New Alaska-based command to ease communication for 2 division battalions with 'faraway' headquarters
The Army’s 11th Airborne Division is activating a new organization to improve coordination between commanders and two Fort Wainwright-based aviation units.
The 11th Airborne’s new Arctic Aviation Command will provide an Alaska headquarters for the Ft. Wainwright-based 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment and 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.
“It’s going to simplify things for those units, so that they are responding to one commander, as opposed to a local commander and also to a faraway commander,” says John Pennell, a division spokesperson.
Pennell says activation of the Arctic Aviation Command gives the two battalions a local headquarters.
“We have had operational control of the units that are stationed here to support us. But they have also had to report up their chain of command,” he said.
For the 1st of 25th aviation regiment, the headquarters is at Fort Shafter, Hawaii; for the 1st of the 52nd, it’s at Joint Base Lewis McChord, in Washington state.
Pennell says most of the public won’t notice the change, but it’s an important step forward for 11th Airborne deployment readiness.
“It’s part of the continuing transition from U.S. Army Alaska to 11th Airborne Division,” he said. The Army reactivated the 11th Airborne two years ago and deactivated the previous organization, U.S. Army Alaska.
An 11th Airborne news release says the Arctic Aviation Command will give the division dedicated assets that will enhance aviation operations throughout Alaska and wherever it deploys. The 11th Airborne will stand-up the new aviation command in a ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday at Fort Wainwright’s Ladd Army Airfield hangar 5.
Editor's note: This story was revised to clarify that activation of the Arctic Aviation Command gives the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment and 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment a local headquarters.
