Kahiltna Basecamp Put In – B company’s 52nd Aviation Regiment’s “Sugar Bears” assist with Denali’s operations each spring.

The sights and sounds of spring in Talkeetna not only include birds returning to their summer home, dripping water and children playing, but Army Chinooks and Blackhawks.  The military aircraft from Fairbanks, along with 15 or more troops, show up in Talkeetna each spring for training. The annual event is one of the most unusual peace-time missions in Army helicopter airlift operations history. However, this year is different.

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