AVCATT visits Quonset Air National Guard base

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NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WLNE) – The men and women of the Rhode Island National Guard are playing host to a virtual simulator allows them to practice flying without having to go up in a helicopter.

“It’s important for us to be training as much as we can,” said Comdr. Brent Groeneveld of the 1/126th Aviation Regiment, RI National Guard.

The Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer or ‘AVCATT’ is a mobile simulator that travels the country and allows the soldiers to train on different kinds of military helicopters and scenarios virtually.

“That’s essentially more efficient – cost efficient, than doing so with regular, running helicopters,” explained Comdr. Groeneveld 

It’s been helping to train the men and women of the 1/126th aviation regiment in North Kingstown for the last week on realistic threats they could encounter and survivability skills.

It tests the soldiers in both planning and completing missions.

“And then we’ll after action review it to see how we did both in the planning stage and the execution stage,” said Comdr. Groeneveld 

Thursday was its last day at the Quonset Air National Guard Base.

Commander Brent Groeneveld says the AVCATT’s annual visit is an extremely important part of their training.

“We need to collectively train as often as possible. We’re here for the governor. And we’re actually here for the president as well.”

You can learn more about the AVCATT here.

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