135th Aviation Regiment (United States)

The 135th Aviation Regiment is a Aviation Branch regiment of the United States Army, first formed in 1987.

The regiment was constituted 1 October 1987. Predecessor units were active as early as the 1970s. The regiment was originally formed in the Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri Army National Guard as the 135th Aviation, a parent regiment under the United States Army Regimental System. It was concurrently organized from new and existing units to consist of the 1st and 2d Battalions and Companies D, E, and F, elements of the 35th Infantry Division, and Company G.

It was reorganized 1 December 1987 to consist of the 1st and 2d Battalions and Companies D, E, and F, elements of the 35th Infantry Division, the 3d Battalion, and Company G.

Reorganized 1 September 1996 in the Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri Army National Guard to consist of the 1st and 2d Battalions and Company F, elements of the 35 th Infantry Division, the 3d Battalion, and Company G.

Reorganized 1 September 1998 to consist of the 1st and 2d Battalions and Company F, elements of the 35th Infantry Division, and the 3d Battalion.

2nd Battalion
The 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment first became a part of the Colorado Army National Guard in the mid-1970s. The original unit, a single company, was made a part of the 40th Infantry Division's aviation brigade, predominantly located in California. The battalion flies the UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-47 Chinook and the OH-58 Kiowa. They are based out of Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, as part of the Colorado Army National Guard Aviation Command.

The 2/135th deployed to Iraq in September 2006 through August 2007 as part of Task Force Mustang. In 2006 2nd Battalion was deployed for Iraq War service. The 2/135th deployed on 19 March 2006 for five months of Theatre Immersion training at Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Sill, Oklahoma. They were certified "Fit to Fight" by Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré, commanding general, First United States Army, on 30 July 2006. The unit shipped to Kuwait in August 2006, completed a couple of weeks of "boots on the ground" training at Camp Buehring, and entered Iraq in the first half of September as one of five battalions of Task Force Mustang. The battalion principally flew out of Balad Air Base (aka Camp Anaconda) and is flew missions all over Iraq. The total deployment for the 2/135th was expected to last approximately 18 months.



The battalion became fully engaged in the OIF mission on 17 Sep 2006, crosstraining with the previous unit, and had an official transfer of responsibility from the 7–101st on 24 Sep 2006. Soldiers wear the shoulder sleeve patch of the 36th Infantry Division while in Iraq.

The Iraq formation of the 2/135th (as a unit of Task Force Mustang) consisted of approximately 550 soldiers and was approximately 60% made up of Colorado Army National Guard personnel. It also included Army aviation guard personnel from three additional primary states, Minnesota, Nebraska, Utah with smaller contingents from Arkansas, Wyoming, Missouri and Florida.

The Iraq mission involved operations over a large expanse of the country of Iraq. The unit distinguished itself as one of the premier air assault units in the US Army, conducting 111 major, multinight air assault operations—inserting over 15,500 troops into enemy landing zones across the Iraq theater in the span of only a year. "The Blackjacks" earned the Army Aviation Association of America's top national guard aviation unit in 2007 for this.

2006–2007 Iraq units

 * HHC – "Headhunters" – Headquarters and Headquarters Company
 * A Company – "Rumrunner" – Blackhawks
 * B Company – "Bootlegger" – Chinooks (Mile Hi Hookers)
 * C Company – "Cutter" – Blackhawk MedEvac, including attached units
 * C Co 1–111th – "Painkillers" – Blackhawks
 * Det 1 C-Co 1–111th – "Razorback Medevac"
 * D Company – "Dagger" – Aviation Maintenance
 * E Company – "Marauder" – Ground Maintenance, Aviation/Ground Fueling, Food Services

Company A of the 2/135th from the Colorado ARNG was deployed to Iraq for one year, from the fall of 2005 to October 2006. This company is the normally organic Company A located with the battalion in Colorado. This company was selected to deploy with the 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment as the first Guard aviation unit to deploy from Colorado. They also informally served as a year-long advanced party for the battalion until they took over the mission of 7/101st in September 2006.

2005–2006 Iraq units

 * A Company – "Wolfman/Wolfpack" – Blackhawks

A Company 2/135th during the Iraq deployment is (attached) Company A of the 2/211th from the Utah ARNG (home base West Jordan, Utah) serving, in Iraq as part of the beefed up 2/135th. They replaced Colorado's Company A after cross-training and handoff in September 2006.

B, C, D, E and HHC Companies of the 2/135th of the Colorado Army National Guard are all currently deployed to Iraq.

B Company 2/135th (Colorado) is augmented by Company B of the 2/211th GSAB, Minnesota ARNG from Holman Field, St Paul, Minnesota.

C Company 2/135th (Nebraska) is augmented by a detail from the Colorado ARNG.

All six companies were augmented for the Iraq deployment by additional ARNG personnel from other states as well as a few Individual Ready Reserve soldiers from across the United States. The battalion has approximately 550 personnel in Iraq fully augmented, whereas the more normal staffing in the Colorado guard is 300. The total distribution of personnel at the brigade level is available on the 36th CAB state personnel contributions page.

Company C, 1st Battalion, 111th of the Florida National Guard, and Detachment 1 Company C, 1st Battalion, 111th of the Arkansas National Guard are commanded by LTC Michael J. Rung, and were attached the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation for additional medevac support during the current OIF 06-07 rotation.

2010-2011 Afghanistan units
F CO 2/135th (California and Louisana) deoployed to RC west in direct support of MEDEVAC missions for all coalition forces. While depolyed and supporting MEDEVAC missions, F CO 2/135 AVN GSAB received the Valorous Unit Award (VUA) for "extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy".

Current units
The current units of the 2–135th are:
 * HHC – "Headhunters" – Headquarters and Headquarters Company
 * A Company – "Wolfpack" – Blackhawks
 * B Company – "Bootlegger" – Chinooks
 * C Company – "Cutter" – Blackhawk MedEvac
 * D Company – "Dagger" – Aviation Maintenance
 * E Company – "Marauder" – Ground Maintenance, Aviation/Ground Fueling, Food Services
 * F Company - "Bayou dustoff" - Blackhawk MedEvac
 * G Company - "Ventilator" Blackhawk MedEvac
 * 131st AVIM - "Helmsmen" - Aviation Intermediate Maintenance