Staff Report
VICENZA, Italy - Soldiers from the Kentucky National Guard's 63rd Theater Aviation Brigade traveled to both Germany and Italy to participate in Exercise Judicious Response with U.S. Army Africa (USARAF) Oct. 9-22, 2016.
The 63rd TAB's role was to provide aviation support to USARAF while they were validating their capability to rapidly respond to crises and contingencies in support of the Geographic Combatant Commander's operational requirements.
"This was a short notice mission we were asked to participate in," said Lt. Col. Mark Brozak, 63rd TAB Operations Officer. "We were able to pull together some of our very best Soldiers in aviation to provide the necessary expertise to pull this exercise off.
USARAF had never had aviation support participate in this exercise previously, so we brought a new level of realism to the first responders and how aviation plays a crucial part in that initial response."
Soldiers from 63rd TAB deployed to Germany to act as a General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) while USARAF responded to a notional incident on the continent of Africa. An element was also deployed to USARAF's headquarters in Vicenza, Italy to provide liaison support.
The exercise included representatives from all four branches of service and spread across both Europe and the United States.
Sgt. Maj. Scott Foster, operations NCO for 63rd TAB, helped to coordinate the aviation response leading up to the mission.
"This exercise certainly tested our Soldiers capabilities in new ways," said Foster. "Our troops did an amazing job and I can already see that the partnership with USARAF will only serve to make us better at what we do in aviation."