Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 772 “Hustlers” with tail code MT. This unit was the first reserve squadron to receive the special operations-capable designator, and it’s the first unit to airlift the Marine Corps’ M777A2 (155 mm lightweight) howitzer in combat.
Keeping Current
HMH-772 moved from Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove to its current home at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JB MDL) in 2011 to share the new U.S. Marine Corps buildings and hangars with Marine Aircraft Group 49 and Marine Light Attack Squadron 773 (HMLA-773). Being part of the 4th MAW, the mission for HMH-772 is the same as for all Marine Force Reserve (MARFORRES) units: to reinforce and augment the active component of the USMC with ready operational reservists and materials. The USMC has approximately 100,000 reservists and 158 reserve training centers (RTCs) in the United States. The HMH-772 training center is named after Lt. Col. Franklin P. Kolbe, Jr., a decorated Vietnam vet who died as a passenger in a CH-53A crash on the USS Guam in 1981 while serving as commander of what is now the HMH-772. The training center is manned by approximately 200 personnel: a mix of active-duty Marines, reservists who drill at least one weekend a month, reservists who train for a longer period in preparation for a specific operation or deployment, and the so-called active reservists who are basically full-time present in the unit.
“The primary mission for our squadron is transportation of heavy equipment, troops and to provide assault support for the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF),” explains Capt.
60 Sept/Oct 2024
Peter Shawhan, HMH-772 instructor pilot. “The other role for us as a reserve unit is that we are there to support any kind of gap or anything that the active units may need a little help with, like transitioning to a new aircraft while they are busy with a turnover...Every five years or so, a reserve unit is able to be used for deployments, UDPs (Unit Deployment Programs), or maybe help out with SouthCom when they are in need of heavy-lift support. We kind of fill in those gaps. For example, this squadron was activated to go help out in Haiti in 2016 after the earthquake they had. Whenever those types of crises pop up and any other units are otherwise employed or forward deployed, the USMC will use our squadron for those missions as well.” Shawhan started his flying career at a flight school with approximately 10 hours flown on a single-engine Piper, followed by the Naval flight school on the Raytheon T-6 Texan II. After that, he was sent to helicopter introductory training on the Bell TH-57 Sea Ranger for approximately 70 hours before going to USMC’s CH-53 training unit HMHT-302 of the 2nd MAW / MAG-29 at MCAS New River in 2016. This was followed by a four-year assignment with HMH-366, also at MCAS New River. In 2020, he became an instructor pilot with HMH-772 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, having accumulated 1,300 flying hours of which 1,000 hours were in the CH-53E. “I am one of the active guys that keeps the reservists current on their flight hours,” he says.
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