Elite helicopter unit joins U.S.-based special ops

[unhappycamper]

A partly disassembled MH-47E Chinook heavy assault helicopter of Army's Company E, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, emerges from cavernous interior of U.S. Air Force C-17 transport at K-2 Air Base, Taegu, South Korea.


Elite helicopter unit joins U.S.-based special ops
By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, December 2, 2007


PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — The elite U.S. Army special operations helicopter unit that was created especially for service in South Korea is no longer stationed on the peninsula, Stars and Stripes has learned.

Instead, Company E, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) has been de-activated and absorbed into a newly formed special operations helicopter battalion at Fort Lewis, Wash., that will be formally activated on Wednesday.

The new unit, 4th Battalion, 160th SOAR, will be available for special-ops tasks throughout the Pacific, including South Korea, Col. Bart Shreve, chief of staff at Special Operations Command Korea, said Friday.

Since 2001, Company E — which specialized in flying commando-style infiltration missions — had been stationed in Daegu inside a U.S. compound at K-2 Air Base, also known as Daegu Air Base. K-2 is a South Korean air force installation that shares space with commercial Daegu Airport.

The new battalion will have “an orientation toward the Pacific,” Shreve said. “They would address any crisis in the Pacific, which of course includes Korea.”

Company E was assigned six MH-47E Chinook heavy assault helicopters, which are Chinook variants modified for special operations. The company’s chief mission was ferrying special operations troops hundreds of miles and sneaking them into and out of combat, especially at night.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50666