6th Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, Los Alamitos, Calif.

The Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) has announced its Calendar Year 2004 National Award Winners. Winning units and individuals are recognized at the AAAA Annual Convention, being held this week from May 9-11, 2005, in Orlando, Fla. The AAAA Annual Convention provides an opportunity for its members to gather with government and industry representatives concerned with Army Aviation and participate in the professional program and exhibits.

The first AAAA Annual Convention was held in June 1959 and has taken place every year since then. In recent years, the sites of the AAAA Annual Convention have included Atlanta, Ga.; Fort Worth, Texas and Nashville, Tenn.

The "Flying Dragons" of the 6th Bn., 52nd Aviation Regiment, headquartered at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, Calif., with units at Los Alamitos; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort McCoy, Wis., and Fort Knox, Ky., distinguished themselves by flying thousands of hours accident and incident free, in and out of combat zones during 2004. More than half of the 6th Bn. mobilized for a yearlong deployment to Iraq. The battalion staff, Headquarters and HQs Company, Company C, and some members of Company B rallied to the nation's call. The "Dragons" self-deployed their C-12R, C-23 (shown below) and UC-35B fixed-wing aircraft more than 10,000 nautical miles without incident from their prep site in Washington state, over the Atlantic Ocean, across Europe, down to Kuwait, and then up to Balad, Iraq. While deployed, their actions helped rewrite Army Fixed wing doctrine to defeat the enemy threat and provide vital air movement to thousands of passengers and millions of pounds of cargo, which eliminated the need for many dangerous ground-based vehicle convoys.

Despite the geographical displacement and distances between the headquarters and its companies and platoons, the "Dragons" overcame all challenges. They successfully flew in excess of 8,880 hours, accounting for 109.9 percent of their flying hour program, and garnered more than 20 flying-hour-milestone safety awards while accomplishing their critical mission in a highly efficient and professional manner.

FMI: www.quad-a.org