Army Aviation continues to distinguish itself around the world, demonstrating unparalleled value, versatility and flexibility. As we make significant contributions to the Global War on Terrorism, Aviation Soldiers have crossed the 800,000 combat flying hour mark in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Flying and maintaining aircraft to meet this monumental milestone is a prolific accomplishment.
    Army Aviation has also responded in an unprecedented manner to the tragedy following Hurricane Katrina. Deploying over 100 aircraft and flying over 4,000 hours in the first two weeks following the aftermath is equally incredible.
    And finally, the Aviation Warfighting Center (AWC) has just completed a thorough analysis of our roles and missions, producing the AWC's fiscal year 2006 campaign plan.

Combat Milestones
    Simultaneously passing two major milestones, units in OEF and OIF surpassed 100,000 and 700,000 combat flying hours respectively. Accomplishing this at an operational tempo greater than two to four times the peacetime rate is difficult to comprehend, but Aviation Soldiers have accomplished the inconceivable. The contemporary operating environment produces many challenging circumstances and situations; again Aviation Soldiers continue to improvise, innovate and accomplish absolutely incredible results. Job well done!

Disaster Response
    Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast August 29. The hurricane's storm surge breached the levees protecting New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain, flooding most of the city. The hurricane also damaged the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Recent estimates have the damage exceeding $100 billion, topping Hurricane Andrew as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Over a million people have been displaced, causing a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen in the America since the Great Depression.
    Army Aviation responded immediately with Task Force Eagle to support Joint TF Katrina. Air traffic services Soldiers from Fort Rucker, along with Soldiers and aircraft from the 1st Cavalry, 4th Infantry and the 82nd Airborne Divisions joined Army National Guard and Reserve units from Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming to respond to this historic crisis.

 

    Once again the versatility and flexibility of Army Aviation and our great Soldiers shined brightly. In the first two weeks over 100 aircraft flew 6,656 sorties, totaling more than 4,000 hours. During that time, 9,682 lives were saved in search and rescue missions. Over 35,231 people (including 7,926 medical patients) and 2,129 tons of supplies were moved.
    Another significant impact was the magnificent positive psychological effects of the sight of our Soldiers, aircraft and the sounds of freedom on the survivors. Those sights gave hope to the devastated people in the region and allowed stability and progress to reign where chaos and uncertainty once ruled.
We are proud of all Soldiers and units for the great sacrifices they have made. Job well done!
 

AWC Campaign Plan
    We still have a lot of challenges ahead in the GWOT, the recent natural disasters, and with transformation, Reset/Preset, and repositioning of units; but we will successfully meet those challenges as Army Aviation has always done.
    Our primary purpose at the AWC is to support the current warfight, insuring that every Soldier has the right training and equipment to be successful in combat. Our second priority is to simultaneously prepare the Aviation Branch, in concert with our joint and combined arms partners, for future contingencies. We must accomplish this in order for our nation to continue to be secure and develop our Army for the long term.


    In an effort to synchronize the Aviation Warfighting Center’s efforts with the Army Campaign Plan, each of the AWC commanders and directors completed an extensive review and analysis of the Army Campaign Plan, the Army Concept & Capability Developments Plan, the Combined Arms Center fiscal year 2006 command guidance, the TRADOC commander’s FY06 Training Guidance, and the recent Aviation Modified Functional Area Assessment.
    These documents, along with the AWC mission, vision, goals and commander’s intent, provided the necessary framework to establish detailed tasks by organization. Under the Aviation Warfighting Center’s two primary focus areas of training and futures, over 700 critical tasks were outlined. This mission analysis process, an extensive decision-making effort with all commanders and directors, was almost as important and beneficial as the AWC Campaign Plan itself.
    This summer, we experienced a near complete turnover of key leaders at Fort Rucker including our new Deputy Commanding General COL(P) Billy Wolf, Chief of Staff COL Wally Golden, both of our 1st and 110th Aviation Brigade commanders, to almost every directorate head. This maximized the need to define individual roles, missions and critical tasks for each commander and director, as well as educate each other on the entire scope of the collective AWC mission.
    The purpose for the AWC Campaign Plan is to clearly and concisely focus the branch's efforts during this period of unprecedented change. In such a dynamic period, we must stay synchronized internally with ourselves and externally with our combined arms team members and joint partners.
The key to synchronization is effective and efficient communications. Therefore, a secondary purpose was to describe organizational relationships aligned with task and purpose as an aid for communication, synchronization and adaptation.
    The Aviation Branch end state is clear. We must have doctrine that is current and relevant, easily updated to support operations and organizations that are modular, joint enabled, and tailorable to match changing METT-TC.
Our training programs must be current, relevant, rigorous and incorporate lessons learned. Materiel solutions must be centered on well thought out requirements. Our leader development programs must produce multi-functional leaders that adapt to the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world we live in. Our personnel programs must focus on providing a realistic, viable lifecycle that permits growth opportunities for all Soldiers.
    At the completion of this effort, we published the FY06 AWC Campaign Plan. It clearly and concisely focuses branch efforts that in turn will produce innovative solutions that maximize available time, manpower and dollars, as we apply them to training and future operations.

Relevant and Ready
    The Aviation Branch will continue to provide combat-ready Soldiers and leaders with the requisite qualities to act as a force multiplier in the contemporary operating environment. The Soldier remains the centerpiece of our Army and branch, and the focus of our organizational energy.
    Army Aviation continues to make a loud statement that it remains relevant and ready around the world, regardless of the mission or situation. There is a distinctive and incredible psychological effect of the sight of our Soldiers, aircraft, and the “sound of freedom.”
    Those sights give hope to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq as they establish order and democracy in their countries, hope to the devastated people of the Gulf Coast region, and strike fear in the hearts of our enemies around the world.
    The U.S. Army Aviation Warfighting Center is diligently working to maintain this significant capability and advantage.

ABOVE  THE BEST!!! 

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