I've been meaning to post these pics. Abbie and I, when we were first talking about me going back into the Army, discussed me being a helicopter pilot. Some of her friends even said I was nuts and stupid (or something to that effect). Abbie's first job out of college was down in Alabama (specifically Fort Rucker) on a Blackhawk helicopter project. Needless to say, it didn't endear her to aviators, nor to helicopters in general (I think her project was trying to figure out why they crash...hmmm) which explains why she wasn't jumping with joy for me to be a pilot.
As we all know, I didn't go be a pilot. I stayed in the Field Artillery as an officer (versus resigning my commission and this big paycheck to be a warrant officer and fly birds for the rest of my life at a lower salary). The entire time I'd been in Iraq, I hadn't had a chance to fly. I didn't fly in on the birds b/c the unit we replaced wanted me on the ground so quickly that they sent a ground convoy to get me from the airport...while everyone else flew in on Chinooks (those are the big helicopters for the Army...with the twin rotors...a drop down ramp). So, when I went on leave in October, the way out was by helicopter...and it was during the day which meant I would be able to see.
It was fun. No wonder so many cadets want to be aviators...its fun, and glamorous, and you feel like you're on top of the world, and whoa, they have a lot of dials and switches and do-hickies in the cockpit. I sat in the front middle seat of the passenger compartment, so I got to see the pilots fly. No wonder its a yearlong basic training for pilots at glorious Fort Rucker. Would I go fly still? If the Army would give me the age waiver, and staying in the Army was in my family's best interests, hell yeah. With the nice day we had flying out, I got the below pics. I was really pleased with the first one. Enjoy.
The flight comes in for a landing at Meade.
Flying along towards the airport, we actually took a circuitous route to pick up other people going on leave from other bases...I think we hit four after I was picked up. This gives a view of the other bird and the Iraq landscape.
The other bird flying us out of Iraq, even if for a brief moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment