The Quiet Conservative July 5, 2007
The Reality of Heroes- Not the Hollywood Ones
Today is something completely different for me. It is a press release cut and pasted in its entirety. It
concerns an incident that occurred June 30, 2007. Please cut out and keep this press release for the
next time someone tells you that young men and women go into the military only because they have
no options. Keep this for when our politicians say they support the troops but not the mission. Keep
this for when the soft poison of “redeploy” and “quagmire” are spoken to sap morale and strength.
Keep this and review it before you go into the voting booth next year to select the next Commander
in Chief.
This is taken from the Strategypage.com web site. An accompanying video link to youtube.com is
at the site. For those of you that do not know what an Apache attack helicopter is, it is a helicopter
gun ship that has only room for two people, the pilot and copilot/gunner. They sit one behind the
other in the cockpit. There is no crew compartment and no room for anyone else.
The press release:
Apache pilots evacuate critically-wounded Soldier, kill several extremists in Ramadi firefight
Staff Sgt. Lorin T. Smith
36th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs Office
LSA ANACONDA, Iraq Apache pilots from Company B, 1st Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment
(Attack), 36th Combat Aviation Brigade and Company A, 2nd Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment,
12th Combat Aviation Brigade, engaged extremists and saved a critically-wounded Soldiers life during
a firefight in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on June 30, 2007.
Two attack weapons teams (with two AH-64 helicopters making up a team) flew to Ramadi in
support of Coalition Forces in search of insurgents and weapons caches.
The teams reached Ramadi and received notice that Coalition Forces were taking heavy small arms
fire. To maximize the helicopters time over a potential target, one team immediately went to the
Ramadi forward arming and refueling point and the other attack weapons team flew into the fight.
They engaged extremists with 30 millimeter cannon fire neutralizing them. The team then supported
other Coalition Forces engaging extremists using two tractor trailers as cover. The crew took small
arms fire and multiple enemy rounds to their aircraft.
Despite the small arms fire, the attack weapons team destroyed the tractor trailers, causing
secondary explosions, indicating to the crew that the trailers were possibly used as vehicle-born
improvised explosive devices.
The crew stayed on station with the Coalition Forces until fuel levels became low, and returned to
the FARP to refuel. Due to battle damage sustained, the Apache team performed a battle handoff to
the second attack weapons team and flew back to LSA Anaconda.
The second team entered the engagement area in Ramadi. Coalition Forces were still taking heavy
enemy fire. The attack weapons team shot hundreds of cannon rounds and rockets, expending their
ammunition. As the team returned to the FARP to rearm and refuel, the ground forces commander
informed the crews that he was coordinating a medical evacuation of wounded Soldiers including one
critically-wounded. Approximately 40 minutes later, after rearming and refueling, the team went
back to the area and learned that the MEDEVAC aircraft had not arrived. Due to the critically-
wounded Soldier and despite continued enemy activity, the Company B aviators landed and extracted
the critically-wounded casualty with the Apache helicopter. While the Company A crew provided
overhead security, the Company B crew landed within two kilometers of the enemy position.
Upon landing, the co-pilot/gunner helped load the injured Soldier into the front seat without further
injury. Despite the heavy small arms fire and surface-to-air fire events in the area, the co-pilot/gunner
strapped himself onto the left side of the aircraft and hunkered down on the wing. The pilot flew to
Camp Ar Ramadi medical pad, where emergency medical personnel provided treatment. The team
went back to the fight and continued to provide support for Coalition Forces. Upon neutralizing the
extremists, the crew returned to LSA Anaconda.
Due to the extent of the battle damage, one extremists was confirmed killed in action, but multiple
extremists were killed in conjunction with ground forces. The wounded Soldier has been transferred
to LSA Anaconda and is in stable condition.
I would add more, but my words would detract from the release. Any comments I would make will
wait until a future article.