Wisconsin National Guard UH-60 Black Hawks, crews support 181st MFTB competition

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Two UH-60 Black Hawks and crews with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 1st Battalion...... read more read more

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Two UH-60 Black Hawks and crews with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment support a competition event from the open field next to Rumpel Fitness Center on March 13, 2025, at Fort McCoy, Wis. From March 12-14, the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade at Fort McCoy held its 2025 Brigade Best Observer-Controller/Trainer competition and on March 13 as part of the competition a pair of UH-60 Black Hawks and crews helped support the competition. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol/Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office)  see less | View Image Page

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

03.26.2025

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                   

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

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From March 12-14, the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade (MFTB) at Fort McCoy held its 2025 Brigade Best Observer-Controller/Trainer competition and on March 13 as part of the competition a pair of UH-60 Black Hawks and crews helped support the competition.

Black Hawks and crews with the Wisconsin National Guard’s 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment supported a competition event from the open field next to Rumpel Fitness Center on the installation’s cantonment area.

According to a Facebook post by 181st MFTB Public Affairs at https://www.facebook.com/181MFTB, competition on March 13 saw the competitors “take on multiple challenges that tested them both mentally and physically.”

“Day two started with the competitors taking a physical exercise challenge that began in the early morning to test their endurance,” the post states. “They then proceeded into the field to test on various lanes that ranged from chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN), combat lifesaving, grenade lanes, and stress shooting drills.”

It was going out to the field where the Black Hawks played a role in ferrying Soldiers for the competition.

According to the Army fact sheet for the Black Hawk, its mission is to provide air assault, general support, aeromedical evacuation, command and control, and special operations support to combat, stability, and support operations.

The UH-60 also is the Army’s utility tactical transport helicopter, the fact sheet states. The versatile helicopter has enhanced the overall mobility of the Army due to dramatic improvements in troop capacity and cargo lift capability over the years as well. Now in its fourth decade of service, the Black Hawk was developed as a result of the Army’s requirement in 1972 for a simple, robust, and reliable utility helicopter system to satisfy projected air-mobile requirements around the globe.

Named after Native American war chief and leader of the Sauk tribe in the Midwest, Black Hawk, the first UH-60A was accepted by the Army in 1978 and entered service in 1979 when it was delivered to aviation components of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, the fact sheet states. Since that time, the Black Hawk has accumulated more than 9 million total fleet hours and has supported Soldiers in every major contingency operation the Army has executed, including Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East.

“Today, the Army continues to integrate emerging technology enhancements into the Black Hawk fleet to increase the performance, reliability, availability, and maintainability of the platform through addition of technologies such as the integration of the improved turbine engine; upgrades to the airframe, including an improved troop seat for additional crash-worthiness; and a lightweight, composite all-moving tail,” the fact sheet states.

As far as the competition goes, a follow-up Facebook post stated Capt. Daniel Logan and Staff Sgt. David Fitzpatrick of Team Four were the first-place winners of the competition and Capt. Drew Russel and Sgt. 1st Class Logan Krul of Team One placed second. These two teams move on to compete in the First Army Division West Best OC/T Competition.

Almost monthly, Wisconsin National Guard Black Hawks are supporting some type of training at Fort McCoy, according to the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security.

See more news about Wisconsin National Guard Black Hawks by visiting https://wi.ng.mil/About/64TC.

Learn more about the 181st MFTB by visiting https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/181ID.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”

Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”