"Back at the Gap" Major General Frank H. Smoker, Jr. (USAF, Retired) At Gap, training expands during 1990s 40th in a series During the early 1990’s the Gap experienced huge strides in the number of improvements in training facilities and equipment and in increased construction of permanent buildings. During 1993 and 1994, the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training site, sponsored by National Guard Bureau, instituted modernized aircraft systems training for the latest fixed and rotary wings aircraft. It was the first Aviation Reserve Component Training Institution accredited to conduct modernized aircraft training. The academic branch was reorganized during 1993 to focus on classroom instruction and support for aviator flight courses and, at the same time, it became the aviation maintenance and aviation operations career management field (enlisted soldier training). The addition of enlisted training doubled the site’s training capacity and provided the National Guard with a holistic approach to aviation training. To remain cost efficient, the training site also continued its commitment to simulation. During 1994, the Department of the Army reassigned the UH-60 Blackhawk Flight Simulator from Fort Org, California, to EAATS for support of qualification training. In addition, qualification training for the CH-47 Chinook and the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters was accredited and implemented. On the construction side of the house at Indiantown Gap, a contract for $9.6 million to design the Academic Instruction Building was negotiated. Authority to complete the design of the Aviation Brigade Armory at an estimated cost of $9.6 million was received from the National Guard Bureau, and by year’s end was 95 percent complete. The design of a CH-47/UH-60 Aircraft Simulator Building was 35 percent complete. This project was estimated to cost $4.6 million. During 1993, the Combined Support Maintenance Shop moved into a new $2.3 million addition that expanded its facilities by nearly 2,500 square feet and gave personnel an excellent working area in which to perform maintenance on the newly arriving mechanized equipment. Other improvements at the Gap included installation of a new state-of-the-art telephone exchange. This new exchange significantly increased the user base. The federal funds for these projects might be considered the “tip of the ice burg” of the money flowing into the Gap to provide National Guard facilities (and, parenthetically, providing a big boost to the area’s local economy). When you note the financial page of United States Property and Fiscal Office contained in the Military Affairs’ 1992- 1994 biennial report, in fiscal years 1992 and 1993, the dollar value of small local purchases totaled nearly $16.5 million, and the total costs of the many formal contracts amounted to over $20.5 million in federal funds. All of these federal funds directly and indirectly supported the activities at the Gap. For example, the Pennsylvania National Guard Military Academy was providing resident instruction to individuals selected to attend Officer Candidate School and Non-Commissioned Officer School and other special courses. During training years 1992 and 1993, the Academy graduated 4,836 students. This included 80 officer candidates, 1,628 soldiers in Pre-Initial Entry training and the remainder in other leadership and technically oriented courses. The Gap was also host to the Region I NCO Academy with an enrollment capacity of 288 students per class, conducting 15 classes annually. Region I was responsible for training Guard and Reserve soldiers from 12 northeastern states in addition to Pennsylvania. During 1993, this Academy graduated 6,119 soldiers, about half from the National Guard and the other half from Army Reserve units. The Regional Training Site – Medical at Fort Indiantown Gap might be described as a modern MASH unit of Korean war days, except it is a very sophisticated and technically equipped facility with compact medical packages that can be quickly airlifted and, once in place, expanded into small hospitals near the battlefield with a medical staff ready to operate in a tactical, sustaining environment. Its mission is to train medical personnel to keep a battle-focused, train-like-you-fight concept and to become competent in the required skills near the battlefield. This training site is one of a worldwide network of sites staffed and equipped to provide unit and individual training to meet Army health requirements of Airland Operations, a battlefield doctrine that teaches the need to anticipate medical needs. This site trains personnel from the regular Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines as well as the Guard. Since opening in December 1969, TRS-Medical has supported almost 100,000 training mandays with its 27 full-time soldiers, including training units for Desert Storm mobilization, deploying for overseas missions, supporting humanitarian/disaster relief efforts and assisting in research and development projects. In 1993, 13 medical units trained at the Gap’s RTS-Medical. A pilot program for a new training program was developed specifically for training these critical units in the health service support system, and, for the first time, an entire medical company was trained. This successful program set a new record by subsequently utilizing 32,747 mandays, all conducted safely with overall positive student evaluations. Because of the uniqueness of this program and its outstanding success, many visitors come to the Gap to observe the special methods employed at this site. In August 1993, Colonel Larry Powell, a Guardsman and forester, proposed implementation of a program of timbering a substantial number of acres at Fort Indiantown Gap that would not only raise money for maintenance of the National Guard armories, but would benefit the forest land at the Gap. He explained his proposal to members of the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, including Representative Peter Zug. Zug’s 102nd Legislative District includes the portion Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County. Realizing the potential benefits, Zug introduced legislation that would change the flow of money raised through timbering into the armory fund to be used to refurbish National Guard armories statewide as well as to be used for environmental projects at the Gap. Pointing out the necessity of this legislation, Zug said that about five dozen armories in the state currently need about $14 million in repairs. “The main difference in this bill is that money is earmarked to help the military and won’t go into the general fund. That way, the money won’t be used to bail out Philadelphia welfares program and things like that.” Zug said that of the 17,000 acres at Fort Indiantown Gap, about 7,000 acres of forest land would be available for cutting timber. The authorities at the Gap were planning a timbering program that would use only mature and diseased trees, with replanting and reforesting as part of a conservation effort. In November 1994, House Bill 2066, now Act No. 47, was signed into law by Governor Robert Casey which allowed the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to harvest selected timber at the Gap. The House and Senate had unanimously approved the bill before being sent to the governor. As a result of this legislation, during the following year, the Guard realized a total of $343,763 from timbering that was used for maintenance and repair of Guard armories. Even more funds resulted from this program during the following years. This continuing source of funding would never have been available for this important use had it not been for Rep. Zug’s foresight and support of the National Guard. The program has continued to prosper and even greater amounts of funds have resulted. Shannon Henry, the Gap’s forester, is pleased with this very profitable timbering program. For example, last year nearly $500,000 was generated and these funds were used for repairs to armories, for critical important environmental projects at the Gap and to sustain the forests for future growth. Published in the Wednesday, May 18, 2005 edition of the Lebanon Daily News © 2005 Frank H. Smoker, Jr. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the author. Go "Back at the Gap" Index