NH Air National Guard looking to station a helicopter in Milan NH (Berlin Airport)

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peakbagger

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The NH air guard normally flies up from Concord for rescues in the whites. The former Army National Guard facility in Berlin has been vacant for several years since the army guard combined operations in the north country. The air guard is looking to move up to the facility. There is an article in the Berlin Sun but it is behind a paywall. This will be big plus for rescue response in the Whites.

Berlin used to have a large army national guard contingent when the Berlin Pulp Mill was running. Brown Co and James River were generous supporting employees on guard duty and there were many people in town who had been enlisted in the regular services at one point that transitioned to the guard after their full time duty. It was interesting on occasion where a subordinate in the mill was a higher ranking officer than their boss in the guard. Many stayed in the guard to hit their 20 years in the service. A combination of loss of population and loss of the major employer meant fewer guard members in later years. The north country had always had a fairly high percentage of high school kids going into the military but unlike the past with the mill in town, they tend to go in the service and leave the area rather than coming back to town and working in the mill.
 
Well, it’s a 25 minute flight from concord to N. Conway in a Blackhawk. Certainly will give them shorter flight times to the heart of the whites. Would be good to have more operational presence in the north country. Wonder how many crews they will have and presumably they’ll fly out of Berlin/Milan. They have three person crews but there is a lot of logistics support.
 
The article indicated that they would fly out of the Berlin NH airport which is actually located in Milan NH adjacent to beautiful downtown Milan. The airport will benefit as the gas pumps are run by a city Berlin employee and the guard will buy large quantities of jet fuel. The armory is on the far north end of Berlin not far from the Milan line.
 
Drive past the old armory all the time when heading north to Errol. And the smell of the Milan farm. Always a nice drive. The airport has one of the longer runways around. I’m glad the armory is coming back.

Oh, and they will need JetA fuel.
 
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Berlin Sun reports that there is 5.8 million dollars of funding for a National Guard facility at the Berlin Airport (located in Milan) in the senate appropriation bill.

Some of the neighbors may not like it (due to noise) but it sure will improve response times in the whites. Frequently the helicopter has to turn around soon after they arrive due to needing to refuel.

https://www.conwaydailysun.com/berl...cle_d7ee3326-1365-11ed-87b9-23921ee88a9a.html
 
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Berlin Sun reports that there is 5.8 million dollars of funding for a National Guard facility at the Berlin Airport (located in Milan) in the senate appropriation bill.

Some of the neighbors may not like it (due to noise) but it sure will improve response times in the whites. Frequently the helicopter has to turn around soon after they arrive due to needing to refuel.

https://www.conwaydailysun.com/berl...cle_d7ee3326-1365-11ed-87b9-23921ee88a9a.html

Nice. Maybe this will boost the area with good restaurants and services in Milan and Berlin. Definitely can't hurt. Having our military folks and vendors in the area. Much better then gaming casino crowds or industrial type complexes. I lived near Otis Air base on Cape Cod. No big deal with noise. Good to know they are there protecting us. There always are people who complain about everything and anything.
 
Pure speculation is that another reason is that the military in the long term has had a better chance of recruiting folks from rural areas, I know when I was involved with the scouts 20 years ago that we had several scouts joint he military and one of them was trained as a helicopter pilot. Havign a small active local presence probably help with recruitment despite the steep decline in school age populations in the area.
 
I've met many service personal thru my son. My sons were Scouts and my wife and I scout masters. One boy joined the USCG 22 yrs ago. Now a USCG Chief stationed in Petersburg AK. Great foks to come to this area . Good thing for Milan and the North Country.
 
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