Reporter’s Notebook: Always ready, always there
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After a week of tragic news, I think a palate cleanser is in order. I got to do something last week that allowed me to witness the professionalism of our West Virginia National Guard members.
Members of the guard take part every two years in Sentry Storm, a joint training exercise involving both the Air and Army National Guard, along with National Guard units from nearby states, such as Kentucky.
National Guard members were stretched thin last week. Many are at the 2026 National Scout Jamboree at Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in Fayette County. More guard members went into North Central West Virginia to help with flood relief and swift water rescues.
But Thursday, I was able to spend time with members of the West Virginia Air National Guard’s 130th Airlift Wing at McLaughlin Air National Guard Base in Charleston.
The base is home to eight C-130 J-30 Super Hercules cargo aircraft. If you’re ever in Charleston, it is a pretty common sight to see these planes fly in and out of West Virginia International Yeager Airport.
As the son of a U.S. Marine who used to catch aircraft on land-based arresting gear, as well as having an uncle who was an aircraft mechanic in the Marines, I’ve had a long love of military aircraft. I’ve been to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum multiple times, including taking my dad to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center to see the historic aircraft there (including a Lockheed C-121C Super Constellation that was part of the West Virginia Air National Guard).
I had never flown in a military aircraft before, but last Thursday I was afforded the opportunity to fly on a C-130 J-30. I was on the lead airplane of a six-plane formation, which included four C-130 J-30s from the 130th Airlift Wing and two from the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Airlift Wing.
Before taking off, Guard members demonstrated their procedures for loading cargo onto a C-130 J-30, securing it for flight and for being dropped from the air. Representatives from the militaries of Peru in South America and Gabon in Africa were on hand to watch and ask questions.
Peru and Gambon (along with Qatar) are part of the National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, which fosters diplomatic and military cooperation. I got to see diplomacy at work as I watched a Peruvian Air Force major exchange patches with Master Sgt. Roger Pettit.
Our four-plane team took off from Yeager and linked up with the two Kentucky Air National Guard C-130 J-30s, who fell in behind our formation. The flight crew walked me through the mission, which was to do a flyover of the National Scout Jamboree, then conduct a training bundle drop over Camp Branch in Logan County. The entire flight time was just over an hour.
We climbed to an altitude of 14,000 feet. The flight crew pointed out the window to where the Kentucky C-130s were coming from. I could see the radar screens as they got in line right behind us. Once we were all together, the formation quickly dropped from 14,000 feet to 2,000 feet. You could easily see the New River Gorge Bridge as we banked toward the Summit Bechtel Reserve.
The six-plane formation spread out, with our Super Hercules banking just above the treetops, the flight crew communicating with each other while also watching their heads-up displays and instruments. They made it all look effortless, but there is nothing effortless about maneuvering one large prop plane among five others at low altitude. That’s what these crews are trained to do, ultimately in scenarios where they could face fire from anti-aircraft weapons and air-to-air missiles.
After finishing the flyover, the formation made its way to Camp Branch. I left the cockpit to join the loadmasters and 1st Lt. De-Juan Haley, a public affairs officer with the 130th Airlift Wing. I was amused earlier when Haley took some Dramamine, but I found myself wishing I had taken some. I don’t usually get airsick, but the sensations you feel in the cargo area are different from the cockpit.
I also had issues trying to figure out the buckles on the seatbelts in the C-130 J-30, having a hard time trying to figure out how to tighten my belt in the webbed netting seating along the wall. But my loadmaster made it very clear: once he put on his helmet and parachute, I was not to leave my seat or he’d kick my butt.
Once we approached the camp, the back gate opened up and our training bundle quickly exited the back of the Super Hercules, parachute deployed, where Guard members were waiting below to extract the package. And not long after that, we landed back at Yeager.
Here in West Virginia, we lean on our National Guard members, whether it’s search and rescue, disaster relief, flood cleanup, and even just handing out water during the Capitol City Celebration for America 250. It’s sometimes easy to forget that at the end of the day, our Air and Army National Guard members train constantly to support our nation’s defense and war-fighting needs.
I am glad our West Virginia National Guard is here to help us at home in our times of need. But I am even more confident that our Guard members are able to defend us at home and abroad as well. They truly live up to the motto “Always ready, always there.”