GoArmy.com > Soldier Life > Helicopter Gunnery Reserve Drill

When you're part of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crew in the Army Reserve, your skills have got to soar. In this training exercise, Soldiers in the 244th Aviation Brigade practice defending their aircraft with an
M-60 machine gun.

Being a Soldier in the Army Reserve gives you skills that go beyond your specific job function. You learn how to work as a team and how to lead. Watch Army Reserve Soldiers of the 244th prepare for their exercise.

Each member of the team does his or her part to ensure the mission is a success. From the Chinook pilots to the detachment commander, each Soldier knows what to do to help the others out. See how everyone works together to hit the target.

The Army Reserve is crucial to the overall mission of the Army. Watch Chief Warrant Officer Davis explain why Reserve training plays such a critical role in the Army's success.

More Unit Training

	SPC Nicole Curtis: I'm a 67-Uniform, which is Chinook mechanic crew chief. I'm ultimately responsible for the aircraft serviceability, anything that has to do with the aircraft—fixing it, flying it—we're on it. It's the reason we came here for—aerial gunnery.
	SSG Steven Bentz: That's basically where the flight crews go out to do part of their job training.
	Their job description is to be able to actually shoot a machine gun out of a helicopter.
	SPC Steve Cappel: Say you've just gone and picked up a Special Forces team that needs to get out. They've done their mission and they need to leave and they've got people following them with weapons. They're shooting at you. We need to lay down some suppressive fire, so that they can get on board and we can get out of town.
	SPC Nicole Curtis: We go through a mission briefing before we even do anything. We find out what we're going to do, what the mission is going to be. We take precautions on everything that we do because it's our lives.
	SPC Steve Cappel: We've got people all over the country to come train with us here at Carson and we all train exactly the same way, and no, we don't see each other but maybe a few times a year. We can all do the same task to the same standard, no matter where we're from.
	SPC Nicole Curtis: The training in the Reserves that I've gotten is very professional.
	I feel very confident in what I do. I like being in the Reserves because you actually do your job and you're out there doing a mission--you don't have any down time—you're constantly going.
	SSG Steven Bentz: Being in the Army Reserve, you've got two days in which to do a month's worth of work so you get a lot done in a very short period of time. For a number of people, it is in an additional paycheck, but more than that, I think the Army Reserve is a learning experience, that teaches people how to organize themselves, how to organize their time, how to be more responsible in their everyday life. There's so much, I mean, that you learn, there's so much you get for it, it's hard to pinpoint, but you get skills for life, you know? Working with other people, public speaking, and leadership skills is also a big one. As a flight engineer, you have to tell the people on your aircraft what to do, where to put it, where to go. SPC Steve Cappel: It's all good training that you can use not just in the Reserves, but also anywhere in life. It's life training; it's not just military training.