US Army’s 101st AVN welcomes new Chinook unit

The US Army’s 6th Battalion 101st Aviation Regiment (AVN), welcomed a new Chinook unit on June 22, when Company G was activated at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

US Army 101st AVN CH-47F sling-load training exercise 19-07-17 [US Army/Sgt Marcus Floyd (101st CAB)] — Troops assigned to Battery C, 1st Battalion of the US Army's 320th Field Artillery Regiment attach an M777 Howitzer to the belly of a Boeing CH-47F Chinook from Company B, 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, during a sling-load training exercise at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on July 19, 2017. US Army/Sgt Marcus Floyd (101st CAB)

Known as ‘Varsity’, the company will operate the Boeing CH-47F in the heavy-lift tactical transport helicopter role as the battalion’s second Chinook company. The battalion is a component of the 101st Airborne Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB).

The activation of a second Chinook company within the 101st AVN restores the regiment’s heavy-lift tactical transport capability, which was reduced by 50% when the division’s second CAB was deactivated in December 2015.

By Tom Kaminski