Published: November 05, 2009 11:17 pm      

Local soldiers trained at Fort Hood

JOHNSTOWN — Thursday’s shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, may have sent a chill through Army Reservists in some Johnstown-based helicopter teams.

Several companies of the Army National Guard 1st Battalion, 104th Aviation, at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport trained at Fort Hood before deploying to Kosovo five years ago.

“They talked about where it happened in the troop readiness processing area,” Aaron Patterson of Hastings said. “That’s the same area we went through.”

The shootings occurred where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood.

“I was shocked,” Patterson said. “I think everybody is surprised and everybody is in awe, in a sense.”

Patterson said he heard about the shooting rampage while at work, but was not following media coverage very closely. “I am not sure what to make of it all yet,” Patterson said.

Helicopter pilots and support teams of the 1st Battalion 104th Aviation and other Pennsylvania units spent a more than a year from 2005 through 2006 in Kosovo as part of the United States’ participation in a multinational force.

While the Harrisburg component of the Pennsylvania task force has since been reactivated and is serving in Iraq, most of Johnstown’s squadron has remained on reserve status.