April 24, 2009

A U.S. Army Chinook helicopter was on campus Thursday to take California State University, Fresno Army ROTC cadets to a training exercise at Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County this weekend.

The chopper, based out of 1106th AVCRAD Army Reserve base in Fresno, transported 32 Fresno State cadets from the North Gym lawn to the spring field training on the coast in a joint exercise with Army ROTC cadets from Santa Clara University, UC Berkeley and the University of San Francisco.

At the Fresno State site, cadets were briefed on the aircraft and trained on safety procedures before boarding the craft for flight.

They were onboard as the helicopter completed an air assault operation around Fort Hunter-Liggett before being dropped off for the training exercise which will consist of day and night land navigation, patrolling exercises, leadership situational training exercises and obstacle course training, said Lt. Col. Mike Busteed, commander of the Fresno State ROTC and professor of military science in the Craig School of Business.

“We utilize this helicopter operation to provide additional leadership training to our cadets on the planning and use of Army aviation assets in the support of military operations,” said Busteed.

For more information, contact Busteed at 559.278.5464.