| Helicopter Support Team |
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| united states marine corps aviation | |
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The Helicopter Support Team (HST) is a team of 8 Landing Support Marines who are trained to hook up external loads to the hooks of primarily military helicopters. All kinds of gear can be lifted by helicopter and taken to locations with terrain that is not suited for other kinds of vehicles. For example communications equipment can be placed on top of a mountain within a few minutes of flight instead of a few hours of driving, if one could even drive the equipment to the designated location. The HST is a valuable resource to the MAGTAF, as it provides an expediant manner of transportion for gear and supplies. About 8 Marines are needed for the HST. Within the HST there is the HST commander who's job is to coordinate the mission between the airwing, the supporting unit, and the Marine Logistics Group who provides the HST. The HST Commander is ussually a Corporal and sometimes a Sergeant. Subordinate to the HST Commander is the HST Safety NCO, the job of the safety NCO is to ensure that the gear or supplies are rigged properly, and to ensure that everyone underneath the Helicopter are doing their job in a safe manner. the Safety NCO is normally a Corporal or Sergeant. The primary members of the HST are the Leg-men and the inside and outside directors along with the hookman and the Static Man. the inside and outside directors direct the pilot of the aircraft as he centers his helicopter over the load that is being lifted. The leg-men ensure that the slings used to lift the gear do not get caught on anything and lift in a straight manner as to not disturb the load being lifted. The job of the Static man is to use a grounding rod to attatch to the hook so that the static electricity conducted by the helicopter is grounded out and does not end up killing a Marine. the HookMan the hooks up the load to the hook of the aircraft in a safe manner. |
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