Museum welcomes helicopter pilots
Current regimental members stop by after Louisiana training
Eight whirling blades cut through the winter air over Chattanooga recently, the deep growl of the engines of two AH-64D helicopters heralding their arrival at Lovell Field. Better known as the Apache, these aircraft are the last thing a terrorist wants to see or hear.
So why were they in Chattanooga? Sightseeing, mostly.
The choppers belong to the 6th Squadron, Sixth Cavalry Regiment, currently based at Fort Drum, New York, near the Canadian border. The squadron commander and three pilots were returning from Fort Polk, Louisiana, where they participated in a month-long Joint Readiness Training Rotation. Day after day the two helos flew simulated combat missions — full-spectrum aviation operations — testing their abilities against weather, terrain and an entrenched enemy.
The end of the training meant a return of the two helicopters to Fort Drum. But along the 1,500-mile
journey the officers were given permission to visit their Regimental Museum here in Fort Oglethorpe. It’s a visit more than a year in the planning, finally come to fruition.
“It was a goal of ours to come see it and be part of the history,” said Lt. Col. Beau Rollie, squadron commander. He and three chief warrant officers — CW4 Cole Sisson, CW3 Justin Hall and CW3 Joshua Diel — grabbed a rental car and drove to the 6th Cavalry Museum in Fort Oglethorpe.
The pilots were intrigued by the displays, reminding them that while they fight their battles from the air, their predecessors fought on horseback.
Tracing the history of their unit back to the days following World War I when the 6th first occupied their new home at Fort Oglethorpe, the men marveled at the exhibits.
Chief Diel admired the extraordinary skill it took to take a horse
into battle — for both horse and soldier.
All the men gazed with pride at the line of battle streamers hanging in the entryway to the museum — reminders of all the times the 6th Cavalry answered the call to defend the homeland.
The M-47 Patton tank was a special treat for the pilots, as their AH-64 Apache helicopter is often referred to as a “flying tank” because of its toughness and lethality in battle.
All too soon, it was time for the members of the 6/6th to head back home. But Lt. Col. Rollie promised to be back, with his family in tow, to see more of the 6th Cavalry Museum and Fort Oglethorpe.