New York Army National Guard Soldiers conduct helicopter refuel training at Olean Airport Saturday

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Spc. Jeffrey Pieper and Spc. Sarah Bryan, members of A Co. 642nd Aviation Support Battalion refuel an AH-64 Attack Helicopter in Kuwait on Jan. 15, 2014 .

HINSDALE, NY (11/06/2015)(readMedia)-- Soldiers from the New York Army National Guard's 642nd Aviation Support Battalion will be conducting a helicopter hot refuel drill Saturday morning at the Olean Airport here.

The Soldiers from the battalion's Company A will fuel two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from Company F of the 1st Battalion 169th General Support Aviation Battalion during a hot refuel exercise being conducted as part of weekend training by both units.

Local residents may see the increased activity starting around 10:30 on Saturday morning.

The Soldiers will establish a Forward Arming and Refueling Point, known as a FARP, at the airport. The helicopters will fly into the location and refuel prior to leaving. The helicopters will conduct a "hot" refuel, which means the engines remain running while ground crews refuel them.

FARPs are established in combat to allow Army helicopters to remain in the fight without returning to their bases in the rear.

The 642nd Aviation Support Battalion has elements in Dunkirk, Olean, Rochester and Farmingdale on Long Island and provides support to the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

In 2013 and 2014 the battalion was deployed in Kuwait supporting 44 aircraft from the Active Army and Army National Guard which conducted operations in Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

During that 10 month deployment the Soldier completed 186,000 man hours of aviation maintenance while fuel and armament personnel dispensed more than 300,000 gallons of aviation fuel for aircraft operations and established forward area arming and refuel points for gunnery and training exercises.