Friday, October 16, 2009

Who Fights this War--Gets the Aircraft Ready to Fly

For door gunners and crew chiefs in Company A, 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation Regiment, the longest days are the ones when they don’t fly. This Illinois-based Army National Guard unit uses a push crew to make sure every mission takes off on time and each aircraft gets back to mission-ready status as soon as possible. If a mission is set to fly at 6 a.m., the flight crew arrives for a pre-flight briefing at 3 a.m. The push crew begins its work at 2 a.m. “The first thing to do at 0200 is start the coffee,” said Cpl. Ricki Jenkins, 40, of Glasford, Ill. “Before going to the airfield, the push crew writes down the crew roster, the tail numbers of the birds, time out and time back.” The push crew normally consists of one crew chief or gunner for each pair of Black Hawks, but sometimes the crew is just one Soldier. The crew takes a Gator vehicle from the orderly room and drives a half-mile to the maintenance hangars, where they switch to a specially-equipped Push Gator. Before going to the flight line, the push crew gathers Aviation Life Support Equipment, weapons, water, ice and the egress kits for ground-mounting the M-240 door guns. The push crew also gathers the crew members’ flight bags, helmets, vests and communications gear. Soon the push crew is on the flight line loading equipment and getting the Black Hawks ready for the mission. “We remove the doors and windows and stack them in the trailer, then pull the ropes tie-down ropes on the rotor blades, pull the engine plugs and (Auxiliary Power Unit) plugs and engine covers,” Jenkins said. “We mount the M-240s on the birds then head back to the maintenance Conex to load the doors and windows in storage racks.” By 4:30 a.m. the flight crew will be at the aircraft with night vision goggles, rescue radios and other equipment. After this equipment is installed or stowed, the flight crew and the push crew go to breakfast together. When they return the flight crew goes through the pre-flight checks. If everything goes normally, the mission takes off on time and the push crew remains at the airfield for 40 minutes just in case a maintenance issue arises early in the flight. If the aircraft has a problem before takeoff, the push crew is ready to move the crew and equipment to another aircraft. “Our priority is to make sure the mission goes on time,” said Capt. Jason Henderson, Co. A commander and a Normal, Ill., resident. “If there is a mechanical problem, the push crew can bump the flight crew to a spare aircraft.” Henderson said the push crew’s role in post-flight operations is just as important as getting the mission ready to go. “They make sure aircraft are ready for the next mission,” Henderson said. “When the mission is over, the push crew identifies and fixes faults right away.” A half-hour before the mission is scheduled to land, the push crew is back at the airfield, loading the doors and windows in the Gator’s trailer. As soon as the first Black Hawk lands the push crew and the flight crew work together to get aircraft ready to fly for the next mission. The M-240 door guns are dismounted and set in the Gator. The crew members take off their helmets, vests and other flight gear and load their bags. The push crew re-hangs the doors, installs the windows and ties down the rotor blades. While the equipment is loaded, post-flight maintenance begins. The Gator has a rack above its dashboard with every kind of lubricant a Black Hawk helicopter needs as well as tools for on-the-spot repairs. “By the time we get the gear stowed and the weapons turned in to the arms room it’s a long day,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Maass, 27, of Hillsboro Ill. Maass is a door gunner who was with Co. A on its previous deployment to Iraq in 2004 and 2005. Maass is a full-time Army National Guard technician and a wheeled vehicle mechanic who volunteered to be a door gunner for this deployment. “Door gunner is a job that only exists in a war zone,” he said. “We (door gunners) all volunteered to deploy.” If a mission takes off at 6 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m., the push crew starts work four hours before takeoff and may still be finishing routine maintenance hours after the flight lands. Twelve to fourteen hour days are average for push crews. The standard rotation for a Co. A door gunner or crew chief is four days of flight, two days of push duty and one day off. Chief Warrant Officer Herbert Stevens of Normal, Ill., an Alpha Co. pilot, said the push procedures reflect lessons learned during the unit’s last tour. “There’s no room for error in aviation. We developed procedures that reduce risk and make sure the flight crew can focus on the mission.”

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Who Flies this Aircraft?


I will be writing more soon about the crew of the Blackhawk I flew in on Saturday, but I wanted to give you a preliminary description of the four-man crew: two pilots, a door gunner, and a crew chief. They are all from an Illinois National Guard Company attached to our unit for this deployment. In the National Guard, you get people of many backgrounds serving together and that is true down to the smallest units--like a Blackhawk crew.

Pilot 1--Has 21 years in the guard, the whole time flying. He just completed flight school as the Gulf War ended so he was not deployed until 2004. At that time he was based at Balad and flying air assault missions. He said, "This (meaning the trip I was on flying at 1000 feet and 125 mph) is garrison flying. If you were here in 2004 you could have gone on a real mission--175 mph at 50 feet of the ground. That's fun." He actually gave the speeds in knots. I am sparing you the conversion.
So what does this action junkie do in civilian life? He is one of ten pilots on the governor's staff--in Illinois--since 2003. He has flown Rod Blagojevich for 6 years (except for the time he was in Iraq). He would not answer any questions about flying the disgraced gov.

Pilot 2--Decided to join the Army Guard and become a pilot in 2002. Needed a job that would be OK with a lot of leave for military duty. Took a job with the Norfolk Southern Railroad. Flight school 1 yr. in 2003. Deployed 15 months 2004-5. Advanced flight training 2007. Pre-deployment training many weeks 2008. Here 2009. Said he worked 2.5 years since he took the job, but has full seniority. Smart guy.

Door Gunner--24-year-old graduate of Massapequa High School, NY. Grew up in Queens. Enlisted at 18. Went to Iraq at 19 in 2004 as a combat infantryman in Baghdad. Came home and worked as an executive security guard. Volunteered to go to Iraq in late 2007 as a door gunner, then volunteered for another consecutive year here now. He is going to flight school next fall. He plans to deploy with his home unit in NYC to Afghanistan in 2012. Then he said, "I think with four deployments I'll be ready to settle down.

Crew Chief--26 is on his first deployment. Is going home to finish college then become an officer after he gets a bachelors degree from Illinois State.

Pilot 1 got married just before deployment and is on his honeymoon now in Australia. The other three are single.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Pain, like Envy, is Relative

At the risk of being gross, for the past several days I have had two painful bug bites in my hairline that won't go away--although they are finally getting somewhat better. They are in my hair, above my ear right where the helmet covers them. So every time I ride, they get bumped. And then I got a very painful swelling inside my nose. So it's hard to breath and it hurts.

So I was riding along thinking 'You broke all those bones and now you are bitching about what is essentially three zits. What a baby.'

The trouble really bad pain leads to really good drugs. But you don't take morphine for injuries. So I just get aggravated by the pain and swelling. My head hurts. My nose hurts. My heel hurts because I ran today. These small pains bother me more than I think they should. I suppose that is what is ultimately so difficult about getting old--there is always something wrong with a body that is not growing any more.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Smell of Diesel Brings Back Army Memories


"Deuce and a Half" trucks spewed black clouds of diesel.

During the 23 years I was a civilian before I re-enlisted in the Army, the unexpected smell of diesel that would take me back to the Army in a flash of memory.

In the 70s and 80s, the primary vehicle--the Jeep--had a gasoline engine. but most everything we drove had diesel engines. Tanks, Personnel Carriers, Howitzers and trucks all had diesel engines. Now the Humvees are diesel just like all the other trucks. On all of bases in this barren land of Iraq, power comes from generators. Huge generators, small generators, in-between generators.

Last month in the motor pool one of the mechanics grabbed a 110V drill to work on a 5-ton truck. He had to drill a few holes while he worked on the truck. He fired up a 150hp 6-cylinder diesel generator that happened to be close to his work site. It ran continuously for the entire time he worked on the truck.

On this morning's 5k run, I ran past several howling generators in containers outside the housing areas. Every time I turn on a light, charge a computer battery or go the chow hall, one of those generators is making power for me.

A diesel generator sitting in a Conex roaring day and night is not the most efficient way to provide power, but it is what we have here on Camp Adder, Iraq.

Just a whiff of diesel from a passing bus would remind me of eating on the back deck of our M60A1 tank or the driving in long convoys on the Autobahn that spewed black clouds of diesel from tanks and trucks.

When I get home I will smell diesel and think about those huge generators outside every facility, puffing clouds of smoke and keeping me well-fed and on line.


Monday, October 12, 2009

No Night Flight till Thursday or Friday

I did not go on the Chinook flight last night. It will have to wait until the end of the week. As it turns out it was the best move. I had to replace a picture in the battalion (weekly) newsletter at the very last minute. It was a group shot of about 20 pilots on the last day they were allowed to were the one-piece flight suit. It is being retired. The Chaplain wrote an excellent speech about it. The problem with the picture is some of the pilots wore their Task Force Diablo patches on the flight suit--very bad. Luckily I had a shot with no patches.

A photographer came to the C.S. Lewis book group tonight to take pictures. Last week I talked to a reporter from USA Today about the CSL group and the Dead Poets Society, so the groups may be in his article about what people do when the war is not so busy.

The PT Belt page on Facebook is up to 1600 fans. It was featured in my newsletter today as well as the brigade newsletter. He might got to 5000 fans before we come home.

Last week I went over 5000 miles for the year. They are talking about not packing our stuff for shipment home till early January. If so, I might be able to ride 5000 miles this year in Iraq--more than 350 hamster laps.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

View from the Window

I sat behind the left door gunner on the Blackhawk I rode on yesterday. Here's some of the view I had.






Saturday, October 10, 2009

First Flight in a Blackhawk


Today at a little after 10am I was a passenger on a routine flight to two small forward operating bases where our MEDEVAC Company flies. It's fun taking off and landing in a Blackhawk. They life straight up for a couple of seconds then bank away. When they reach about a thousand feet they level off and fly straight. No more excitement till we bank in to land.
Blackhawks are loud, but really smooth in flight. Here's a picture of me in front of the Blackhawk I flew on. It was the second of a pair of Blackhawks. The first was an unarmed MEDEVAC bird. I was in the chase bird with the door guns.
The computer system will be down all day tomorrow, but I will try to put some photos of the flight up before the computers go down.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Flights are on Again, Maybe

I thought I could not write this post because I can't say anything about where troops are going. So I won't. The main news is I am scheduled to fly in a Blackhawk tomorrow and a Chinook on Sunday night. I actually don't much care where I am going and if I told you, you probably would not know any more than I do. So I'll let you know where I was when I get back.

I am charging up my camera batteries. Tomorrow is a daylight flight so I should be able to take loads of pictures. Sunday is a night flight and the point of the trip for me is to see how well I can take pictures through night vision goggles.

Everything is happening so fast lately. Three weeks ago I was still figuring out how to get the time to write one or two good stories a week and had just made a to do list of important things for me to do in the motor pool: sort nuts and bolts and washers in the spare parts Conex (a container about half the size of an over-the-road semi trailer), make inventory sheets of hundreds of special tools, most of which are still in paper and plastic wrappers because we never use them, coordinate schedules of the people who will sign out the tools when I am on other duties, etc.

Now I am writing and taking pictures and getting stories published all over southern Iraq. Three weeks ago, I was trying to decide what to use for the lead story for the Echo Company newsletter.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

In My Pockets

In civilian life I wear many different kinds of clothes with many different pockets--several in the same day. So I may wear shorts and a t-shirt for the walk and train ride to work, change to a suit, change to bike clothes for a late day ride in Philadelphia, then back to shorts and a t-shirt for the train home. I am often searching for keys, my wallet or something in my pocket because I don't have a specific pocket for specific items in civilian life.

That will change when I get back. I only have two outfits here--pt clothes and the uniform. But because I have to find things in a hurry, I have the stuff I carry in specific pockets all the time. I always know where things are or know something is missing in a second. Right now my keys are in my left front pants pocket, my ID is in my left cargo pocket in the middle of my thigh, my wallet is in my left shirt pocket and my glasses are on the right. In civilian life I won't have to carry the tourniquet in my right lower leg pants pocket or the reflective (PT) belt in the left. But I always know where they are.

If this deployment has made any mental change in me--besides a strong wish to go home--it is in seeing the value of keeping things organized. My priority before was always in getting the task in front of me done and cleaning up the mess later. But since I have to live in later, I am much more aware that it is worth slowing the work down to make sure that I stay organized. It may not seem like much, but it's a big change after almost 20,000 days of living happily with disorganization.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Blackhawk mechanic becomes facebook phenom


I realized tonight I have not written about PT Belts before, but we have to wear them all the time with our PT (Physical Training) uniform and with our combat uniform after dark. Since I ride a bike, I have to wear the PT Belt whenever I ride. In fact, I use the PT belt to hold my rifle at my side while I am riding. As you will read below, a mechanic in our unit has become a minor Facebook phenom by getting more than 1000 fans for his PT Belt Facebook page.
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Spc. Jason Guge, who is serving in Iraq as a Black hawk helicopter mechanic in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment, became a minor Internet star recently. On Sept. 5 Guge created a humorous page on the popular social networking site Facebook devoted to the physical training belt, a highly-reflective belt worn by everyone at night at COB Adder, and throughout Iraq, for safety purposes. Guge is not the first Soldier to find humor and irony in the wearing of the fluorescent adornment in a hostile zone, but he is the first to give Facebook users a place to exchange pictures, opinions and jokes about the glowing band. In the month since Guge created the page, he has attracted more than 1,000 followers. He passed the threshold at which Facebook assigns a dedicated URL to a page, acknowledging his page is popular enough for its own address: www.facebook.com/ptbelt. (external link) Fans talk about their views on the wear, care and sometimes adoration of their mandatory waist band. There is a PT belt creed for the truly devoted, a PT belt historical timeline, a PT belt prayer and Guge’s personal favorite, a picture from the HBO series Band of Brothers with the World War II heroes clad in PT belts. In addition, there is a PT belt adoption application, lost belt amber alerts and fashion advice for those who want to dress their fluorescent best.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Who Fights This War? -- MEDEVAC Pilot


This story ran in my newsletter yesterday and today 34th division published it in their newsletter and on their web site. I am posting it on my blog also because I really like the story.
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Maj. Anthony Meador is near the end of his third tour Iraq as an Army aviator. He served in Baghdad in 2004 and at Joint Base Balad in 2007. He now commands Company C, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, a Wainwright, Alaska, based Army unit currently attached to 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment, 28th Combat Aviation Brigade.

During his first tour Meador served as a MEDEVAC pilot during some of the most intense fighting in the war. "We were slammed in 2004 and in April things got really bad," he said. "One night we evacuated 44 soldiers in two and a half hours on six Black Hawks. We had burns, gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds…the 2/5 Cavalry got ambushed in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. The whole year was non-stop for all of us."

Meador returned home in 2005 to his wife and his first baby boy, who is now five. He had almost two years of stateside duty before returning to Iraq with the surge of troops in 2007. "I was executive officer of a (General Support Aviation Battalion) based in Balad so I flew every kind of aircraft we had," said Meador. "With the surge, the operating tempo was high. Part of our mission was flying General (David) Petraeus, General (Raymond) Odierno and Ambassador (Ryan) Crocker."

His first two tours were filled with high-intensity, around-the-clock operations, but the weather was great. "In Baghdad and Balad the weather was not an issue. It was sunny all the time, no dust storms,” Meador said. At Contingency Operating Base Adder in 2009, the intensity of operations is often lower, but "the weather shapes every aspect of our mission planning: weather here, weather at the destination, weather along the route. We are constantly updating our planning based on the weather."

Difficult weather forces tough decisions with MEDEVAC flights. One of the toughest decisions for Meador on this tour was whether to fly on July 2. A call came in from the Adder emergency room. A patient with a pulmonary embolism needed immediate transport to Balad for a type of surgery not available here. Charlie Company would fly the patient to Al Kut and transfer him to a waiting medevac helicopter for transport to Balad.

The first segment of the flight was just 300 meters from the Charlie hangars to the COB Adder emergency room, but that flight was enough for Meador to reconsider the wisdom of flying with visibility less than a half mile in a huge dust storm. According to Meador, winds were 30 knots with gusts up to 45 knots. Vertical visibility was 125 feet. To further complicate the flight plan, the patient's condition meant they had to fly close to the ground, as pulmonary embolisms are aggravated by altitude.

Maj. Anthony Meador, a MEDEVAC pilot in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, Task Force Keystone, inspects the tail rotor of a Black Hawk helicopter. Meador is wrapping up his third tour in Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Neil Gussman)
"We had to stay extremely low anyway because visibility was worse at 1000 feet. But flying at 50 to 75 feet with power lines and towers is very difficult," Meador said.

As they flew from the hangar to the clinic, he said, "We're going to have another conversation with the physician. I am about 60 to 70 percent sure we are going to cancel this mission.”

Staff Sgt. Jason Jones, a flight medic, talked to the physician on duty. The clot was moving toward the patient's lungs and heart and he would die without surgery at Balad. When Jones confirmed the patient's prognosis, Meador decided to go ahead with the mission. "When you get a patient on board, you're committed," he said. "Once you leave the airfield with a patient on board you’re committed to the entire mission."

"The trip to Al Kut is usually 43 minutes," said Meador. "We flew low and slow for an hour and 20 minutes. The chase bird was at our altitude, flanked right and about 10 rotor disks behind us." Meador explained that ten rotor disks, approximately 100 yards, is much closer than the normal following distance of 30 to 40 rotor disks, but necessary because of the low visibility. "We were coordinating moment to moment throughout the entire flight. When one of us would pick up a power line or a tower, we would advise the other right away."

Eighty minutes after takeoff, they landed safely and transferred the patient to a waiting MEDEVAC helicopter for transport to the Balad medical facility. They refueled and returned to COB Adder. The patient arrived at Balad in time and got the surgery he needed.

Meador has served 14 years as an Army Medical Service officer. He is a 1995 graduate of Virginia Military Institute. He and his wife Margaret have two boys, ages three and five. Meador calls Galax, Va., home and is currently assigned to Fort Wainwright, Alaska, where he will return after his current tour of duty.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Who Fights This War? -- Clerks Rescue Soldiers in Black Hawk Crash


These soldiers are clerks in Echo Company. Both of them are good soldiers who took a lot of crap from the mechanics and fuelers in the unit because most of their work is done indoors. Things are different now.
----------------
Pfc. Dennis Lucas of Gratz, Pa., and Spc. Nathan Montgomery of Chester, W.Va., both clerks in the motor pool of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion,104th Aviation Regiment, 28th Combat Aviation Brigade, helped perform first aid on victims after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed at Joint Base Balad Sept. 19.

Spc. Michael S. Cote, 20, of Denham Springs, La., was killed in the crash and 12 others were injured.

On that night, Montgomery and Lucas were in the containerized housing unit they shared preparing to return to Contingency Operating Base Adder the following morning. According to Montgomery, at roughly 8.p.m. he and Lucas heard a loud boom. Since there had been thunderstorms in the area during the preceding days, they first thought the noise was thunder. “We kept seeing rain and lightning and no thunder,” Lucas said. “So we thought this was the thunder.”

Montgomery went outside to smoke a cigarette and saw a man run up to the fence opposite their CHU and yell for help. He said he was the pilot of a helicopter that just crashed. Montgomery yelled for Lucas. “I was in flip-flops,” Lucas said, “so I put on sneakers and ran.” They ran to the fence, ripped a section of the fence from the ground, crawled under it and followed the pilot to the crash site.

"The Black Hawk was a mess," Montgomery said. Two Soldiers were outside the aircraft and on the ground when they got to the scene of the crash. "There were four of us that ran to the scene. Two other Soldiers who were outside their CHUs followed us over.”

"One of the Soldiers outside the helicopter was complaining of back pain, but he knew he was at Balad and he could move his legs and arms so we moved to the Soldiers in the bird," Montgomery said. "I went to a guy with his face busted up. He was missing teeth and was in a lot of pain, so I stayed with him. It turned out he had a broken jaw, broken teeth, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding in the abdomen and was fading by the time we got him loaded in the ambulance."

"Lucas went to a guy (Michael Cote) who was really bad. Lucas held him in his arms waiting for the medics, but he had a bad head injury,” Montgomery said. "The Soldier died in Lucas' arms. Lucas held him while he died."

After Cote was taken from Lucas, he continued to assist with getting other Soldiers clear of the wreckage. Montgomery stayed with his Soldier.

“He is a sergeant and crew chief of the Black Hawk,” Montgomery said. “He has a wife and two boys. The boys play soccer. I know all about his family. I know their names. The thing I want to know the most is how he is doing. He was fading at the end, starting to lose consciousness. I want to know if he made it.”

According to Montgomery, the EMS crews had to cut through a fence to get to the crash site and all of the patients had to be carried 150 yards to the vehicle. Montgomery was at the front of the litter for three patients. "I never was the lead guy on the litter in training, but I remembered what to do,” he said.
Enlarge

According to Montgomery, other witnesses said the pilot did an amazing job to get the Black Hawk down in the one open field in the entire area.

"There were (shipping containers) and CHUs and fences all around and he got it down in the one open area," he said. "There were surgeons on scene in (physical training) gear. People just ran to the scene. The last guy out was a really big sergeant with a broken leg who had to be cut from the wreckage."

“I felt like I was a passenger in my own body,” said Lucas. “I was calm the whole time. I knew what I was doing and I did what they trained us to do in (Combat Life Saver training). I thought the whole thing took about 20 minutes but it was an hour and a half.”

Lucas believes the training made the difference in how he and Montgomery reacted compared to others at the scene. “Some people ran up to the crash then stopped. Others just watched. I never ran so fast in my life as that hundred yards from the fence to the wreckage and I just went to work. Army, Marines, Air Force people all worked together to help.”

"The CLS training really kicked in," said Montgomery. "We didn't think. We just knew what to do. The pilot yelled for help. We were there so we went. Anybody would have done the same. I tell you what though, these guys are burned into our heads."

Sunday, October 4, 2009

You Light Up My Life. . .


Bike Line just send me a shipment with two tubes, ten spokes, a Gatorskin tire for my road bike and a Seca 700 headlight. The people who can't believe I would spend more than $200 for a bicycle (the same people who spent $1,000--no kidding--on pizza and other delivery food) will be aghast if they find out I spent $415 for a bike light.

But what a great light. Instead of straining my eyes and riding slowly around the dark side of the base, I can ride as fast as I want with a headlight that throws a beam more than a football field. In fact, I am riding back to the office on the south side of the base in a few minutes and will ride fully illuminating my path.

Also, Larry Wise the Bike Guy here on base fixed my spoke so I can ride the Mountain Bike. The garrison put fresh gravel on a 200-yard stretch of road the south side that makes it hard for me to ride the road bike--I have to ride in the soft sand beside the road.

In other news, three of my stories got picked up by a combat medic who blogs at www.ffpblog.com the "Far From Perfect" blog. He linked to both of the flight medic stories, and also linked to a post titled "Eight Minutes and Gone" which I did not send for publication. Maybe I should. Second weekly newsletter goes out tomorrow. Let me know if you want a PDF.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Flight Cancelled

I was supposed to be in a Blackhawk now flying to a couple of the nearby small bases, but the flight got cancelled. Somebody with a real mission got the seat, so I am labelling photos and getting ready to transfer them to an Army computer.

This morning was the Ruck March half marathon. Since I was supposed to fly, I did not pick up my number. I suppose I could have walked, but I took some pictures of participants, then took a nap until the walkers were coming back in.

On Monday, I sent the first issue of a new newsletter I am doing for the battalion (700 soldiers). It is a six-page newsletter that goes the soldiers and families in the states by PDF. The layout is in PowerPoint! I would not have thought PowerPoint is the way to do a newsletter, but it is really easy to use--easier than Word. Of course, it is very limited in what it can do. I have very rectangular layouts. But it is a newsletter so it should be fine. I will be sending the newsletter every Monday morning from now till we leave.

Coincidentally, the Brigade (2000 soldiers) will also switch to a weekly format from a monthly. The article that was the Medevac Pilot who is also a state trooper will be on the cover of their newsletter, also Monday morning.

Part of my charge is to do Daily Life stories. So this week I followed a day maintenance team from the unit that flies only at night. I also followed the crew that sets up the helicopters to fly.

If you want the newsletter, send me an email or tell me in a comment.

So now I write stories, take pictures and go to events full time. Of course, I ride my bike everywhere.

War is Hell!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Who Fights This War? -- Flight Medic 2



This story was published on line on Wednesday and was also in a weekly newsletter I do now as part of my new job.

When the United States led coalition forces in the invasion of Iraq in
2003, SSG Quincy Northern, 32, began his first of three deployments as
a flight medic. For the first months of the war Northern flew MEDEVAC
along the invasion route led by the US Marines. "It was non-stop action
from the time we crossed the wire," said Northern describing his first
deployment following the Marines across Iraq in the opening days of
the war.

One MEDEVAC call he remembered vividly was an all-terrain, 8-wheel-
drive HEMMT cargo truck that hit a mine and rolled over. The call itself
was not out of the ordinary. He and his crew responded to many calls
for trucks that hit mines or had rolled over and trapped the badly
injured crew. What made this rescue different was the landing zone.
"They marked out the LZ (Landing Zone) right in the minefield," said
Northern. "We didn't know till we got to the vehicle that the bird and
us were right in the minefield."


They continued the mission. All of the Marines survived. Landing in a
minefield made Northern very conscious of security on MEDEVAC
flights. "When the 9-line (MEDEVAC call) comes in I review it to be as
prepared as I can to treat the injury. Then I think about security issues.
When we land I have to be ready to go and treat the injury, not be
thinking about anything else."

Northern enlisted in 1996 and trained as a flight medic in 2002. He
went to Kuwait in January of 2003 in preparation for the invasion and
followed the Marines until June. He was back in Iraq from March of
2004 to March of 2005 and returned in 2008 with Charlie Company 1-
52nd Aviation Brigade. The Alaska-based unit is currently attached to 2-
104th General Services Aviation Battalion. Northern says the current
deployment is by far the easiest. "On the first deployment we slept on
the bird," he said. "We slept in the same litters that carried the
patients."

Northern is a Native of Baton Rouge and admits to being an adrenaline
junkie, but says when he retires from active duty in seven years, his life
is going to be different. "When I retire, I am going to a get a job where
the toughest thing is just showing up every morning," he said with a
wide smile. He is married with two children, a boy and a girl. His wife is
staying with her family in Ellicott City, Maryland, until Northern
returns from deployment.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Bike Update

As of yesterday, September 30, I passed the 3000-mile mark here in Iraq. I also cut 2 minutes from my 5k run time the previous week. It is much easier to improve when one is slow. Last week I ran it in 30 minutes and 20 seconds. This week I was down to 28:22. The civilian who runs the race gave me a medal for finishing 3rd in 50-plus (out of three guys who signed up). It was really a close race between the first two guys--they finished in 23:14 and 23:20. I was most of a half mile back in third.

The bike mileage means I have also made more than 200 laps of Tallil Ali's Perimeter Road. Katharine Sanderson, a friend from the UK, wrote recently. I replied to her something about the war. She said, "Somehow I forget that you're fighting a war at all. Weird. It must be your witty blog posts about books and PR!"

Along the same lines, my wife said, "I'm enjoying the other-personal glimpses on your blog.  Since I've been wrestling so intently with my students over verbs, I think your "fights" (as in "Who fights this war?") catches my eye . . . especially because there's not really any traditional fighting going on in your stories.  I know that "Who prosecutes this war?" doesn't have the same cachet, so I'm not suggesting you change this at all."

But they are right. Who would know from most of my blog posts or my current bike mileage that I am serving in a war?

I have more "Who Fights This War?" stories and will post another one tomorrow. Whether fight is the right word or not, we are here, there is a war and so I'll keep the word fight.

Envy is Relative

I have a new office. A really nice office. An occasion for envy for everyone in the unit I left and for many people who come to visit the other people that work in my office. The people in my office are the battalion commander, the executive officer, and their assistant--and me. I have an office with a real wooden desk, a book case, a table, a comfortable chair and a door.

I was working in a dusty corner of the motor pool on a folding table. This is a big step up in the world. But then, as my wife pointed out when I told her about my new digs, nobody I work with back home would be jealous. My new office is in a trailer. It is an Italian-made, double-wide, really nice trailer, but it is still a trailer and I still have to walk 75 meters to use the latrine trailer.

But it does have a coffee maker.

And the boss is a member of the Pennsylvania legislature so he gets an incredible amount of free stuff from home. So the office has great snacks.

I should get to stay in this office for three of the four months until we are finally back home. Late January to early February is becoming a more and more concrete time for us to get home.

I can't wait.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Who Fights This War? -- Flight Medic

Army Staff Sergeant Cynthia Dalton, 
Camp Adder, Iraq, 2009-10

“I am never nervous on the flight out,” said Staff Sgt. Cynthia Dalton, describing her experience as a flight medic in Iraq. “I go over every possible scenario in my mind. But when we touch down, I just go.”

Dalton, who is assigned as a flight medic to the 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Brigade, part of Task Force Keystone, said her first rescue mission in Iraq was the hardest. It was a vehicle rollover in bad weather. One Soldier was dead at the scene, two more were badly injured. She and the other medics at the scene treated the Soldiers as much as they could and then loaded them on their Black Hawk helicopters for transport to the nearest emergency medical facility.

“Both Soldiers made it,” she said. “But after a mission like that I am really hard on myself. I can see why people burn out. I go over everything I could possibly have done differently. We did our jobs, but it always seems like there is something I could have done different or better.”

Dalton, a daughter of military parents who hails from Orwigsburg, Pa., said she knew from an early age she wanted to help Soldiers, but tried various jobs before finding a career path that was right for her.

“I joined the Army at 17 when I was a junior in high school,” she said. “I went to basic training between my junior and senior years and started training to be a medic right after high school.”

While serving in the Army Reserve, she got additional medical training as a civilian and worked for a nursing agency.

She was serving as a reservist in Germany on September 11, 2001. She was activated in Germany in a medical support unit and helped Soldiers prepare for deployment to the Middle East.

“I did literally hundreds of immunizations every day,” Dalton said.

When she returned to the states, she switched to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard to take advantage of the education benefits.

After getting Soldiers ready for deployment at the very beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, Dalton spent the three years prior to her current deployment helping Soldiers return to civilian life after deployment.

“I love helping Soldiers,” she said. “Soldiers come back from deployment needing many kinds of help to reintegrate into civilian life. The Guard has the help available. I make sure they can get access to the right resources.”

In preparation for deployment to Iraq, Dalton trained as a flight medic. She has worked with two medical evacuation companies during the deployment, including an Oregon-based unit during training in Oklahoma and Kuwait. She is currently serving with an Alaska-based active Army MEDEVAC unit. Dalton works a 48-hour cycle, sleeping and eating at the hangar waiting for MEDEVAC calls.

When she returns to the United States, she plans to take a full-time job as the medical sergeant for the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 55th Brigade in Scranton. “That will be the end of flying for a while,” she said. “I am sure I will miss it.”



Monday, September 28, 2009

Who Fights This War? -- MEDEVAC Pilot

This story went on line yesterday on Armed Forces News service so if you want to see the pilot's picture, just Google my name under the "News" tab and this story will come up with photos.


CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – Maj. Matt Stevenson sits alone in the ready room next to the medical evacuation hangar at 11 p.m. He is hunched over his personal computer, editing a document for a meeting the next day.

“I’ve got to get some sleep in case we get a 2 a.m. call,” he says, mostly to the air. The rest of his crew is asleep or resting, waiting for the call.

Stevenson is a senior staff officer with 2nd Battalion 104th Aviation Brigade, but two to four days every week he is a MEDEVAC pilot on a 48-hour rotation with Alaska-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment. His shift will be over at 9 a.m. the following morning, but he had a long flight in the afternoon and a long day of meetings on either side of the flight.

“I have to stay balanced, I have to stay rested, but I have to complete the mission,” he said.

It’s a challenge he faces both in civilian life and on deployment. Senior Trooper Stevenson has served with the Pennsylvania State Police since 1995, most recently flying Aviation Patrol Unit One in the southeastern area of the Commonwealth. Adding MEDEVAC pilot to his staff duties makes life hectic, but Stevenson lives to fly.

He arranges his life to complete the staff tasks to the best of his ability, making the time necessary to fly MEDEVAC Black Hawks every week. He is serious and professional when discussing staff duties, but is all smiles and broad hand and arm gestures describing a favorite MEDEVAC mission. Even while crawling on top of the Black Hawk underneath the rotors for pre-flight checks before starting the engines, he is clearly enjoying himself whether under, on top or at the controls of a Black Hawk helicopter.

Stevenson said flying MEDEVAC in Iraq has many similarities with flying for his civilian job.

“Flying for the state police is always on an emergency basis,” he said. “The mission can be a lost child, lost hikers or hunters, or a bad guy pursuit. We get the call. We go.”
MEDEVAC is the same. On the first 24 hours of his 48-hour shift, Stevenson and his crew are “second up,” the backup team that goes if a call comes in and “first up” is already on a mission. During the first day, the crew must be ready to take off within a half-hour and can travel a short distance from the ready hangar. On the second day the crew moves to “first up.” The Army standard says they must be prepared to fly within 15 minutes of receiving a MEDEVAC call. In Charlie Company, the standard is eight minutes.

Whether at Ali Air Base or in Pennsylvania’s Twin Valley, the emergency response mission gives Stevenson a sense of accomplishment.

“We make a difference here,” he said. “When a Soldier is down, we do everything we can to get them care and get them home. At home when we find the lost child or get the bad guy, it’s a great feeling.”

“One big difference here is we have to be more vigilant when landing at a point of injury,” Stevenson said. Scanning for mines, Improvised Explosive Devices and the enemy are part of every mission in Iraq.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Bicycles in Thailand at the End of the Viet Nam War

From my uncle who served in Viet Nam several times and other parts of South East Asia for almost a decade:

This is another Thailand story but a very ordinary one. At Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1974 bird colonels had staff cars, the rest of us whatever we could find. The Thais, seeing an opportunity, opened for business on the base selling (very) used Honda mopeds, provided repair services and sold gasoline by the pint, actually probably a half liter. A moped will run for a long time on a half liter of gas. Guys would buy a moped, ride it daily everywhere and sell it back when they rotated away.

The counter culture was bicycles. The BX did a bustling business in Japanese bikes. Most guys, me for instance, bought a bike, dutifully had the Air Police mark various parts of it stamped with an ID number--bike rustling was a big issue-- and rode it everywhere as if it was a car. After a while guys referred to their bike as their "horse." Korat was as as flat a table, being in the central highlands of interior Thailand, so a bike was ideal. The difference from mopeds was that most guys took their bike home when they rotated away, fully intending to ride it. I did. When it arrived I discovered that the seat stem had been replaced with one that was too large and driven in with a hammer. I had to use a wheel puller to extract it. Didn't matter. I never rode that bike once I got home. Eventually, I gave it to some charity when I was cleaning out the garage.

Not So Supreme: A Conference about the Constitution, the Courts and Justice

Hannah Arendt At the end of the first week in March, I went to a conference at Bard College titled: Between Power and Authority: Arendt on t...