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Carson to receive 24 Apaches, 500 soldiers

The Apache helicopter battalion moving from Korea to Fort Carson, Colo., next year will fill a needed aviation niche at the mountain post, Carson officials say.

“This is really a shot in the arm for Fort Carson and our forces here,” said Col. B. Shannon Davis, deputy commander and chief of staff of Fort Carson. “We’re excited about this attack helicopter battalion coming to Fort Carson.”

The Pentagon approved the re-stationing of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment — known as the 1-2 Attack Reconnaissance Battalion — so the unit could be available for deployment to Iraq next fall, according to a recent United States Forces Korea press statement. The Pentagon will send 12 A-10 attack aircraft and two MH-53 helicopters to South Korea to temporarily replace the departing unit.

The 24 Apache helicopters and about 500 Soldiers in 1-2 will moved to Carson next March to give the unit enough time to train for its deployment to Iraq, Carson spokeswoman Karen Connelly said.

Carson officials said they welcome the 1-2 since they are scheduled to lose the post’s sole aviation unit — the 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment — next spring. The 1-6, a Kiowa unit, is just returning to Carson from 14 months in Iraq and is scheduled to re-locate to Fort Riley, Kan., next spring, Connelly said.

“We lost one and we gained one, so we are happy,” she said.

While combat units at Carson will not deploy with the 1-2 to Iraq, they will still have the benefit of training with the Apache unit, Carson officials said.

“Their capability is tremendous; we are using them in both theaters — Iraq and Afghanistan — right now,” Davis said. “So to be able to train like we are going to fight with this modern equipment here at Fort Carson is essential to the troops.”