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NEWS | Dec. 9, 2015

Mount Pleasant native graduates from US Army Black Hawk School

By Capt. Matthew Roman 11th Aviation Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. - U.S. Army Reserve officer, Lt. Col. Gatlen Sisk, graduated from the U.S Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft qualification course, Nov. 19.  

The six week course was conducted by the Pennsylvania Army National Guard at the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site located at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.

The comprehensive course included training in the various aircraft systems, flight training, navigation, combat skills, formation flying, night vision goggle usage, and mission planning.

Sisk is an Aviation Liaison Officer (LNO) assigned to the 11th Theater Aviation Command (TAC) out of Fort Knox, Ky. His position allows him to provide expert aeronautical advice for the TAC’s Command and Control, Command Response Element (C2CRE-A).  

The TAC’s mission, in regards to C2CRE-A, is to provide and manage military aviation assets while supporting civilian authorities in responding to catastrophic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive incidents in the U.S.  

Sisk’s military background includes a deployment to Iraq in 2009 where he was assigned to Task Force-ODIN (Observe, Detect, Identify, Neutralize) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). He is also qualified in the C-12R and has flown this reconnaissance aircraft in over 100 combat missions.

Sisk graduated from the Mount Pleasant High School in 1981 and Texas A&M University in 1985. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U. S. Marine Corps and served for 10 years as a helicopter pilot. In his civilian capacity, Lt. Col. Sisk is a Boeing 777 pilot for United Airlines.  He is the son of Eleanor Sisk and the late J.O. Sisk of Mount Pleasant, Texas.