Army Reserve aviation: Providing MILAIR at a moment's notice
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brandon Harbaugh and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mike Garcia, U.S. Army Reserve pilots with Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment, headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, prepar to taxi a C-12 Huron aircraft into another hangar on Pope Airfield, Sept. 4, 2019, in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, which is expected to hit the North Carolina coast within days. The company’s mission is to provide executive transportation to senior military officers, as well as supporting other high priority needs, such as blood resupply runs to medical sites, fly sniper teams, and travel to disaster relief sites as needed. Earlier in the morning, one of the company’s C-12 transported Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command, to South Carolina, where Army Reserve Soldiers are staged to respond to relief efforts for Hurricane Dorian. Though made up mostly of Army Reserve officers who have civilian careers outside of the military, the company’s operation cell and pilots remain flexible to the needs of the military, often executing flight requests in less than 12 hours. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Master Sgt. Michel Sauret)