After a severe thunderstorm damaged most of the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade’s helicopters last year, the restored aircraft are headed to the Middle East. 

Crews loaded Apache, Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters and other equipment onto container ships in late July at the Port of Beaumont in Texas ahead of soldiers with the brigade. The 4th Combat Aviation Brigade is scheduled to replace the 101st Airborne Division Combat Aviation Brigade in the region. 

The brigade’s fleet needed extensive maintenance ahead of their trip after a storm last August left most of the brigade’s fleet non-mission capable, an Army news story said. 

“This is kind of like our Super Bowl,” stated Capt. Randi Ferido, port operations officer-in-charge and executive officer for Company B, 404th Aviation Support Battalion in the release. “It’s a bit of poetic justice for us to finally load all these aircraft that have been sitting in our hangar for months.”

The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team from Fort Carson also helped move the Aviation Brigade’s ground vehicles and containers to Texas. 

The 101st Combat Aviation Brigade has been in the Middle East since February where they have been supporting operations against the Islamic State. The brigade’s missions have included running the remote Rumalyn Landing Zone in northeastern Syria, an Army release said.

The Army said other members of the brigade were stationed at Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq.