Had Been At Base Since 1940s

It's a bittersweet experience, thinking about picking up everything and moving to a new home -- and its one the Louisiana Air National Guard based at New Orleans' Lakefront Airport is going through now.

For years, Guard officers based at Lakefront have contemplated a move from their aging facilities there. But it was Hurricane Katrina last September that proved to be the last straw, when the storm "pretty much destroyed" the Guard's facilities and hangar.

So now the First Batallion, 244th Aviation Regiment's UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, their support operations and a small detachment with one C-12 King Air are relocating to North Shore Airport in Hammond, Louisiana. The move should be completed by April.

"The Lakefront was a bad spot," said Col. Barry Keeling to the Associated Press. "We were looking at relocating anyway because it was outside the levee system. ... Hammond ended up being our best option."

The Guard will invest $110 million in new facilities at North Shore.

The 204th Air Traffic Services Group -- which Keeling commands -- will also relocate to Hammond, as will the state aviation officer and staff, Keeling said. The 204th's bunker was flooded from Katrina's rains.

A portion of the 204th and the state aviation staff will return to Lakefront when repairs are complete, according to Keeling, but the 204th's headquarters company will remain in Hammond.

It's quite a move for the Army National Guard, which has had a presence at Lakefront since the 1940s -- beginning with a fleet of Pipers. The unit has grown considerably since then, with a fleet of 20 Black Hawk helicopters today.

"We were getting cramped, and there was just nowhere to expand," Keeling said. He figures the Guard would have moved within five years anyway, before Katrina sped the process along.

FMI: www.arng.army.mil