The Helicopter Support Team (HST) is a unit of organization within the United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 that manages the activities of a helicopter landing zone (LZ). It consists of a team of eight Landing Support Marines who are trained to hook up external loads to the hooks of primarily military helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

s. All kinds of gear can be lifted by helicopter and taken to locations with terrain that is not suited for other kinds of vehicles. For example communications equipment can be placed on top of a mountain within a few minutes of flight instead of a few hours of driving, if one could even drive the equipment to the designated location. The HST is a valuable resource to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force

Marine Air-Ground Task Force

The Marine Air-Ground Task Force is a term used by the United States Marine Corps to describe the principal organization for all missions across the range of military operations. MAGTFs are a balanced air-ground, combined arms task organization of Marine Corps forces under a single commander that...

 (MAGTF)), as it provides an expedient manner of transportation for gear and supplies.

Within the HST there is the HST commander whose job is to coordinate the mission between the airwing, the supporting unit, and the Marine Logistics Group who provides the HST. The HST Commander is usually a Sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

 and sometimes a Staff Sergeant

Staff Sergeant

Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...

. Subordinate to the HST Commander is the HST Safety NCO, the job of the safety NCO is to ensure that the gear or supplies are rigged properly, and to ensure that everyone underneath the Helicopter are doing their job in a safe manner. The Safety NCO is normally a Corporal or Sergeant. The primary members of the HST are the Leg-men and the inside and outside directors along with the hookman and the Static Man. The inside and outside directors direct the pilot of the aircraft as he centers his helicopter over the load that is being lifted. The leg-men ensure that the slings used to lift the gear do not get caught on anything and lift in a straight manner as to not disturb the load being lifted. The job of the Static man is to use a grounding rod to attach to the hook so that the static electricity conducted by the helicopter is grounded out and does not end up killing a Marine. The Hook Man the hooks up the load to the hook of the aircraft in a safe manner.