than Boise," CW2 Oceana Chamberlin, a UH-60 Blackhawk pilot preparing to deploy said. "Similar high-desert training areas, mountains -- it's the closest to what would feel like flying at home."
Moving a flight line to the Balkans from Boise is no easy feat, and maintainers like Sgt. Wilbur Stover have been hard at work for months preparing both the helicopters and their tools for transport across the Atlantic.
"We're taking all the tools we need to be able to work as efficiently there as we do here," Sgt. Stover said. "You've got about a million and a half moving parts on these helicopters, the priority when something goes wrong is safety."
The deployment will last almost a year, or as those deploying said, "three-hundred sixty-four days and a wake-up," before the 1st of the 183rd returns to Boise, with what Lt. Col. Reid hopes is a wealth of new experience, lessons, and skills.
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