Alaska Army National Guard Black Hawk crew stays on track with railcar training maneuvers

“The flight crew that landed on the train was not just good, they were amazing.” – Col. Manuel Menendez

A rarely performed landing of a Black Hawk helicopter on a railcar was successfully executed during the Special Operation Forces Arctic Medic 2025 exercise near Fairbanks.

Alaska Army National Guard aviators assigned to Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 211th General Support Aviation Battalion successfully landed a Sikorsky HH-60M Black Hawk on the platform of an Alaska Railroad railcar, while the flatbed car was stopped on a bridge over the Chena River on Feb. 20. The HH-60M Black Hawk has an empty weight of about 14,470 pounds, with gross weight of 21,400 pounds.

The two-wheel touchdown on a rail car had never before been attempted by an Alaska Army National Guard aviator. Southcentral pilot JD Miller and Juneau-based support pilot David Berg nailed the landing.

Unlike traditional landings on runways or open spaces, this landing presented unique challenges, including the importance of exact approach calculations to ensure a stable hover while ground crews unloaded medical equipment and supplies from the helicopter.

The crew also performed a complex medical evacuation maneuver, lowering critical care flight paramedic Staff Sgt. Steven Gildersleeve onto the train to retrieve a patient, using the operational a state-of-the-art, hoist-approved patient isolation unit used exclusively by the US Coast Guard. Members of the Coast Guard participated in the exercise to field this innovative equipment and demonstrate its use in austere conditions.

“I am absolutely inspired by the Alaska National Guard team, their knowledge, professionalism, and willingness to solve problems with minimal guidance to plan any given mission,” said Col. Manuel Menendez, Command Surgeon with Special Operations Command North and a lead planner for the exercise.

“The flight crew that landed on the train was not just good, they were amazing, and I’m looking forward to my next trip to Alaska to work with them again soon,” he said.

The rail car operation was designed to evaluate how traumatically injured and chemically or biologically contaminated casualties could be transported following decontamination and initial stabilization via a hospital train.

Historically, US and NATO forces have utilized hospital trains, and this exercise sought to explore how the concept could be applied to larger-scale combat operations, where mass casualty situations would call for innovative transport solutions.

To train in the need for en route care, Alaska Army National Guard flight surgeon Maj. Titus Rund collaborated with SOCNORTH to develop an augmented reality system designed for mobile platforms in austere locations. This system enabled a paramedic, known as a “TeleDelegate,” to operate under the remote supervision of a “TeleMentor”—a specialist such as an anesthesiologist or surgeon. That person was located at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The augmented reality system successfully transmitted real-time vital signs and procedural guidance, allowing specialists at Brooke to oversee critical care interventions, including anesthesia management, damage control surgery, and intensive care measures aboard the moving train. The ability to provide remote expert supervision via augmented reality technology is a major step toward ensuring higher-quality medical care in remote and challenging environments.

In this scenario, a train carrying a simulated casualty exposed to a potential biological or radiological agent underwent treatment from an isolated rail car.

The exercise required coordinated efforts to deliver essential medical supplies—including Low-Titer O whole blood and chemical countermeasures—via helicopter to the treatment and containment areas.

The combined air and ground mission showcased the joint collaboration between NORTHCOM, SOCNORTH, Special Operations Command (SOCOM), U.S. Customs and Border Protection-BORSTAR, the FBI, the US Army, Coast Guard, Air Force Reserves, Alaska National Guard, Alaska Railroad Corporation, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Drone Program. These entities brought their best equipment and practices to enhance the operational success of SOFAM 2025.

From Feb. 18-21, the event brought together some of the nation’s most elite warriors and medical professionals to train in extreme cold weather conditions at the Yukon Training Area near Fort Wainwright.

The AKARNG crew responsible for the landmark rail car landing included Pilot in Command Chief Warrant Officer 3 JD Miller, Support Pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 David Berg, Crew Chief Sgt. 1st Class Brad McKenzie, and Flight Medics Staff Sgt. Steven Gildersleeve and Staff Sgt. Michael Crane. Miller, the company standardization pilot for the 2-211 GSAB, worked closely with Rund to ensure the mission’s success.

Miller has been involved in several rescue missions, including medevacing injured backcountry skiers in Hatcher Pass in 2022 and 2023.

Berg, who is based out of Juneau, expressed the significance of the operation: “I think a big part of what we brought to the fight here was our depth of experience working in these cold weather conditions and our ability to coordinate with a multitude of different units, including active-duty troops, federal, state, and local agencies. We really want to push that we’re open for business in working with all of our training partners to hone our skill sets and relationships.”

Rund worked in coordination with the Alaska Railroad Corporation to secure railcars for the training event, facilitating the Black Hawk landing, hoisting operations, and en-route testing of the Augmented Reality TeleDelegation system aboard a moving train.

“We’re honored to be able to serve our communities and military,” said Tom Covington, Director of Safety for the Alaska Railroad Corporation. “Observing the military’s approach to utilizing these railcars over the course of this exercise has given us valuable insight into how we can improve our cold weather survival capabilities as an organization.”

This cutting-edge medical training and experimentation exercise enhanced casualty care and medical evacuation proficiency using standard, nonstandard, and experimental equipment sourced from across the U.S. military and NATO partner forces. Rund and his team worked alongside exercise leaders to integrate the AKARNG crew into this next era of Arctic warfighting, as SOCNORTH continues its efforts to establish medical requirements for extreme cold environments.

Reflecting on the exercise, Berg praised the vision and leadership behind the mission: “It’s fantastic being able to work with team leadership like Doc Rund and see the work that he’s put in and the people he’s surrounded himself with to accomplish this. He talked about this training evolution and told us he sees us having an integral part in it. It’s the way of the future and a good test of expanding our horizons and opportunities for what we can achieve together.”

SOFAM 2025 demonstrated not only the Alaska National Guard’s ability to operate in extreme conditions but also the power of joint military and interagency cooperation to advance Arctic medical evacuation capabilities