'A Soldier from the Co. D, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade helps another Soldier during phase maintenance on a UH-60 Black Hawk on May 14 at the flight line on Camp Humphreys. Their unit won the Army Aviation Association of America Aviation Support Unit of the Year.'
CAMP HUMPHREYS — Many things can go wrong with the mechanics of machinery from kitchen appliances to airplanes. Proper safety procedures and maintenance are a big part of how incidents like the recent Amtrak derailing can be avoided and lives can be saved.
The Co. D, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade won the Army Aviation Association of America Aviation Support Unit of the Year Award on May 1 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The award presentation was part of the AAAA Morning Calm Ball.
Sgt. D’ Edward Hodge, an avionic mechanic from the Co. D, 3rd GSAB, 2nd CAB, was one of the Soldiers from the winning unit.
“We earned this award due to our amazing discipline,” Hodge said. “We enforce the regulations and push our Soldiers to be the best.”
He said the unit always uses proper procedures and never cuts any corners when performing their jobs.
“It is extremely important to us to repair our aircraft safely because we hold pilots and crews lives in our hands,” Hodge said.
During a nine-month period, Soldiers from the unit were an integral part in the 3rd GSAB’s successful accomplishment of three aerial gunneries, and five combined arms live fire exercises. They completed over 23,000 work orders for scheduled and unscheduled aircraft maintenance with over 118,000 maintenance man-hours.
Capt. Terry Hill, the Co. D commander, and 1st Sgt. Thomas Graham, the Co. D 1st Sgt., was the units command team when given the award.
“We try to train our Soldiers to have a ‘fight tonight’ mentality,” Graham said. “At any moment something could happen, and we have to be ready to be anywhere.”
The first sergeant said his Soldiers had too many reasons to deserve the award to include working on weekends and holidays.
“Our guys are mostly junior enlisted Soldiers, yet they consistently show motivation and dedication to do their jobs,” Graham said.
The Co. D commander said it felt great for his Soldiers to be recognized for what they do every day. It is a direct reflection of their hard work.
“Every single day with every single task these Soldiers go above and beyond,” Hill said. “Around here we like to say ‘exceeding the standard is the standard’.”
It may seem simple, but the safety and maintenance work that the Co. D Soldiers do every day could possibly be the thing that saves someone’s life.
