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"A guardsman operates a personnel transporter that is commonly used on urban terrain. (Photo by Sp4 Tom Jones.)"

In 1988, at age 41, Dr. Satinover was commissioned Captain, Reserve, in the United States Army, appointed State Flight Surgeon to the CTARNG Headquarters State Area Command in Hartford and attached to D Company Command and Control for the 1^st Battalion, 169^th Aviation Regiment headquartered in Windsor Locks. He was there responsible for the medical health and flightworthiness of the 1109^th AVCRAD’s complement of regular army and both full- and part-time National Guard aviators flying and maintaining Huey and CH-54B Skycrane “Tarhe” helicopters (primarily those belonging to the 1/169) . He was later promoted to Major.

The 1^st Battalion, 169^th Aviation Regiment within the 1109^th was federally recognized on September 1st, 1988. The mission of the 169^th within the 1109^th AVCRAD is to provide command and control for corps-level medium- and heavy-lift helicopter assets during combat, combat support, and combat service support operations. The 1109^th AVCRAD is located at the Groton - New London Airport in Groton, CT and traces its roots back to 1775 as the Norwich Light Infantry. As an aviation unit, the 1109^th AVCRAD traces its beginning to 1961. In 1962 it became the 162^nd Transportation Battalion (AVIM). The predecessor units of the 1109th AVCRAD served in and earned battle streamers in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Additionally, the 1109^th AVCRAD was mobilized for and served in Operation DESERT STORM. Selected soldiers from the 1109th also served in Operation RESTORE HOPE in Somalia. The 1109^th AVCRAD is authorized 15 battle streamers on its colors and the unit has received the Presidential Unit Citation, the Meritorious Citation and the Philippines Presidential Unit Citation.  On the first day of the Gulf War [24 February 1991] the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) began its attack with its AH-64s, AH-1s, 60 UH-60s and 40 CH-47s augmented by the XVIII Airborne Corps' 18th Aviation Brigade and began lifting the 1st Brigade into what became Forward Operating Base (FOB) Cobra, 93 miles into Iraq and halfway to the Euphrates River. Over three hundred helicopter sorties ferried the troops and equipment into the objective area in the largest heliborne operation in military history. 376 soldiers were mobilized and 100 were deployed to Saudi Arabia from various regiments within the 1109^th for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Major  Satinover was placed on alert, and he obtained a replacement for his civilian position at the Sterling Institute in Stamford, Connecticut, but he was not called up. His preparatory training for response to nuclear, biological and chemical warfare (NBC) included study of the effects of Saddam Hussein’s test attacks on his own civilians--primarily Iraqi-Kurdish villagers--that killed at a minimum 25,000 individuals (realistic estimates range upwards of 5 times that) and countless farm animals, thereby depriving survivors of their sustenance.

The 169^th Aviation currently flies the CH-47 and is a reserve component of the 18th Airborne Corps.

In 1995, Major Satinover transferred to the Individual Ready Reserves where he served as a psychiatrist at Fort Lee, Virginia. He resigned his commission in 1998 at age 51.

CH54B over Khe San, 1971. Only 97 Tarhes were built for the Army between 1964 and 1972. The last one was retired in 1993 by the 113th Aviation of the Army National Guard based in Reno, Nevada. 

Joseph Satinover

 (Father)

Flight Engineer

B17, B24 & B29

Superfortress

B17 Flying Fortress (Top)

B29 Superfortress (Bottom)