The VC-6 Sailors are flying the Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in support of Army units, according to AFCM Kevin Ramsdell, providing information in real time to soldiers on the ground.

‘‘Originally, the Army made a Request for Forces, and VC-6 volunteered to do it,” said Ramsdell. ‘‘Our skipper at the time believed that since the Shadow is almost identical to the Pioneer, which our guys had all flown, we could easily learn the Shadow.”

VC-6 was selected for the job, and volunteers from the unit went through six months of training at the Army’s base at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.

Four platoons of 22-23 Sailors were formed for the year-long mission, with each serving six months in Iraq. Two platoons at a time were in theater, one each at two bases.

Nine months ago, the Army made a second Request for Forces, ‘‘and of course we didn’t have the people to do it over again,” said Ramsdell. The problem was that, in the end, ‘‘nobody answered that request. The Army basically didn’t have a unit to replace our guys.”

The problem ended up on the desk of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. ‘‘They said the job had to be done. This is saving soldiers’ lives on the ground, so we can’t afford to not have the coverage,” Ramsdell stated. ‘‘We were asked again if we could cover another 90 to 120-day period, when a contractor would take over the job.”

Because VC-6 stands down in August, many members of Platoons Alpha and Bravo — which had returned in January and February — were already at their new commands. ‘‘We contacted everybody by phone no matter where they were to see whether they were interested in volunteering for this,” said Ramsdell. ‘‘Once we knew whether they were interested, we contacted the parent commands to make sure we weren’t going to mess up their careers by taking them from a new command.”

In the end, ‘‘All the commands were very accommodating. Anyone who said yes, we were able to get.”

In addition to the Alpha and Bravo volunteers, several are from Platoon Delta, which only returned recently. Several more are from Platoon Charlie, which is still in Iraq. They will simply stay on duty.

The Sailors serving the extra time in Iraq will be in a unique administrative setup. Most are part of VC-6, which they will continue to be even though the unit stands down two months before they return. The rest are on individual augmentation orders from their new commands.

When they turn the job over to a contractor in October, the IAs will return to their new commands. Homecoming for the rest will be at Norfolk, home of the wing of which VC-6 is a part. ‘‘Our CO is moving over to the wing, so those guys will make an intermediate stop at the wing on their way through to their new duty stations,” said Ramsdell. Even though VC-6 will no longer exist, ‘‘They will still be VC-6 Sailors until we check them out of the wing.”