My First Flight in a UH72 Lakota Helicopter

Today I got my first ride in the very plush UH72 Lakota helicopter.  I was at Mid State Airport near Phillipsburg, Pa. on Army training.  I flew up in a Chinook helicopter and was about to board it for the return flight, when I saw Tom Luckenbach, one of the pilots who has flown nearly every aircraft in the Army inventory.  He flew up in a Lakota. I asked if I could ride back with him.

Ten minutes later, I was in the small scout helicopter and listening to the pilots and crew chief go through their pre-flight routines.

Even with choppy air, the small, new aircraft was quiet and smooth for the 100-mile trip.  Here's some pictures from my seat.

Cat Lover in Iraq: Chased Out of Briefing Tent

During our deployment to Iraq in 2009 - 10, fuelers from Echo Company, 2-104th GASB were dispersed to bases all across the southern half of Iraq, from Camp Garry Owen on the Iran-Iraq border to Camp Normandy near Baghdad.

These lonely detachments refueled helicopters at all times in all weather.  At Camp Normandy in the summer, one of the fueler sergeants made a pet out of a cat.  He named it Fluffy.  

One day he walked into the morning briefing and announced, "We lost one of our own last night." The sergeant looked genuinely sad.  The dozen soldiers in the room started whipping their heads around looking to see who was not at morning meeting.  Then someone said, "Who?"

The big sergeant said, "Fluffy, somebody ran her over in the night.  She was stuck to a HEMMT tire this morning when I found her."

Several soldiers threw Gatorade bottles and chased him out of the tent.  

Aviation Week Magazine Writes About Army Aviation in PA National Guard

Last drill weekend I spent the day with a reporter and photographer from Aviation Week magazine.  Today they published a blog post about the visit.

Defense.gov Put CW2 Sara Christensen Story on its Home Page.

Today I got a message that my story about Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sara is featured today on the hone page of the Defense Department.  I'm glad they liked the story. She is a great soldier.  The story is here.

Still Haven't Found What I'm Lookin' For

I started listening to Still Haven't Found What I'm Lookin' For (1987), and to U2 just over a year ago.  Okay, I know that makes me a little slow.  The 40th anniversary of U2 being formed is next year.   Better late than never.

I listened to this song as I trained for the Ironman triathlon last year.

With my Army career ending soon, it's time to admit that re-enlisting at 54 was great way to have a mid-life crisis and keep my family, job and bank account.  But it was a mid-life crisis.  Worse still it was a spiritual quest that failed.  The radiant spiritual part of being in the Army my first time around was absent this time.

When I re-enlisted, part of me really thought I would meet the kind of believers and non-believers I met in the 1970s Army and be part of a group of people living in the shadow of a World War 3 who were looking for the Kingdom of God, and looking across the border at 250,000 Soviet troops who were going to make the Kingdom of God a shorter trip for us.

In fact the annual casualties of the Cold War were higher than the part of Iraq where I served.  During the 1970s, the annual NATO war game called REFORGER claimed 30-50 lives each year.  That was back when we drove Jeeps.  Half the deaths were Jeep rollovers.  Crashed helicopters and people crushed by armored vehicles were most of the rest.

But if humility is the center of spirituality, as most Divines agree, then going to war at 56 is a spiritually corrosive.  That deployment was my first actual combat deployment.  When I flew to Camp Garry Owen on the Iran-Iraq border with Col. Peter Newell and got the 1st Armored Combat Patch, that was the first time I wore an Armor unit patch despite seven years in Armor in the 70s and 80s.

I really was looking for spirituality.  I really got pride.  

My Last 12 Days in the Army

My last official day in the Army will be May 3, 2016, but I only have 12 days left of actual service.  Those 12 days will be over six weekends between mid-November and mid-April.  December drill is the Christmas party.  January or February I turn in my field gear.  So I am a short timer for the fourth time in my multi-stage military career.

While serving in the Army has been fun, it is time for me to leave.  I was going to try to extend for one more year, but Annual Training eats away the bicycle racing season, and since another year would just be for fun, I decided to have fun another way.

Also, now that I am retired as a civilian, I have been thinking a lot about who my people are and why I re-enlisted in 2007.  While I do not regret re-enlisting, being in the Army was not what I imagined or hoped it would be.  It was fun, it was a challenge, but in many ways I fit in as well as a vegan at a barbecue.  But more on that later.

Cut Benefits! Except Mine!

Soldiers are bureaucrats.  We are employees of the government.  In the National Guard we are state employees.  When we deploy we are federal employees.

So it is sadly funny when I hear the many "small government" and Libertarian soldiers in my unit say they "want to get the government out of my life."

Dude, you are the government.

But even the ardent small government conservatives are very clear that they want and deserve all the benefits they are entitled to.

And I know a few rabid anti-government soldiers who are also involved in lobbying to get more benefits for themselves and other National Guard soldiers.

They see no contradiction in this.  And they do not see that they are just another grasping self interest who wants to cut every budget except their own.

Some of these soldiers are supporters of The Donald or Ben Carson for President.  They want to keep and extend the benefits the government gives them, but since they have no systematic knowledge of politics, they think they can back a political revolution that "changes everything" and leaves their benefits untouched.

Really?

When governments change, benefits go to whomever the revolutionaries say they go to.

Here is an excerpt from an email I just received offering me a discounted membership in the Pennsylvania National Guard lobbying group:

There is no greater champion for issues that affect our lives as Guardsmen than PGNAS. In the last six month PNGAS has been ramping up their legislative activity fighting for the best benefits, equipment, and training available to us and the Soldiers and Airmen that follow in our footsteps. Pennsylvania has over 20,000 Guardsmen and we are calling on every single one of you to stand behind PNGAS to Guard the Guard.

For those who know George Orwell's Animal Farm, this is a perfect illustration of "all animals are equal, but the pigs are more equal."  

Of course, there is nothing unusual in Americans banding together to get more from the government, it is just funny when they call themselves Small Government Conservatives.

Sadly funny.