'Dusty Dogs'


                                    JAX AIR NEWS, NAS JACKSONVILLE, Thursday, June 18, 2009 3


deliver multi-mission


support to Carrier Strike Group


By Lt. j.g. Robert Knoerser
HS-7 Public Affairs Officer
The "Dusty Dogs"
     of HS-7 recently
     returned from a
month of flight operations
while embarked on USS
Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).
The squadron rehearsed
nearly every mission in
its repertoire to support
Carrier Air Wing 3 during
Tailored Ships Training
Availability (TSTA) opera-
tions off the East coast.
  HS-7 began its training
period with several flights
in support of the Naval
Special Warfare (NSW)
community. Two crews, led
by Lt. Cmdr. Brian Bartlett
and Lt. Cmdr. Jason Young
practiced fast rope inser-
tions with NSW Group 2
at Naval Base Little Creek,
Va. During the evolution,
the flight crews held the
helicopters in a high hover
while the NSW personnel
roped to the ground.
  The Dusty Dogs used
their fast roping skills the
following evening, deliver-
ing members of the NSW
TraDet to the deck of the
USNS Arctic during a heli-
copter visit, board, search
and seizure exercise.
  HS-7 flight crews also
tested the weapons sys-
tems of their HH-60H heli-
copters, including firing
their M-240 and GAU-16
machine guns at targets on
the ground and at sea.
-Pilots honed their profi-
ciency using the helicop-
ter's forward-looking infra-
red and laser designator
against special targets on


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                                                                            Photos courtesy of HS-7
An HH-60H Seahawk of HS-7 is hooked up to supplies destined for USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) during a May 2009 training
exercise in the Atlantic.
the ground.
The training culminated
in a sink exercise with a
live missile shoot against
a target in the ocean. The
target for the scenario was
USNS Spica, a retired sup-I
ply ship. Dusty Dog air-
crews successfully fired sev-
eral Hellfire missiles into
the stack of the old ship and
achieved pinpoint accuracy
on each shot.
. The opportunity greatly  Two Seahawk heliccopters assigned to HS-7 complete flight checks prior to lifting off from
enhanced the Dusty Dogs' the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) on a May 2009 mission for Carrier Strike
ability to perform the anti- Group 10.


surface warfare (ASUW)
mission, which is vital to
Carrier Strike Group 10
operations abroad.
  HS-7 also supported for
Carrier Air Wing 3 and
the USS Harry S. Truman
by flying plane guard mis-
sions during flight opera-
tions. Plane guard crews
were responsible for search
and rescue for fixed wing
assets and medical evacu-
ation services for all ships'
companies.
A Dusty Dogs aircrew
answered the call for a real
medical evacuation while
at sea. Lt. Andrew Coates,
Lt j.g. Francisco Tobio,
AW2 Justin Dove and AW2
Gabriel Rodriguez success-
fully evacuated a' patient'

      See HS-7, Page 6

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