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Since 1985, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment's "Green Platoon," the nickname for the Special Operations Aviation Training Company, or SOATC, has been training personnel who are newly assigned to, or who are being reassigned to, the regiment.
Contrary to what its name might imply, the aviation training company provides more than just aviator training. SOATC administers 16 training programs that are necessary to ensure standardization and safety within the regiment. The training programs include initial orientation, flight instruction, and maintenance of the regiment's unique equipment.
When the 160th Aviation Battalion was formed in the early 1980s, there were no tactics, techniques and procedures, or TTPs, for Army special-operations aviation. No "how to" manuals were available to clarify the specialized operations that the 160th performed, to explain the use of night-vision goggles, or to catalog the range of environmental conditions that the aviators might face. Nevertheless, the 160th's aviators and support personnel, armed only with conventional Army doctrine, the combined knowledge of its members, and a determination to succeed, joined together and learned on the job.
Unfortunately, the learn-as-you-go approach led...