NORFOLK, Va. — Saying goodbye to a legendary local military unit, the Navy helicopter squadron HSC-84 is being disestablished this weekend.
They trace their roots back more than four decades, most recently since 9/11, in Iraq and Afghanistan, amassing more than 18,000 flight hours, on more than 2,300 combat missions, as one of the Navy's two dedicated special operations helicopter squadrons.
Now, it's all coming to an end, as the Red Wolves work to "finish strong."
"I am sad over the squadron's disestablishment," the reserve squadron's final commanding officer, Cmdr. Quinton Packard, said. He doesn't especially like the decision to shut down his team, but he accepts the move could save taxpayers $27 million a year.
"If I look at it objectively, from a purely fiscal standpoint, and that's what this is, it was a fiscal decision, I can kind of understand that some hard decisions had to be made in response to a growing deficit," he said.
Squadron operations officer, Lt. Cmdr. Chris Sillman, is pleased the mission will continue through the West Coast counterpart squadron HSC-85, and, with a new tactical support unit that will be stood up on the east coast.
Still, he said, this is a bittersweet time.
"[T]hat family atmosphere we've been able to build by having that shared mission, as we transition away, that's difficult," he said.
The final chapter will be written with the official disestablishment ceremony, at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
