U.S. Army Soldiers, assigned to the 1-118th Combined Arms Battalion, South Carolina Army National Guard, dismount CH-47 Chinooks during an assault on the Savannah River Site, Aiken, S.C., as part of Carolina Thunder 14, Nov. 15, 2014.

Leaders of the North and South Carolina National Guards met on a hill overlooking a landscape of bombed-out tanks and columns of rusting armor.

Overhead, AH-64 Apache helicopters belonging to both states took turns firing machine guns and rockets at their targets.

Operation Carolina Thunder - the annual joint exercise between the two states' National Guards - supplied plenty of booms, with 30 Apaches firing over six continuous hours, and artillerymen sending rockets screaming across post.

But the biggest target officials had in their sights wasn't located on Fort Bragg, which hosted the bulk of the weekend-long operation. Carolina Thunder, in part, was a shot on Washington.

As national military leaders move forward with plans to move Apache helicopters out of the National Guard as part of the controversial Aviation Restructure Initiative, officials from the Carolinas highlighted the capabilities of their attack reconnaissance battalions.

The Army has said the initiative, which includes several other changes to Army aviation, would save the force more than a billion dollars a year.

But at Fort Bragg, the state leaders asked for caution, and for the Army to consider alternatives to the plan.

"We have some concerns," said Maj. Gen. Gregory A. Lusk, adjutant general for North Carolina.

Lusk said the movement of Apache helicopters was without a doubt the "most emotional issue" of the Aviation Restructure Initiative.

"But once you get below the politics of the D.C. Beltline, you have people on the same sheet of music," he said.

Brig. Gen. R. Van McCarty, assistant adjutant general for South Carolina, said the training was a great opportunity to work together and grow the two states' forces, but also protect National Guard interests.

"We're all in this together," he said. "It's a one-team fight."

Taking the attack helicopters from the National Guard would eliminate strategic depth and a second echelon of forces beyond the active duty that has been built up through more than a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Lusk said.

Over 14 years, Apache battalions from both Carolinas made repeated deployments as part of those wars, working alongside their active duty counterparts.

"Unless you know what the patches are, you wouldn't have known the difference," Lusk said.

Regaining those capabilities would take years, if not longer, if the Apache is pulled from the National Guard inventory, he said.

Col. Jeff Copeland, commander of North Carolina's 449th Theater Aviation Brigade, said divesting the Carolinas of their Apaches would disrupt more than 800 troops assigned to the states' two attack reconnaissance battalions.

Pilots and maintainers would have to retrain or leave the force, he said. And officials are fighting to make sure that doesn't happen.

"We're fighting for all we can," Copeland said. "We're the most trained and ready we've ever been and now we're going to lose our mission."

On Fort Bragg, as a notional battle took place against an unseen enemy, another fight raged on in a bigger battle for survival.

"The real fight is for our existence," Copeland said. "D.C. is paying attention. We're looking to disprove misconceptions that may have been true in the past."

But not everyone at the exercise was focused on the larger battle.

Lt. Col. Joe Bishop, commander of North Carolina's 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 130th Aviation Regiment, said his soldiers were focused on the complexity of the missions, not aviation restructuring.

Working with partner forces and communicating with ground troops are keys to the unit's success, and skills they regularly practice with forces from within the North Carolina National Guard and at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune.

"This is not a dog and pony show," Bishop said. "This is good training for us. We see ourselves as part of the total Army force."

Building on last year's exercise in South Carolina, officials said this year's Operation Carolina Thunder was even bigger and more complex.

More than 40 helicopters were involved in the training, along with two artillery batteries operating High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, a battalion of 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers and several detachments from the 3rd Special Forces Group.

In all, approximately 900 troops participated from Army and Air National Guard units in the Carolinas and Alabama, and Fort Bragg-based active duty forces.

Their training mimicked complex wartime operations, with helicopters simultaneously engaging targets while rockets screamed across post and paratroopers assaulted targets across Fort Bragg's vast training area or at the Stanly County Airport, more than 70 miles to the west.

"This is the big event for the year, really," Copeland said. "This is where they get to put everything they learned together."

Copeland said including active duty forces, live ammunition and ground maneuvers were new to the annual exercise, which last year was held in the skies above McEntire Joint National Guard Base outside Columbia, South Carolina.

Those changes could lead to even more partnered training for the participating units and Fort Bragg.

Col. Colin P. Tuley, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, pledged greater cooperation between his forces and the National Guards from the two states.

"I think it's absolutely necessary," Tuley said, hours after about 100 paratroopers from the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment jumped from North Carolina 145th Airlift Wing C-130s and only a short time before a troop of paratroopers air assaulted a target in Guard helicopters.

"The key now is don't let go," Tuley said. "Build upon the momentum of this exercise that brought us together."

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