Aviation Senior Leaders Synchronization Conference: The Way Ahead For Army Aviation By BG E.J. Sinclair

Army Aviation is in the midst of preparing for the Aviation Senior Leaders Conference that will serve as a synchronization update for Army Aviation Transformation. This is a key time to ensure all senior leaders understand the way ahead for Army Aviation Transformation and to resolve outstanding issues. We expect great results from the conference and it will be an opportunity for senior leaders to get any specific concerns addressed.

            The 2005 Aviation Senior Leaders Synchronization Conference will be held January 24-28 in the Seneff Aviation Warfighting Simulation Center at Fort Rucker, Ala. This is an opportunity for branch senior leaders to discuss relevant trends in Army Aviation, and ensure that Fort Rucker continues to better support the commanders in the field with tailored and responsive air assets. The conference will focus on the future restructuring of Army Aviation, the modernization plan, training initiatives, the implementation of Flight School XXI, the new organizational structures including the Brigade Aviation Element (BAE), and brigade commander lessons learned concerning aviation operations around the world from the 1st ID, 1st AD, 3rd ID, 4th ID, 6th Cavalry Regt., and the 17th Avn. Brigade.

Branch Update and new ABCSM

            One of the conference opening events on Day 1 will be a “State of the Branch Update.” This will be followed by a change of responsibility ceremony and reception for the outgoing Aviation Branch Command Sergeant Major CSM Walter Beckman and incoming CSM Buford Thomas, Jr. The afternoon will focus on warfighting lessons learned in a session led by MG Dell Dailey, former commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, along with several Aviation brigade commanders. The day will wrap with a group photo of all attendees, followed by an informal social with officers attending the Pre-Command Course.

Senior Guest Speakers

            There are several distinguished guest speakers at this year’s conference. Day 2 features GEN Dick Cody, the Army’s Vice Chief of Staff. GEN Cody is followed by updates on the new BAE, Directorate of Evaluation and Standard-ization issues, and the Training and Doctrine Command System Managers for Lift, Recon-Attack and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems. Other prominent guest speakers include LTG James Lovelace, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, G-3, discussing current Army operations; and MG James Pillsbury, commander of the Army’s Aviation and Missile Command, discussing Aviation Reset. LTG Kevin Kiley and MG George Weightman will attend the conference and address medical evacuation integration into the Multi-Functional Aviation Brigade.

Dunker and SERE Training Updates

            The conference includes two optional iterations of Dunker familiarization training for attendees. Dunker training, an integral part of Flight School XXI, is the newest jewel in Fort Rucker’s improving infrastructure. The training begins with two hours of academics and an opportunity for attendees to get wet as they experience what all flight school students undergo. The dunker training is a mandatory Army Chief of Staff directed two-day program that all flight school students complete before leaving Fort Rucker. It is designed to familiarize crewmembers with life saving egress procedures from an aircraft that has entered water. Historically, dunker training was the expertise of the U.S. Navy. Now Fort Rucker provides our aircrews with the most up-to-date safety procedures for underwater aircraft egress in a facility organic to the Army and co-located with the Aviation Center.

            This year’s conference also features a presentation on survival, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE) training, focusing on how the current Level ‘B’ SERE course located at Fort Rucker is transitioning to an aviation focused Level ‘C’ SERE course. The SERE ‘C’ course is intended to provide flight crews with the skills to survive and evade capture in a combat situation, or if captured, to resist interrogation and exploitation, and plan for escape. The course includes a classroom phase, a field phase, and a resistance training laboratory that simulates a prisoner-of-war compound environment. Fort Rucker’s SERE program currently only lacks the resistance lab to become Level ‘C’ certified, but plans are underway to incorporate this within the next two years.

Best Aviation Unit Awards

            The Lieutenant General Ellis D. Parker Aviation Unit Awards will be presented during a luncheon on Tuesday, Jan. 25. The awards will be presented by retired LTG Parker to the overall winner, as well as the winners in the categories of best combat, best combat support, best combat service support, and best table of distribution and allowance battalions.

Bringing Academia, Field and Support Expertise Together

            As part of the Aviation Senior Leaders Synchronization Conference, we will explore enhancements to our gunnery programs. Discussions are planned on topics such as current weapons and range issues, developmental weapons and range initiatives, unit gunnery trends (aircraft systems and door gunnery) from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and Area Weapons Scoring System scheduling. The Army Training Support Center from Fort Eustis will provide insights on the direction of future force ranges. Their briefing includes information regarding New Generation Army Target Systems, Aviation Training Ranges, and range instrumentation. Other initiatives such as the Joint Common Missile, Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System, Blast Fragmentation HELLFIRE, and RF missiles will also be discussed.

            A lot of hard work, planning and preparing preceded this conference and will undoubtedly prove beneficial as we move forward with Army Aviation Transformation. The Aviation Senior Leaders Synchronization Conference provides a great opportunity to receive input from the field, implement lessons learned, and share tactics, techniques, and procedures as we better prepare our Aviation Soldiers for combat while simultaneously transforming our branch.

Army Aviation Accident Trends

            In the past twelve months (as of Dec. 9, 2004) Army Aviation has experienced 32 Class “A” accidents with 21 fatalities. Several of these accidents involved continued flight into deteriorating weather conditions, some forecast and some not. The results were the loss of our most precious assets, our Soldiers. All of us must be extremely cognizant of the current seasonal weather trends.

            Our senior leaders must take a close look at these accidents and ensure we are taking every possible measure to mitigate risk. Briefing officers and unit chains of command must be fully knowledgeable of their responsibilities and requirements. Leaders must evaluate every mission and ensure that not only the weather conditions support the planned mission, but also that the risks associated with deteriorating weather are addressed. Army Aviation is about defined standards and executing to these standards in every situation. Accurate and thorough composite risk management and mitigation applies to both training and combat operations. Leaders must balance tactical hazards with flight hazards. They must assess not only the hazards, but also mitigation actions to minimize risk to its lowest level while still maximizing mission success. Leaders must know and appropriately team their people and formations.

            We have gained invaluable experiences and knowledge in war and must capitalize on our collective experience to forge sound decisions while doing what is right, not what is easiest. We must seek to know our own limitations and that of our entire teams’. Our Soldiers and their families demand that safety is foremost and each mission ends without loss of American life.

ABOVE  THE BEST!!! 

BG E. J. Sinclair is the commander of the U.S. Army Aviation Warfighting Center and chief of the aviation branch.