Less than a week before leaving on another deployment to Iraq, nearly 100 soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division got familiar with the Marine Corps MV-22 Bravo Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

Two Ospreys from the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 gave the soldiers a ride Tuesday in the latest model of the aircraft, flying from North Carolina's New River Marine Corps Air Station to Wright Army Airfield at Fort Stewart.

"They told us we were going to a class at Wright AAF. They didn't tell us we're going to fly," said Sgt. Vincent Erickson after the troops landed. "It's really quick."

The Osprey takes off and lands vertically. Once airborne, the craft rotates its two wing-mounted rotors forward to fly like an airplane.

Soldiers from the 1st Brigade will be assigned to the Marine Corps 2nd Marine Division in Iraq's Al Anbar province. They might fly missions in the Ospreys from Squadron 263, the U.S. armed forces' only tilt-rotor unit in operation, when deployed later this year.

The Osprey can fly twice as fast as a standard helicopter, climb 2.5 times higher, carry a greater payload and fly five to six times as far.

The pre-type MV-22 Alpha Osprey logged a shaky safety record, but improvements to the Bravo version have corrected the problems, said Osprey pilot Capt. Danny Cohlmeyer.
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