crazy 2 weeks

Well the last 2 weeks have been crazy.  First my wife had to be admitted to the hospital for a leg infection.  She ended up having to stay there for almost two whole weeks.  Thanks very much to my parents for quickly making a trip to New York to take care of the kids.  Also thanks to all the support that my wife got from all of her army friends/family.  They did a great job (visiting her in the hospital, taking inital care of the kids, cooking meals, and shoveling snow).  Also thanks for her mom for making the trip up tomorrow to continue to let her get much needed rest.  All of that put my mind to rest knowing that everything was taken care of.
All is still well here at FOB  Shank.  The "Deathstalkers" added 1 more kill to the wall.  It was a high value person who was on the "kill or capture" list.  He was spotted out in the middle of nowhere and since nobody was there to capture him he was killed!  I guess that is one list you dont want to be on.  The weather overall has still been good for flying.  We also gave 2 checkrides that made 2 more Pilot-in-Commands for us.  That will be a big help for scheduling since we have now been sending pilots back on 2 weeks leave.

"Chark Attack"

January 7, 2011

We were doing our preflight this afternoon, when we received a message that we needed to launch in response to a MRAP (armored vehicle) that had hit an IED (improvised explosive device).  We arrived on station in the Chark valley and saw the burning vehicle.  The vehicle had its combat locks on (door locks that can only be opened from the inside) and nobody could get the crew out.  while US forces were trying ro rescue the crew, they started taking fire from a qalat (Afghan house).  This was a complex ambush and the ground forces were in danger.  We established communication with the ground forces radio operator.  While we were getting all the information on where his people where, he got shot in the leg.  We saw the qalat where the enemy was and turned outbound so we could engage the enemy. We selected a N model Missile (Thermobaric Hellfire) and turned inbound.  We launched and destroyed the two story structure.  The thermobaric did a great job.  I saw fire and smoke come out of every window on every floor before the structure collapsed on the left side.  The new radio operator told us they were no longer taking fire. A few minutes later they started taking fire from another qalat down the road.  We turned outbound again and let our wingman select his N model missile (our other missile was a F/A Blast fragmentation).  Our wingman engaged the 2nd qalat and the result was the same.  The battle damage assement for our qalat was 3 enemy killed in action.  2 men were captured from the 2nd building.  One of them being a known IED builder.  To top it all off, we were flying a helicopter that just returned from maintainence and had a shark mouth painted on it!  YATZEE!!



After returning from the "Chark Attack"



Deathstalker "Wall of Death" with 3 new kills!



HAPPY NEW YEAR & "Special Forces" Dan

"2011"

Happy New Year to all!  Its hard to believe that it is already 2011.  Well the new year was marked just like any other day here at FOB Shank.  There wasn't even any type of special meal.  Oh well at least the new year is underway.

"Special Forces" Dan
 Dan is a CW2 in A Co. who was previously Special Forces in his military career.  He is truly amazing.  Fluent in Russian, great with weapons, and etc.  Anyway, Dan decided to build a extra structure next to our Command Post.  From the time he recieved the "go ahead", he had a fork lift move some cargo containers, procured wood and had the 1st picture up within 5 hours all by himself with just a handsaw and a hammer.  he has since had a little help from others, but still only used a handsaw and a hammer.  The 2nd picture is the structure in progress.  next will be the roof.

Christmas

Well Christmas has now come and gone.  I ended up flying most of Christmas morning.  We flew for about 5 hours from 3:00 AM to 8:00AM.  We had to escort a CH-47 around as it made its various stops for resupply/logistics.  The good part was that I was off the rest of Chrsitmas day and the 26th as well.  That gave me time to skype with the family and see the kids receive their gifts.  I also opened my gifts that I had received. Thanks to everybody for the great gifts.  I was also able to skype with all family members in Florida.  All seemed to have a great day.  I cant wait to be home for the next Christmas!

Working with the Air Force

The last two days we have done in-fil/ex-fil missions with the ground forces.  We had the Air Force as well overhead.  In the last two days I have worked with B-1Bombers, F-15, F-16, F-18, A-10, and AC-130's.  It is really amazing the capability that some of these aircraft have.  All the missions went well.  We did respond to a TIC (Troops In Contact).  when the AH-64's arrived, the US troops stopped taking fire from the insurgents.  The insurgents are smart enough to know when to hide.  The ground forces love to have us overhead.

Slowing Down



Deathstalker status wall



It seems that the winter slowdown has started to happen.  There has not been as much incoming mortar rounds (which is good).  Missions for the last 2 nights have been significantly reduced.  there still has been some action since I posted last.  The "Deathstalkers" did take out a insurgent with a RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) who was hiding in a tree at night (from about a mile and a half with the 30mm). Also our day Air Weapons Team responded to a base that was taking enemy fire.  The ground guys talked the AH-64's to where the enemy was located.  The enemy were firing mortars, RPG's, and machine gun fire at the base.  The AH-64's made a "gun run" with the 30mm cannon and killed 2 insurgents and wounded 4 others.  We will update our "status wall" located outside the Command Post with our latest victories.  I took a picture to post, but it doesn't reflect the latest actions yet.  We were waiting for the exact number of enemy killed on the last mission before painting.  Other than that, Christmas is approaching and we have started to decorate the Command Post.  Packages are arriving everyday with goodies.