NEWBURGH, N.Y. – New York Army National Guard Military Police Soldiers ramped up their deployment skills Dec. 3-4 when they teamed up with Air Guard members to load trucks and trailers onto C-17s flown by the 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard Base here.
The Soldiers of the 206th Military Police Company are part of the Homeland Response Force, known as a HRF ( Pronounced " herf"), manned by the New York and New Jersey National Guards. The Soldiers and Airmen of the HRF can enter damaged or destroyed buildings to save victims, decontaminate them if a chemical, biological or radiological weapon was used, and provide immediate medical care.
The Soldiers of the 206th provide the search and extraction team which goes into destroyed buildings to save victims.
"Our Soldiers can't do their job if we can't get there with our equipment," said Sgt. Michael Alan Nadeau, a Homeland Response Force Search and Extraction member. "This was a great chance to work side-by-side and learn techniques from the loadmasters."
Getting there quickly may involve moving the HRF's trucks and trailers by air, so Nadeau and other 206th Soldiers spent the weekend learning what's required to put an Army National Guard truck on an Air National Guard plane.
The HRF is equipped with civilian-type vehicles but the MPs also need to know how to load their medium trucks and Humvees on a military aircraft so they can deploy quickly for a federal mission when called upon said Capt. Carlos Nazario, the company's commander.
The MPs practiced loading both their tactical vehicles and the Homeland Response Force vehicles on a C-17.
The load training with the Air Guard allowed the 206th MPs to prepare for both contingencies, he explained.
The training also benefitted the Airmen of the 105th, said Tech Sgt. Walter Allen, the wing operations group training non-commissioner officer.
The wing recently implemented a new training program known as Base Deployable Asset Training Initiative, which requires Airmen to work with the wing air transport squadron to prepare equipment for airlift.
Working with the 206th MPs to deploy their equipment fits right in with this training initiative, Allen said.
"The 105th Operations Group, alongside the 105th Logistic readiness squadron jumped at the opportunity to help train the 206th Military Police Company. We find that it is most beneficial when the user is familiar with all aspects of their cargo to include: weight and balance, flight requirements, and loading procedures," Allen said.
The Soldiers and Airmen worked together to conduct joint inspections of military trucks and Humvees. The vehicle dimensions and gross weight were used to determine the center of balance of the vehicles when loading the C-17 Globemaster III.
"It was a great learning experience, especially prepping the vehicles and using (vehicle) air load ramps," Nadeau said.
This won't be the last time that the 206th MP Co., which is based in Latham, New York, works with the 105th Airlift Wing Airmen, Nazario said.
The company plans to move medium trucks and Humvees, along with troops, on board 105th Airlift Wing C-17s to Virginia in January for a training exercise at Fort Pickett, the Army National Guard Maneuver training area maintained by the Virginia National Guard, Nazario said.
The Airmen get experience on loading and moving troops and gear while the Soldiers get to their training site faster, Nazario said.