Hey folks,

If you watch the news or read the papers Im sure you saw the article about the helicopters full of senators etc... that landed on a mountain over here in Afghan. Yeah, it WAS us, 7 of my buddies and myself. Yeah, it sucked, and yeah, it was cold as heck. We were out there for too dang long in the snow, rain, ice, sleet and wind. But, we had CAS (close air support) flying over (F-15s and A-10s) head at nearly all times and they had a live Predator feed going the whole time too (when they could see anyway).

It was pretty hairy at first, but once we were on the ground all was ok. We had about 100 or so locals (freindly? who knows) all around on the mountain tops watching all night. No shots fired, so, we didnt either. Its all good.

Shortly after the landing, we had ground guys (Arizona National Guard) mobilized and on thier way to our location. Now, about the AZ guys... AWESOME is the only word to describe them. I have worked with many active and guard units, and these fellas were TOP NOTCH for sure. Outstanding. The guys stood outside, all night and all day, in the rain, snow, wind etc... Tough as nails, and didnt complain for a second. A huge thank you goes out to those boys for doin what they do best.

So, part of their force took the senators, generals ect... back "home" and the rest stayed with us. Then it was a waiting game for weather to clear. Now, 37 hours after we departed, we are "home".

Good times good times. I have some pics of the area, weather ect... and I'll post them when I can.

Laine.

I am glad you guys landed and didn't try to fly through that crazy stuff! I am more thankful that after all of that time being out there that everyone made it back saftly! If you ever see those AZ guys again, tell them I said thanks for doing such a great job! Then see if they need any of the extra food and stuff I send ya, I will make a package just for them!

Love and miss ya! Stay safe!

Kristy

Roger that dearest wifey! I will be taking them a bunch of Girl Scout Cookies I got today as a thank you. Who dosnt like GSC? Thin mints and samoas are the ultimate thank you!

Laine... the guy happy to be back in his warm room!

Dear Imopar69


Thanks for these precious photos and stay safe.

Always love to see your threads...

Ray

Thank you very much Ray. Hope all is well with GWS... some great stuff recently. Wish I could fly over here.

Laine.

WOW !!!! its a small world ! I saw that on Fox news yesterday . GOD bless,stay safe,& keep warm ! From a OLD USAF Nam. vet R.T.R.

Yeah, its kinda cool to come back this evening and see all the printouts from various news sources talking about it.... Im not used to that!

Laine.

Whats really strange is just the day before i was showing my wife 1 of your posts on RCG And when we saw the news we wondered if u were in the middle of it.

Wow! Nothing like fog/wx in the mountains to get the old pucker factor up! Glad you didn't try to push it and take any unnecessary chances. Keep the great pics coming...

Absolutely keep those pix coming! Could you have ever imagined in your wildest dreams that you'd be stuck on a mountain in Afghanistan with the likes of John Kerry and Joe Biden?

The mind boggles!

Stay safe.

Glad to hear you were able to land safe and make it back to base ok. I guess this kind of answers my question to you about who you fly around, that I asked in your last thread (In flight pics…).

Take care,
Dave

After spending time in Saudi (sun, sand, wind, desert), and the Balkans, (rain, sleet, snow, fog, unfriendlies) I send you my best wishes for good luck and a short tour. Even with your very good pictures it's hard to imagine just how difficult a tour can be unless you've actually experienced the conditions. Stay safe. If you need an extra pilot over there I can send mine. He keep pretty much to himself, muttering about sky scrapers and virgins and stuff, but he knows how to fly and would love to have a tour in Afghanistan.
Stan

Thanks for the kind words guys. As for the guys we were flying... dont forget ol' Mr. Hagle... NEBRASKA BABY!! Yeah, thats my home state all right. CORNHUSKERS!

As for sending your pilot Stan... welllllllll, I think I'll have to pass on that one. Super cool lookin little rag head though aint he! I bet that plane augers into the ground sooner than later with him in there!

Thanks guys.

Laine.

Laine, Actually he flies pretty well for a rag head. I'm doing my best to civilize him. So far I've introduced him to BLT's, which I claim are seasoned chicken strips. Next we'll see if he likes the taste of ham or pork chops. One of my friends just got back from Afghanistan, he was a civilian and ran the Army Education Center at one of the bases there. He adopted a scorpion while he was there and was sad to have to leave it behind when he left. Strange what we sometimes do to pass the time on deployment. Can you do any RC flying over there ?

You guys never cease to amaze me! Thanks for the update. Glad everyone is ok. Hooray for the USA!