| Company B, 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment |
MN aircraft 101 (with a MN & IA pilot) lifting an A-10 on Wednesday 19 May.
|
Unit Information
The mission of Co B 2-211th GSAB, when ordered by the President of the United States is to mobilize and deploy to a theater of operations to provide air assault and aerial movement of troops, equipment and supplies, for support of maneuver, combat and combat service support operations. On order from the Governor of Minnesota, they provide support to civil authorities in response to state and local emergencies.
Flying CH-47 Chinook Cargo Helicopters -- the unit is known in Iraq as "The Bootleggers." B Co. was organized on October 1, 2005 as a result of Army Transformation with its Battalion Headquartered in West Jordan, Utah. After having been formed for only six months, B Co. 2-211th was mobilized in March of 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mobilization training was conducted at Ft. Hood, Texas where they joined over 600 Soldiers from Utah, Nebraska, Florida, Arkansas and Colorado, along with individual ready-reservists to form the 2-135th General Support Aviation Battalion, headquartered at Buckley AFB, CO.
The unit arrived in the Middle East in late August of 2006 as Task Force Blackjack under the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade. While operating out of Balad, Iraq the CH-47's flew over 7,000 Combat Flight Hours, conducted over 100 air assaults involving 15,500 troops. Overall Taskforce Blackjack flew 5,400 combat missions that totaled 23,000 flight hours, and flew 17 hostages to safety.
The unit returned home to the United States on August 12, 2007 and returned safely to Minnesota on the 18th of August.
"B Co. again deployed in 2011 in support of Operation New Dawn along with its sister company located in Iowa. While deployed, B Co. set an aviation record for greatest number of hours flown in a 30-day period, a total of 1,039.1 hours, setting a Chinook company record for Operation Iraqi Freedom and OND. The unit flew a total of 7,723.4 hours during its deployment.
Not long after taking command in Iraq, command directed all Chinook missions to be flown at night. This meant most of the pilot and crew logged their flight hours while using Night Vision Devices. This led to the unit taking the moniker "All Night Long" - a nickname that got the attention of the song's artist, Lionel Richie:
CBS Video "Lionel Richie becomes mascot for National Guard unit"
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7423464n"
Download photos
|
Community Connections
Unit Address: 2185 45th Ave SE
Saint Cloud, Minn. 56304-9793
Unit Telephone: 651-282-4503
Recruiter Telephone: 651-297-8762
Map
|
|
|
