Mission
The Special Operations Aviation Training Battalion (SOATB) conducts basic Army Special Operations Aviation individual training and provides education in order to produce crew members and support personnel with basic and advanced qualifications for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne).
Soldiers and instructors from the SOATB welcome conventional units to the Allison Aquatics Training Facility (AATF) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to teach water survival techniques. Prior to this training, the AATF traditionally had been used by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (SOAR) aviators and crew members, as well as members of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) for pre-mission training.
Organization
HQs at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; A Company (HQs and combat skills), B Company (flight company), D Company (field maintenance).
Operations
The unit averages 235 training days per year, including 80 officer graduates, 325 enlisted graduates and 10,500 flight hours.
- Green platoon training: combatives, land navigation, ranges, physical training, road marches, administrative classes, first responders course
- Allison Aquatics Training Facility: dunker training, emergency breathing
- Flight training: basic skills (mission planning, mission briefing); advanced skills (specific aircraft qualifications, environmental operations, aerial operations); combat mission flight simulators
History
Originally called "Green Platoon," ad hoc training functions began in 1983. In 1988, the unit officially formed to centralize and standardize recruiting, assessment and training. In 1990, the mission scope expanded to all active and reserve components. Special Operations Aviation Training Company (SOATC) provisionally designated in 1992, and in 2010, it officially re-designated as SOATB.
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