This week, the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport is hosting U.S. Army troops from the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Travis McIntosh is the deputy commanding general for support for the division.

“We are deploying a mobile brigade combat team out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Fort Johnson, Louisiana, and we’re deploying them by means of helicopter to get down to their training event,” McIntosh said. “That’s going to be for the next few weeks. And so this is our demonstration of how we do it.”

The Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport is the largest of four mission support sites en route to Fort Johnson. Dozens of military helicopters and vehicles lined the runway. In Louisiana, the 101st will fight a fake enemy whose role is being played by other U.S. Army units.

“En route, we use our helicopters. Obviously, they require (rearmament and refueling). And this is one of our refuel locations, as well as staging some of our ground forces en route,” McIntosh said. “So you’ll see several hundred of our 101st Airborne Division soldiers from 1st Mobile Brigade Combat Team here remaining overnight, getting their food, their rest, and their rehearsals while at Vicksburg-Tulullah Airport.”

The 101st Airborne Division has a special connection to Vicksburg: Its mascot is a screaming eagle named Old Abe.

“The roots of old Abe go back to even the Vicksburg campaign, which is really neat because in 1864, …the 8th Wisconsin had the original old Abe Eagle as their mascot,” McIntosh said. “And that mascot carried forward into… the 101st infantry as they were established initially at Camp Shelby.”

The mascot was not used for some time, but was brought back around World War 2.

“The screaming Eagle was again brought back to the 101st as they established the Airborne Division with Gen. William Lee as our first division commander.”

On Wednesday, some of the troops had the opportunity to have lunch in the Vicksburg National Military Park, where they got to see the original Old Abe that sits on top of the Wisconsin Monument.

The training exercise is an archipelagic scenario. This means that the four support sites and the destination in Louisiana are considered “islands.”

Much of the 101st Airborne Division is currently deployed in support of Central Command in the Middle East. So the 101st is also working with other units during the exercise.

“What is unique about this mission is we have elements of the 101st Airborne Division’s helicopter aviation brigade. We also are working with the 82nd Airborne Division and their aviation brigade and the Indiana Army National Guard with a handful of their Chinooks,” McInstosh said. “So we are really pulling together quite a team to support this while our aviation brigade is mostly deployed. So, you know, we ebb and flow, but we have between 40 and 50 helicopters committed to this mission today or over these next few days.”

Inclement weather forced the 101st Airborne Division to lengthen their stay at the airport.

“Because of the weather, we ended up extending here an additional 24 hours than we planned. And I can’t thank enough the community that has embraced our presence and tolerated the additional noise,” McIntosh said. “I just want to make sure that we express our tremendous gratitude for their hospitality while we’re passing through, and hopefully they’ll let us do it again sometime.”

Ultimately, McIntosh is excited about the mission.

“We look forward to getting on down to Fort Johnson, and it’s gonna be a good fight for the next few weeks.