GREENVILLE – On Wednesday morning, the Greenville High School students knew that the local Ohio Army National Guard would be visiting their school.
They were anticipating the ‘normal’ National Guard tent to be set up, with information pamphlets and a few laptops set up – with recruiters being there to talk about what the Ohio National Guard had to offer students once they graduated.
But the first group of students walking out to the area behind the school building was in for a surprise. At 9:15 a.m., they heard an inbound aircraft coming over the Jennings Field Complex. As the aircraft got closer, they saw a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter preparing to circle the field adjacent to the high school and land.
“This is definitely something you don’t see every day,” one of the students remarked.
Because of training activity in the area this week, our local National Guard post arranged for the large training helicopter to come to the high school to support their recruiting efforts. Julie Jones, GCS Superintendent, remarked, “We were surprised to get the call that they were able to set things up for a Black Hawk helicopter to come in”.
She was sure this would be exciting for the students to experience and see an aircraft of this size – at the back door of the high school.
What many students and staff didn’t know: part of the flight crew was Colonel Jonathan Stewart, the Ohio Assistant Adjutant General for the Army. Col. Stewart oversees all of the operations of the Ohio National Guard in the State.
The helicopter stayed at the school until 1:30 p.m., giving all the classes time to come out, see the Black Hawk, sit inside the unit, and talk with the many men and women of the Ohio Army National Guard.
