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Four Black Hawk copters arrive to serve a new Army Reserve unit, the funds for which were piloted by U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young.
By ALICIA CALDWELL, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 16, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- Pinellas County had the available land and the mid-Florida location that was perfect for the new U.S. Army Reserve air unit.
Oh, and it had the political clout, too.
That power was on display Friday afternoon as a gaggle of dignitaries, including a three-star general and the president of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., gathered at a hangar at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. They thanked U.S. House Appropriations Chairman C.W. Bill Young of Largo for a $17.8-million Army Reserve training facility and four new Black Hawk helicopters.
In explaining why the facility was best-suited for Pinellas County, Young noted how it would work in synchrony with the U.S. Coast Guard facility at the airport, and how the location would allow the unit to support air operations out of Jacksonville and Pensacola.
"And besides," he said after the festivities, which included a performance by a 14-piece military band. "It's in my district."
Young, a 16-term congressman, has long been a friend of the military, having served on several national security, armed services and intelligence committees and subcommittees. He is also known for bringing to the Tampa Bay area millions of dollars for road projects, a veterans' medical center and beach renourishment projects. He secured $45-million for a Reserve training center at nearby Gateway Center last year.
On Friday, as politicians and military officials talked about the new 158th Aviation Regiment of the Army Reserve -- call sign "Ghostrider" -- Young was everybody's friend and hero.
Young, said Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Plewes, the Army Reserve's commander, has been one of the leaders in Congress who have supported the military, even before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. He called Young a "great leader who saw the world not just for what it was, but for what it would be."
The ceremony included the dropping of a camouflage curtain and the unveiling of one of the UH-60 Black Hawks. Four more Black Hawks are on the way, Young said, to fully outfit the unit with eight helicopters.
First deployed in 1978, Black Hawks have been a utility aircraft for the military. They can carry a crew of three and 11 soldiers, outfitted for battle.
After the hour-long festivities, which included the presentation of plaques and model helicopters, two Black Hawks carried politicians and members of the media on a 30-minute test drive over Pinellas County. The choppers went out to the Gulf of Mexico, around Pinellas Point and buzzed over Snell Isle before returning to the airport.
The helicopters, which can be deployed for overseas duty as needed, will be supported by a $17.8-million facility that will be finished next year. It will be built on a 28-acre parcel at the northwest corner of the airport property, which the Army bought from the county last month.
The land once housed the Boatyard Village shopping and restaurant complex and the 94th Aero Squadron restaurant.
The 29,500-square-foot facility will house the unit's 35 support personnel and serve as a training and maintenance support facility.
The Army plans similar training sites in California and Hawaii, but Clearwater is scheduled to be the first one built, Army Reserve officials have said.
Fred Marquis, the former Pinellas County administrator who had been a major general in the Army Reserve, said the facility would be a big job generator as well.
"That's why we went for it," said Marquis, who attended the ceremony.
Plewes, the Army Reserve chief, said he expected the unit would fit in well with its neighbors at the airport, the Coast Guard, and the county as a whole.
"We'll be good neighbors," he said.