Higginbotham Farm hosts West Virginia National Guard training exercises

POCA, WV (WOWK) — A helicopter from the West Virginia National Guard (WVNG) flew over Higginbotham Farm near Poca as part of an exercise Thursday morning.

Every year, the Higginbotham Farm is used as a site for the WVNG to hold training exercises, and this year, the farm got to host an airlift exercise involving a helicopter around 10 a.m.

According to farm owner Joshua Higginbotham, the training went well and was exciting to watch, even posting a video of the exercise on his Facebook page showing a helicopter hovering over two soldiers who then hook up to a lowered cable before being lifted out.

Higginbotham told 13 News that the training, which had been planned over a few weeks, lasted just a few hours and involved around a dozen participants.

Higginbotham said that the relationship between his family’s farm and the WVNG goes back a few years, beginning when the National Guard approached him about using the farm for its exercises. Higginbotham said that they were looking for flat, open locations near a river that had road access and proximity to Yeager Airport, and so, their partnership began.

It’s not always the same training each year. Previous exercises performed on the farm included medevac training and embassy evac drills.

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