May 17, 2019 - More than 100 Marine infantry troops from bases in North Carolina conducted field exercises Monday through Thursday at a reclaimed surface mine in Kanawha County, West Virginia through a training site program coordinated by Yeager Airport.

“Marine Corps training ranges were decimated by Hurricane Florence last year,” said Nick Keller, the Charleston airport’s assistant director.

Yaeger Airport employees perform a hot fueling of a Marine CH-53 helicopter Thursday.

Photo by Kenny Kemp, Gazette-Mail

All totaled, more than $3.6 billion in storm damage was done to the training ranges, along with such Marine bases as Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Stations Cherry Point and New River.

“We are helping the Marines meet their training needs by coming to West Virginia, and reducing their costs by basing at Yeager Airport,” Keller said.

Earlier this year, Yeager reached agreements with a half-dozen coal companies to offer inactive mine sites in Boone, Kanawha and Logan counties for military training free of charge, with Yeager coordinating the activities.

Marines re-enter a CH-53 transport helicopter after a hot refuel at Yeager Airport Thursday.  

Photo by Kenny Kemp, Gazette-Mail

Yeager is also developing terrain-following training routes for helicopters, making 100-mile loop flights to and from Charleston possible, offering the use of the Charleston airport for military pilots to practice touch-and-go landings, and exploring the possibility of using county-owned property, such as Camp Virgil Tate, for military exercises.

“We are working on using Capital Jet Center as a base of operations for week-long training detachments for military aircraft,” Keller said. “This will lead to dozens of people staying in our hotels and eating in our restaurants” while off duty, he said.

“We are proud to facilitate this new military activity in West Virginia,” said Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. “The Kanawha County Commission has numerous physical sites that we intend to make available to attract more out-of-state military deployments."