VIDEO: The National Guard is working with local and state agencies to train pilots to fly unmanned aerial systems.
Organizers hope the program will allow pilots to use their skills to help law enforcement and fire agencies in our region.
Staff Sergeant Taham Khosrabadi is the program manager for the Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Program for the Oregon Army National Guard.
He returned from serving in Somalia just before the Almeda Fire in 2020 and that’s what inspired him to get involved.
Khosrabadi said, “I went to my unit, tried being able to utilize our drones to support EMS. We were told we weren’t allowed to, that there wasn’t any standards and training. There was just a lot of red tape at that moment.”
He said that motivated him to find ways to fix those issues for future natural disasters, so he got involved with the local Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Program.