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Photo 1 of 7
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Landing support specialists with Combat Logistics Battalion 2, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, attach a 1,098 pound pallet of Meals, Ready to Eat to an MV-22B Osprey during a helicopter support team exercise aboard Naval Station Rota, Spain, July 6, 2016. External lifts allow pilots to deliver large cargo and supplies to Marines located in rough or unknown terrain without having to land the aircraft. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle/Released)
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle
Photo 2 of 7
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U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Mackinnly Lewis, a landing support specialist with Combat Logistics Battalion 2, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, guides an MV-22B Osprey during a helicopter support team exercise aboard Naval Station Rota, Spain, July 6, 2016. This training prepares Marines to deliver and recover supplies and equipment quickly and efficiently in potential future missions around Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle/Released)
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle
Photo 3 of 7
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An MV-22 Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, lifts a 1,098 pound pallet of Meals, Ready to Eat during a helicopter support team exercise aboard Naval Station Rota, Spain, July 6, 2016. External lifts allow pilots to deliver large cargo and supplies to Marines located in rough or unknown terrain without having to land the aircraft. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle/Released)
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle
Photo 4 of 7
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Landing support specialists with Combat Logistics Battalion 2, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, brace themselves against rotor wash as an MV-22B Osprey picks up a 1,098 pound pallet of Meals, Ready to Eat during a helicopter support team exercise aboard Naval Station Rota, Spain, July 6, 2016. External lift training prepares the Marines to efficiently attach cargo to the aircraft and helps qualify air crew in the mission-essential task of rapid insertion and extraction in a possible crisis response scenario. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle/Released)
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle
Photo 5 of 7
United States European Command Image
Landing support specialists with Combat Logistics Battalion 2, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, attach a 1,098 pound pallet of Meals, Ready to Eat to an MV-22B Osprey during a helicopter support team exercise aboard Naval Station Rota, Spain, July 6, 2016. This training prepares the Marines to efficiently attach cargo to the aircraft and helps qualify air crew in the mission-essential task of rapid insertion and extraction. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle/Released)
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle
Photo 6 of 7
United States European Command Image
Landing support specialists with Combat Logistics Battalion 2, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, await the arrival of an MV-22B Osprey during a helicopter support team exercise aboard Naval Station Rota, Spain, July 6, 2016. This training prepares Marines to deliver and recover supplies quickly and efficiently in potential future missions across Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle/Released)
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle
Photo 7 of 7
United States European Command Image
An MV-22 Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, transports a 1,098 pound pallet of Meals, Ready to Eat during a helicopter support team exercise aboard Naval Station Rota, Spain, July 6, 2016. External lift training prepares the Marines to efficiently attach cargo to the aircraft and helps qualify air crew in the mission-essential task of rapid insertion and extraction in a possible crisis response scenario. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle/Released)
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Tia Nagle
NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain – Landing support specialists braved the rough rotor wash beneath an MV-22B Osprey to deliver supplies during a helicopter support team exercise, July 6, 2016.
“We went out there with [Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263] and we provided external support to them so they could conduct their lift requirements,” said Sgt. Christopher Dutzer, helicopter support team leader with the Combat Logistics Battalion 2, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa.
The training served as a refresher for the HST Marines and MV-22B Osprey crew as they practiced attaching and transporting a pallet of Meals, Ready to Eat from a single-point sling suspended from the belly of the aircraft.
“Part of our [training and readiness] standards and overall support of logistics is facilitating external lifts like that,” said Dutzer. “We provide logistics support, in this case transporting cargo, supplies, ammunition, anything that you could imagine can be transported externally via heavy lift helicopter and it can be moved into a location that vehicles can’t necessarily go.”
External lift training prepares the Marines to efficiently attach cargo to the aircraft and helps qualify air crew in the mission-essential task of rapid insertion and extraction in a possible crisis response scenario.
“[The training] went flawlessly,” said Dutzer. “We had some phenomenal piloting and their crew chiefs were on point with their guidance as well and the landing support specialists did their job to their utmost abilities. I was very impressed and proud of them.”
