- (www.PJAssn.net).

Transcription

- (www.PJAssn.net).

CANOPY CHATTER
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Pararescue Association
Quarter 1, 2010
2010 PJ REUNION TO BE
HELD IN TUCSON
Compiled by Doug Horka and Bill Preble
Even as the final details are still being resolved,
it is announced that the 2010 Pararescue
Association biannual reunion for former, retired
and active duty friends and families of
Pararescue will be held on October 6-10 in
Tucson, Arizona.
Elsewhere in THIS edition of Canopy Chatter (Pages 5
and 6) is the Registration Form for the Reunion. An
urgent reminder is appropriate here: A completed
Registration form is to be mailed to the local
Association representative, Bill Preble, and NOT to
the hotel which is hosting our extravaganza.
PHOTO ESSAY: PARARESCUEMEN HELP
SAVE LIVES
From Air Froce Print News Today
By Tech. Sgt. James L. Harper Jr.
1st Combat Camera Squadron
1/23/2010 - PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFNS) -- Air Force
Special Operations pararescuemen were on the scene Jan.
19 with other rescue organizations freeing a 25-year-old
Haitian woman who had been trapped for seven days in a
collapsed building after the earthquake hit the island
nation.
The Airmen are assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics
Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

In order to fully enjoy the reunion, you NEED TO BE
PAID IN FULL AND CURRENT with your 2009 and 2010
Association dues. At the 2008 Reunion, it was decided
to “forgive” all outstanding dues as of that time (a
type of “Association Amnesty”) … therefore only the
subsequent years remain YOUR responsibility.
The Radisson Suites Hotel (6555 East Speedway
Boulevard in Tucson) will be our Headquarters.
Planned activities include: A rodeo for the Active Duty
Continued on page 3
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The History Channel
How to / Self-Help
Working Warriors
“Fun Facts”
Our Losses
Awards and Decorations
These Things We Do …
May I Have Your Attention
For Your Personal Pleasure
Canopy Chatter – Quarter 1 2010
A U.S. Air Force pararescueman from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron,
Hurlburt Field, Fla., and members of various rescue teams climb a ladder in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 19, 2010, to get to a 25-year-old Haitian woman
who has been trapped for seven days in a space in a collapsed building.
(U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. James L. Harper Jr.)
More photos appear on Page 4
Pararescue Association Reunion of 2010
information and registration details
Pages 5 and 6
Page 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
The History Channel (Pararescue History Or Personal Stories)
Hail To The Chiefs
Who Are These PJs?
Chief Fisk Remarks At MH-53 Dedication
th
50-Year Reunion, 6594 Test Group
A Habit Of Heroism
6
19
34
40
49
How To / Self-Help (VA Issues, Personal Tips, Etc.)
FMLA Military Leave Law Expanded
DD-214’s Available On-Line
VA Statement About 2010 Benefits And Programs
Costly Agent Orange Heart Disease Looms
28
42
47
47
Working Warriors … Stories From “The Field”
Schoolhouse And Statue Update
The Mount Hood Search: What You Didn’t See On TV
Thank You From Afghanistan
Airmen Helps Rescue 3 Injured Warriors During Battle In Afghanistan
Special Tactics Airmen Provide Humanitarian Relief To Haiti
Squadron Highlights Capabilities During Afghanistan Rescue Mission
Navy Seal Down … A Tucson Helicopter Crew Looks Back On An Unforgettable Rescue
3
10
11
12
17
14
20
“Fun Facts”
Mount St. Elias Movie
17
Our Losses
It Is With Deepest Regrets
35
Awards And Decorations
PJ Chief Selects
Graduation Ceremony – Class 2009-03
Mayor Names New Fire Chief
PJ Wins Lance P. Sijan USAF Leadership Award
8
44
41
46
These Things We Do … That Others May Live
Pararescuemen Help Save Lives In Haiti
PJs In Haiti
Is CSAR Really Nothing “Special”?
'Yuppie 911': Beacons Make Calls For Help Too Easy
Front Cover
7
30
18
May I Have Your Attention
Our Other Brothers …
Travis AFB To Dedicate Street Named For Jason Cunningham
Pararescue Association Annual Board Of Directors Meeting
20
26
28
For Your Personal Pleasure
Pararescue Memorabilia Order Form
2010 Pararescue Reunion To Be Held In Tucson
43
Front Cover
Pages 5-6
Page 2
2010 PJ REUNION IN TUCSON
personnel; a trip to Davis-Mothan AFB for an outdoor
B-B-Q; local shopping excursions; the possibility of a
skydiving event for licensed and current jumpers; as well as
other plans still being considered and organized.
Tucson is served by a local commercial airport (TUS) which is
the second largest and busiest terminal in Arizona, Nearby
Phoenix (PHX) Sky Harbor International airport is but a 90
minute drive from Tucson. Both air terminals are served by
many of the large commercial airlines, so travel to and from
Tucson is not too difficult.
Because of the expected response/attendance at this
Reunion, the earlier-announced lodging plans had to be
changed. The Radisson Suites Hotel on Speedway Boulevard
is the only hotel which will offer the Pararescue Association
room rate and discount.
The “theme” this year is Western, so bring your cowboy
attire. Although it is not required, people are encouraged to
enjoy the opportunity to be out of character, especially at
the banquet. We are advised that cowboy boots and a hat
with shorts are still OK in most places in Tucson.
SPECIAL OFFER: People who make their Reunion
Reservations between March 15 and June 15 will be eligible
to participate for a drawing for a FREE NIGHT. The drawing
will take place during the Ice Breaker Social (Thursday,
th
October 7 ).
More will follow in the weeks to come … both on John
Cassidy’s AIG e-mail communication net, as well as in the
May and August issues of Canopy Chatter.


SCHOOLHOUSE AND STATUE UPDATE
Compiled by Doug Horka
The following is an excerpt of recent telephone interviews with Jim
Cusic of Kirtland Air Force Base
According to the Senior Training Supervisor, Jim
Cusic, the new Pararescue / Combat Rescue
Officer Training Center – “The Schoolhouse” – is
scheduled for the first aspect of completion by
early June 2010. The terms of the contract call for
the principal construction to be completed during
June. The career field’s new home is nearly
ready.
Continued
SCHOOLHOUSE AND STATUE
The agreement between the contractor and the U.S. Air Force is
that when major facility construction has been satisfactorily
completed, an effort will commence to “fit out” the interior of
the building. This will include furnishings, furniture and
computer wiring; a month has been budgeted for this effort.
When the fit-out is “signed off”, the first group of PJ/CRO
students will take up residency.
When ready, the school and students will leave the present site
lock stock and barrel” and move into the new location, on the
site of the former Zia Housing area. While discussing this with
Jim Cusic, he estimated that it would be likely that the final
move-in date might not occur until September, 2010.
The schoolhouse cadre was wrestling with the notion of
delaying the start of a new class (April 2010) until AFTER the
completion of the new instructional and living quarters. It is
unknown if a decision such as this would adversely impact the
career field.
Cusic suggested that both the next scheduled issues of Canopy
Chatter (May and August 2010) will appropriately contain
updates … and that there are thoughts of adding schoolhouse
information to the presentations at the Reunion in October.

There is little to report regarding the Pitsenbarger Memorial
Statue. The FUNDS HAVE BEEN APPROVED, but have not yet
been allocated. In all likelihood, the funds will not be
transferred to the sculptor until later this year or upon release
of the 2011 Fiscal Year budget. The artist is aware of this and
understands and agrees.
Cusic further advised that some subtle “adjustments” have
been proposed; the sculptor has approved and agreed to
incorporate them. A medical kit will appear more prominently
beside Pits than in the first design. Additionally, because the
new schoolhouse will not have a glass-ceilinged atrium, the Pits
image will be adjusted slightly (not looking so much to the
departing helicopter).
The Pararescue career field WILL get a statue of its only
member to be awarded the Medal of Honor … but most likely
not until late 2011. It remains the expectation that once the
contract is signed, the memorial can be completed in
approximately 12 months.

“I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a
war by dying for his country. He won it by making the
other poor dumb bastard die for his country.”
Gen. George S. Patton, June 1944
Page 3
PARARESCUEMEN HELP SAVE LIVES IN HAITI
Continued from Cover






All photos by Tech. Sgt. James L. Harper Jr.
1st Combat Camera Squadron
♦
Page 4
Page 5
PARARESCUE REUNION
Avoid the late fees. Register now and mail
this form with remittance to:
October 6-10, 2010
(Radisson Suites Hotel) Tucson, Arizona
PARARESCUE REUNION
P .O. Box 1171
Red Rock, AZ 85145
REGISTRATION FORM
Name (Last, First, Middle Initial)
Nickname or Name on Badge
Military ID?
Association
Member
Yes No
Spouse or
Guest
Yes No
Yes No
Guest
Yes No
Guest
Street
City, State
Zip Code
Member’s e-mail address #1
Member’s e-mail address #2
Member’s
Postal Mailing
Address
This information will also be used ONLY to update the Association Roster and Canopy Chatter Mailing list.
Registration: $135.00 per person or $260.00 per couple (2 PJs are not a couple!)
Pararescue Association Dues (at $20.00 per year)
Charitable donation to the Pararescue Benevolent Association (tax deductible)
Sub-total
Sub-total
Sub-total
$_______
$_______
$_______
 Enclosed is a check or money order made payable to PARARESCUE ASSOCIATION Amount
$______
(If you prefer to pay with a credit card, include the name of the account holder, the type of card, the account
number, the expiration date and the billing address, if different from the residential address noted above)
MAIL REGISTRATION AND REMITTANCE TO THE ADDRESS NOTED IN YELLOW AT THE UPPER RIGHT
For additional information, contact Bill Preble at: [email protected]
Number of persons attending
Ice Breaker (Thursday)
_____
Barbeque (Friday)
_____
Banquet (Saturday)
_____
I am volunteering to help with:
Registration
Wed: AM _____ PM ____
Thur: AM _____ PM ____
Fri:
AM _____ PM ____
Banquet Table Setting: Sat PM ______
Banquet Menu Choices
#1 - Chicken Breast
#2 – Salmon
#3 – Beef Tenderloin
#4 – Vegetarian
Memorabilia Room
_____
_____
_____
_____
Wed: AM _____ PM ____
Thur: AM _____ PM ____
Fri: AM _____ PM ____
Post-Banquet Settings Removal: _______
COMMENTS OR SPECIAL REQUESTS: _______________________________________________________________________
Page 6
PJ'S IN HAITI
I believe the troops would enjoy reading this. Our guys are
over the top, the "Best"...
John Pighini
All,
The Fairfax County (VA) Urban Search & Rescue Operations
Chief sent the attached letter to the Commander of the 21
Special Tactics Squadron. He gives some pretty deserving
accolades to those PJ's deployed to Haiti.
Ray "Jolly" Cooper
To:
Major Parks Hughes
Commander, 21 Special Tactics Squadron
1520 Hurst St
Pope AFB, NC 28308
From: Rex Strickland
Operations Chief
Fairfax County (VA) Urban Search & Rescue
USAID USA1
Date: 25-January 2010
RE: Haiti Major Earthquake – 23rd Special Tactics Squadron
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing
your Pararescue Jumpers to imbed with our Urban Search &
Rescue task force. It is hard for me to put into words just
how valuable your PJs were to us. From rescue operations,
medical care, transportation, surveillance capability, and
personnel security, your PJs were relentless in providing
tangible and extraordinary service to our personnel.
The following members of 23 STS were attached to our unit:





Master Sergeant Keith M. O'Grady, Pararescue Team
Leader
Senior Airman Patrick N. Thomas, Pararescueman
Senior Airman Jason D. Humes, Pararescueman
Senior Airman Benjamin E. Eggen, Pararescueman
Master Sergeant Paul C. McCarthy, Independent Duty
Medical Technician
Each and every one of the Pararescue jumpers attached to
our US&R team should be recognized for their selfless
dedication, which directly resulted in the rescue of several
victims affected by the earthquake in Haiti. MSGT Keith
O’Grady was instrumental in coordinating the joint operation.
He and his men worked tirelessly for several days.
I would like to touch on a few of the operations that MSGT
O’Grady and his men directly impacted, as well as a few
examples of selflessness and compassion for the people of
Haiti.
We first met MSGT O’Grady on Embassy grounds in Haiti.
Due to security issues in the city, we requested the assistance
of the PJ’s to provide security at the Caribbean Market which
was heavily congested with large crowds and looters. From
the Market, he and his men escorted our squad to several
sites, which led to the University of Port au Prince; the
location where I first met MSGT O’Grady.
The Port au Prince University yielded 5 live rescues. Some of
the individual rescue operations went on for over 30-hours.
The victims were heavily entombed deep within the pancake
collapsed 4-story concrete building. I witnessed, first hand,
each of the members working inside of the tunnels with
concrete breakers, digging bars, and their bare hands to get
to the victims. Your PJ’s integrated seamlessly into our
squads as if they had trained with us for years. The only way
to tell them apart was by looking at their uniforms. The
tunnels they were working in were extremely dangerous,
unsupported, and very susceptible to secondary collapse
from both undermining and aftershock. They knew it, we
knew it, yet they kept working, focused on the rescue of as
many victims as possible.
The tools that your men are equipped with can also be
directly tied into the rescue of multiple victims. While we are
heavily equipped, a majority of our tools and equipment were
delayed on a second plane. Without your rescue tools, we
would have not been able to perform the rescues that we did.
The conditions that these brave men were working in are
indescribable. They were crawling over decomposed bodies,
most of which were leaking body fluids and wreaked of an
unbelievable stench. They were operating in spaces smaller
than a coffin, with dead bodies inches from their face for
hours at a time. Although our team has worked many
disasters, on very few occasions have we been forced to work
on, under, or next to, decomposing bodies for such a length
of time.
At the same site, I watched your PJ’s provide advanced
medical care to several of the critically injured victims. These
victims suffered from broken bones, deep lacerations,
internal injuries, and compartment syndrome. As with our
structural collapse technicians, they worked side-by-side with
our doctors and paramedics, as if they train with us every
day.
With the last victim that came out of the University, your PJ’s
not only helped save her life by getting her out of the collapse
building, they also helped save her life a second time by
getting her transported to an Israeli field hospital. At one
point, the oxygen was depleted in an effort to keep her
breathing via intubation. Traffic was at a standstill, so the
PJ’s got out of the truck and pounded on the hoods of the
uncooperative drivers to clear the way for the convoy. It is
Page 7
that type of forward thinking that further exemplifies the
character and determination of your PJ’s.
On another operation, the PJ’s assembled a rope system to
lower a double amputee off a collapsed structure. After the
lowering operation, they organized a landing zone and
helicopter transport for the very critical patient.
HAIL TO THE CHIEFS
MSGT O’Grady even stopped in the middle of the road when
he observed a small child with a broken arm on the side of
the road. His compassion is clear when he did what he could
to reset the arm and do the best he could with what he had.
Air Force Print News
Release No. 12-01-09
Dec. 2, 2009
Furthermore, they went on countless RECON missions,
security details, and an extraordinary amount of “911 calls.”
They assisted with a grid search of an extremely dangerous
part of the city, which required each member to have boots
on the ground checking hundreds of buildings and walking for
hours at a time. At no time was there any resemblance of a
complaint.
From: Michael Long
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009
To the very end, your PJ’s played an instrumental part of our
safety and security. After MSGT O’Grady and his men
detached from our Task Force and demobilized to the airport
to wait for a flight out, they helped once again after one of
our members sustained injuries while operating in a collapsed
hospital. We transported our member to the Air Force field
hospital, located in a far hanger of the airport, only to be met
by MSGT O’Grady and MSGT McCarthy. It was a relief to see
those men attending to our member when I was able to
finally meet up with our injured member at the airport,
shortly after his arrival. It is only another example of the high
degree of professionalism and shear dedication that your
men provided to us and we will never be able to reciprocate.
They treated our man as if he was a brother PJ.
23 STS did so much more. These examples are only a small
portion of my personal experience with them. You can count
on receiving many more similar accounts from our squad
leaders and collapse technicians in the next days and weeks
after we get home.
Thank you for the opportunity to work side-by-side with the
heroes of 23 STS and we look forward to hearing back on with
the disposition of their commendation.
Best regards,
Rex Strickland
♦
Here's a great article dedicated to all those CMSgt's that
helped get all us demented airmen and NCO PJ's through our
training and through our careers.
Thanks to the Chiefs!
Mike Long
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY FOR CHIEF MASTER
SERGEANT RANK
By Bryan D. Carnes
Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFRNS) -Chief master sergeants were not a part of the Air
Force's enlisted structure when the service was formed
in 1947. It took 11 years until the rank was created.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the
establishment by Air Force officials of the chief master
sergeant rank, adding another important chapter to the
Air Force's enlisted heritage.
The need to create the chief master sergeant rank was
forged from the technology that World War II produced.
In the attempt to end the war as quickly as possible,
officials in the United States, along with those of other
countries, dedicated teams of scientists and engineers
to create the most advanced war-winning capabilities
possible.
While the U.S. military was fighting the war in Africa,
Europe and Asia, U.S. researchers were producing the
most advanced technology ever seen. The emergence
of faster aircraft, bombers, advanced electronics, radar
systems and missiles were on the rise.
With the growth of aviation during the war, President
Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of
Page 8
1947 creating the U.S. Air Force. It was on Sept. 18,
1947, that the Air Force became a separate entity which
"shall include aviation forces both combat and service
not otherwise assigned."
It was not until after the Korean War, however, that Air
Force officials realized that the enlisted corps suffered
from stagnation in rank. Master sergeant, or E-7, was
the highest enlisted rank a person could achieve. It was
then that Congress enacted the Career Compensation
Act of 1958.
The act allowed Air Force officials, and those from other
uniformed services, to create two new ranks, senior
master sergeant, or E-8, and chief master sergeant, or
E-9. Air Force personnel officials conducted an in-depth
study of all Air Force specialty codes and organized the
career fields into highly technical, technical and nontechnical fields.
It was decided that 1 percent of the master sergeants
from the highly technical fields would be promoted to
chief master sergeant. This is still true today, as only 1
percent of the enlisted force at any given time reach the
rank of chief master sergeant.
There were 58,000 master sergeants which qualified for
promotion to either of the two grades. A promotion
board was held to review records and look for
demonstrated leadership and supervisory skills,
evaluations and commander recommendations. Of
those, 625 Airmen were selected to become chief
master sergeants. Since there were no line numbers at
the time, they all were promoted on the same day, Dec.
1, 1959, becoming the Air Force's charter chiefs.
The rank has flourished since 1959, earning the respect
of all other services and ranks. During the 1970s, Air
Staff officials made "chief" the official term of address
for an E-9.
From: Jim Thede
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009
PJ CHIEF SELECTS
Here are the 2009 PJ Chief selects:
James E. Clark
Mike Fleming
Jeremy Hardy
Neil McCready
Tom Rich
Matt Wells
Yes ... there were 6, which has to be a record.
Jim
♦
From: David Moss
PJ SMSGT KEN HOWK MAKES CHIEF!
Just received a message from a reliable source; PJ
SMSgt Ken Howk made Chief, out of cycle.
David Moss '84-'92
From: Randy Galloway
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009
PJ SMSgt Ken Howk Makes Chief!
Congratulations Ken, Just got to see you out at Ryan
Beckmann's retirement, so fitting for you to find that
last stripe now. Hoo Yaa to you, you’ve earned it.
Randy Galloway
From: Jim Muelchi
PJ SMSgt Ken Howk makes Chief!
One of the original charter chiefs, retired Chief Master
Sgt. James J. Flaschenriem, wrote, "The chief does not
manage by fear or intimidation as the old first sergeant
did, but by knowledge, training and great leadership
ability." (Courtesy of Air Force Print News)
If this is true like with all the other selectee it great
news. Ken is a great PJ and has worked as hard as all the
others to make Pararescue what it is today.
Congratulations to all Chief selectees well deserved
♦
HOOO YA!!!!!!!!!!
Jim Muelchi
Page 9
THE MOUNT HOOD SEARCH: WHAT YOU
DIDN'T SEE ON TV
By Craig Roberts
Guest Columnist
January 08, 2010
deliberately rock from side to side, swinging the man on
the end of the line like a pendulum so that he could try
to hook the side of the mountain with his ice axe. He
looked me in the eye and told me that they would do all
of this, even though the best medical advice we were
getting was that there was less than a 1 percent chance
that Katie and Anthony were still alive.
That's just one example of the enormous courage and
dedication I saw on the side of that mountain. The
members of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office who
coordinated the search worked for days on end and
refused to be relieved. They wanted to finish what they
had started, for the missing climbers and for their
families.
Clouds form over Mount Hood during December's search for missing
climbers.
Making the decision to suspend a search-and-rescue
mission is among the most difficult that I'm required to
make as Clackamas County sheriff. Unfortunately, that
was how our rescue efforts for Mount Hood climbers
Katie Nolan and Anthony Vietti ended on Dec. 16. The
mission received national media attention, so you might
think that by now everybody knows everything that
happened up on the mountain. But I want to tell you
about some of the things you didn't see on television.
On the last day of the search, it was clear that all of the
elements had turned against us. The avalanche danger
was so severe that even stable slopes had started to
slide, making it impossible for climbers to head up the
mountain. Also, a storm system had covered the
mountain with clouds, posing a serious challenge to the
Army National Guard helicopters that were helping us
search from the air.
In spite of that, a helicopter took off from Salem that
morning and flew north. This wasn't shown on TV
because there was nothing to see, but all of us on the
ground heard the sound of its rotors as it circled
overhead, hoping for a break in the clouds over
Timberline Lodge. On the ground, a pair of Pararescue
jumpers from the 304th Rescue Squadron waited in
their orange parkas for a chance to climb on board and
take one last look for the missing climbers.
One of their commanders described the plan to me:
The helicopter would fly toward the mountain between
cloud layers, fighting 60-mile-an-hour winds. If they
spotted something, one of the rescuers would be
lowered using a winch. Then, the helicopter would
Likely one of the greatest acts of bravery during the
entire rescue effort was made by Katie and Anthony's
climbing companion, Luke Gullberg. Although we do
not yet understand exactly what happened, it's likely
that Luke set out to get help after there was an accident
high on the mountain. Apparently, he left most of his
own gear behind with his friends to increase their
chances for survival, and then later succumbed to
exhaustion and hypothermia during his descent.
Luke's body was recovered early in the search by
volunteers, who took time off work and away from
loved ones to help -- putting their own lives at risk to
rescue people they had never met. It isn't widely
recognized, but unpaid volunteers account for most
search-and-rescue efforts in Oregon. Of the 107,000
hours spent performing search-and-rescue missions in
2008, 85 percent were provided by volunteers.
More than anything else I personally witnessed during
the mission, I was affected by the patience, the
gratitude and the enduring faith of the missing climbers'
families. From the start, they were worried about the
safety of the searchers, and their concerns only grew as
conditions got worse. Yet when Katie's mother, Darla,
hugged me, she whispered how grateful she was that I
had made that one last attempt. I was almost
overcome by emotion myself, knowing that it was
increasingly unlikely that we would find them alive. But
in a strange way, her hug and support gave me the
strength to face the family later with the sad news that
the rescue effort was over.
This tragedy has changed the lives of the climbers'
families forever. Their time on the mountain -- hoping
to see their son, or their daughter, or their brother, or
Page 10
their sister, or their cousin climb out of a helicopter -will always be a vivid memory for them.
Like their families, the members of the Clackamas
County Sheriff's Office and everyone else who fought to
save Luke, Katie and Anthony will always remember
them. By the time I stepped up to the microphones to
announce that the rescue phase of the search had
ended, I felt like part of their family, and so did
everyone else. That takes a personal toll on all of us.
Over the course of a career, these experiences have
lasting emotional impacts. Knowing this, we take care
of ourselves and we take care of each other. We have
to, because there are more people out there who need
our help, and more families waiting anxiously for news
about a missing loved one.
Each year, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office
conducts an average of 120 search-and-rescue missions.
That means we launch one every two or three days.
Most will never get the kind of attention that this one
received, but they are all just as important to me. If
your mother has Alzheimer's disease and she wanders
away from home, or your brother gets lost while he's
out hunting, or your child is missing, you will want me
to deploy every resource available to find them - - and I
will. It doesn't matter whether anybody ever sees it on
television or reads about it in the newspaper; we do it
because we care.
Craig Roberts is Clackamas County sheriff.
From: Udo Fischer
Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2009
THANK YOU
Our Daughter Susi sent off at least four packages to PJs in
Afghanistan...
Udo & Susanne,
The team and I received your packages today and
everything was perfect … thank you both so very
much, we all really appreciate you taking the time
to take such good care of all of us.
You both would be very proud of the caliber of
Pararescuemen we have working over here, these
guys are absolutely amazing! Unfortunately we’ve
been awfully busy lately, but I tell you what, there’s
not a ground force commander in theater that
doesn’t have a warm fuzzy knowing we’re a radio
call away … the team has built quite the reputation
because of the literally hundreds of lives we’ve
saved in such a short amount of time … these guys
are true professionals. Again, thank you for the
packages and more importantly your thoughts and
prayers. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to
you and your family.
Chaz
Charles. E. Stiefken, CMSgt, USAF
66 ERQS/CEM
♦
After 60 years of intensive study, researchers at the Centre
for Strategic Military Studies have finally determined why
Germany lost World War II...
♦
♦
Page 11
AIRMAN HELPS RESCUE 3 INJURED WARRIORS
DURING BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN
From: Bill Preble
Source: http://www.af.mil/news
By Airman 1st Class Jessica Green
129th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
12/11/2009 - MOFFETT FEDERAL AIRFIELD, Calif. (AFNS)
-- An Air National Guard member from the 129th
Rescue Squadron here recently returned home from her
deployment to Afghanistan after being wounded by
enemy forces while rescuing three injured American
Soldiers July 29.
the first landing, taking off right away, in enough time
to drop off two pararescuemen in the zone, Major Dona
said.
"One shot actually came directly into the cockpit and
pretty much destroyed the entire co-pilot windshield,"
Major Dona said. "Captain Jennings took shrapnel and
there was blood instantly all over her side."
The pararescue team lead member from the 71st
Rescue Squadron assigned to the 23rd Wing at Moody
Air Force Base, Ga., stayed on the aircraft after the first
landing to ensure Captain Jennings was all right while
the rest of his pararescue team deplaned to collect the
patients. The HH-60G flew about a mile south to escape
enemy fire and to guarantee that both the helicopter
and crew were in good enough condition to continue
the save, Captain Jennings said.
"The helicopter was determined fully functional," she
said. "We couldn't bring ourselves to return home
without the patients."
Despite the danger the aircrew faced, the crew
including Senior Master Sgt. Steven Burt, a 129th RQS
flight engineer, and Tech. Sgt. Tiejie Jones, a 129th RQS
aerial gunner, returned to the scene after getting a call
from the pararescuemen saying they were ready to haul
out the three patients, Major Dona said.
Capt. Mary Jennings stands with Tech. Sgt. Aaron Butler, a pararescueman
from the 23rd Wing, Moody Air Force Base, Ga. Sergeant Butler treated
Captain Jennings for shrapnel wounds in Afghanistan during a July 29, 2009
rescue mission. Captain Jennings is a co-pilot with the 129th Rescue Wing
at Moffett Federal Airfield, Calif. (Courtesy photo)
Capt. Mary Jennings, an HH-60G Pave Hawk co-pilot,
launched her rescue helicopter; call sign Pedro 15, from
Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, en route to a convoy
that had fallen under attack after a vehicle struck an
improvised explosive device.
"We couldn't see any enemy fire as we arrived on
scene," said Maj. George Dona, Pedro 15 pilot, also
from 129th RQS. "We were in voice contact with the
Soldiers on the ground and we could hear over their
radios that they were under distress."
The Soldiers were taking cover from hidden enemy
positions on the western side of the convoy. The
helicopter took immediate fire from the enemy upon
"Then again, as soon as we landed we took immediate
fire. We landed next to the patients and the
(pararescuemen) were already moving them in," he
said. "We took constant fire, and in about 20 rounds to
the backside of the helicopter the systems started to
deteriorate slowly."
Captain Jennings told Major Dona, who was on controls,
to hold the helicopter on the ground through the fire as
she watched the pararescuemen load the patients onto
the helicopter.
"There were people yelling, lights flashing, and people
screaming through the radios, all while dodging bullets,"
Captain Jennings said. "Major Dona had a lot of
patience and confidence in his team to stay on the
ground through all the chaos. His amazing pilotage skills
saved all our lives."
About 30 seconds after takeoff, the back cabin was full
of fuel, hydraulics were leaking, and systems were not
working correctly. Captain Jennings flipped the fuel
Page 12
selector to cross feed between the two fuel tanks to
keep the engine from flaming out. This was a huge
factor in keeping the helicopter airborne, Major Dona
said.
"As I enabled the second tank, I saw it was ticking down
to zero as well," Captain Jennings said. "We needed to
land. It was a decision to either crash three miles away
or land two miles away."
The helicopter crew made the right decision. After
landing the helicopter about two miles south of the
convoy attack, the crew shut down and quickly secured
a perimeter to protect the patients. Another HH-60G
landed next to their crippled helicopter and the crew
loaded all patients and as many crewmembers as
possible before departing, Major Dona said.
"Army OH-58D Kiowa helicopters came to retrieve the
rest of the crew," Captain Jennings said. "Being small
single-engine, single-rotor, two-seater helicopters,
there was no room for us inside. We had to stand on
the skids and hold onto rocket pods."
Sergeant Burt also showed valor during the ordeal.
While pararescuemen were loading patients onto the
second HH-60G and the crew was being exfiltrated on
to the skids of their cover ships, one of the
pararescuemen called for help. Sergeant Burt ran
through a rain of fire to help, Captain Jennings said.
"He totally put his life on the line," she said. "I'm
extremely proud of my crew's heroism."
Looking back at the incident, Captain Jennings said she
is thankful for her crew and their bravery.
"In a country where rocket-propelled grenades are used
everywhere, it was amazing that no one had an RPG.
Everything was covered in fuel, including ourselves."
she said. "It was nothing short of a miracle that we
survived."
Captain Jennings was awarded a Purple Heart by Maj.
Gen. Dennis Lucas, commander of the California Air
National Guard, in a ceremony attended by her family,
friends and fellow 129th RQW Airmen Dec. 6 at the
Santa Clara Convention Center.
♦
And now … the rest of the story
From: Wayne Fisk
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009
Subject: AIRMAN HELPS RESCUE 3 INJURED WARRIORS DURING
BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN
Gentlemen:
Permit me to jump in here.
Last night Angie and I had the current team of PJs
(predominately from Moody) training at SEI over here to the
house for a feast and a farewell party. They had just completed
their two-week paramedic rectification training and were to RTB
to Moody, with several getting ready to head down-range very
shortly. One of the members who was here was on the high-bird
of the mission described below.
From our own mission experiences, we know that every mission
is viewed and perceived from various perspectives; indeed, the
account below is from a very specific perspective. Everyone
undoubtedly picked up on that when reading the story.
I printed a copy of the below mission and had it read aloud by
the NCOIC of the team, him adding a bit of free-flowing
emphasis and dramatics to the salient and "There I was ..."
portions of narrative. Naturally, that lit the, "Okay, what really
happened?" light at which time the high-bird 'J told "the rest of
the story." Since I am uncertain as to what details of the mission
can/can not be disclosed due to COMSEC, I shall not related it
here. Probably wouldn't do it total justice anyway.
But be advised--as one would expect--there is a whole 'netter
story of the raging gunfight on the ground, of 'Js mixing it up
with the bad-guys while TIC (troops in contact), of 'J prowess and
killing skills, and of 'Js doing us proud and perpetuating the
legacy of tactical Pararescue.
The team departed our training location just an hour ago,
enroute to Moody, then, points beyond. I shall contact the
NCOIC of the team tomorrow or Tuesday--once he has time to
clean out the tubes--and see if the other participants on that
mission will provide us with "the rest of the story" from the PJ
perspective. If this request is a no-go, we'll all just have to wait
until a reunion sometime someplace in which it will be retold.
But in listening to the high-bird 'J relate "the rest of the story"-and from the long-standing, flowing reports from DoD and OGEs-I can assure you our current PJ force is high-speed, superblytrained, well-thought of, and consummately effectively on the
battlefield.
As the legacy of PJ history continues, it is ineradicably forged in
valor, courage, and pride--just as it has always been.
Best regards to all.
Wayne
Page 13
SQUADRON HIGHLIGHTS
CAPABILITIES DURING AFGHAN
RESCUE MISSION
further blood loss and verifying no nerve damage
occurred.
From: http://www.af.mil/news
By Tech. Sgt. Joseph Kapinos
Air Forces Central combat camera team
12/15/2009 - CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- A
soldier is wounded during a joint British and
Afghanistan National Army patrol in Helmand Province.
Shot through both legs, his condition worsens while
being cared for by the medics. It is time to call in the
professionals to get him off the battlefield and to the
hospital. The radios erupt with words the crews had
been standing by for:
"SCRAMBLE...SCRAMBLE...SCRAMBLE!"
Rushing from their squadron tents and huts, located
close to the flight line and their HH-60G Pave Hawk
helicopters, the crews run to the waiting aircraft, strap
in, start the engines and within minutes they are
airborne on their way to the patient.
Master Sgt. Don Ballowe inspects his 50-caliber machine gun Dec. 8, 2009 at
Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. While the crew pre-loads the aircraft, they also
inspect their equipment to ensure it is properly working before a rescue
mission. Sergeant Ballowe is a 66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron flight
engineer. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Angelita Lawrence)
The goal for the crews is getting the patient from the
battlefield to the nearest medical care in minimal time.
If they can do that during the first hour after being
wounded, the chances for survival are excellent. After
that "golden hour," those chances diminish quickly.
"Time is always critical, so our ability to get to the
patient quickly, have our PJs stabilize him, and then
return the survivor to a medical facility is vital," said
Capt. Stephen Homan, 66th ERQS flight surgeon. "In our
world, having those faster transport and response times
helps us give the wounded warriors the best chance
possible, and in the end we can ultimately increase his
quality of life."
Pararescuemen receive an injured patient from coalition forces Dec. 8, 2009.
The pararescuemen will administer medical care while in transit to a medical
facility. The pararescuemen are assigned to the 66th Expeditionary Rescue
Squadron deployed to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff
Sgt. Angelita Lawrence
Time is of the essence and these Airmen from the 66th
Expeditionary Rescue Squadron take it very seriously.
On board the helicopter, racing back to the base, the
pararescuemen work as a team, tending to the patient.
One handles all injuries below the waist, while the other
takes care of any concerns above. They work quickly to
bandage the wound on the left leg, preventing any
A pararescueman looks out the door of an HH-60G Pave Hawk while on the
way to pick up a patient Dec. 8, 2009. The members of the 66th
Expeditionary Rescue Squadron can respond to medical evacuations in less
than seven minutes to pick up patients in need of care. The pararescueman is
assigned to the 66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron. (U.S. Air Force
photo/Staff Sgt. Angelita Lawrence)
Page 14
Since the first of September, the squadron has been
very successful in saving lives and assisting patients
across Southern Afghanistan.
adapt to the ever-changing combat and political
environment further solidifies their reputation as the
ones to call when lives are on the line.
According to 1st Lt. Caitlin Cima, a 66th ERQS
intelligence officer, the unit has recorded 253 saves and
580 assists while flying 620 missions, a blistering
operations tempo for the crews flying out of the Britishrun Camp Bastion.
"Sometimes we may have five missions during a twelvehour alert period, with 2 to 3 of those being 'scrambles,'
or highest priority, which means someone's life is on
the line," said Capt. Mark Uberuaga, a 66th ERQS
mission pilot.
Airman 1st Class William Chennault looks at the main rotor blades of an HH60G Pave Hawk Dec. 8, 2009 at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. This inspection
ensures the HH-60G did not receive any damage while picking up a patient.
Airman Chennault is a 451st Air Expeditionary Squadron crew chief. (U.S. Air
Force photo/Staff Sgt. Angelita Lawrence)
Airmen load their HH-60G Pave Hawk with gear Dec. 8, 2009 at Camp
Bastion, Afghanistan. This ensures the team can respond in a moment's
notice to rescue a patient and have everything needed to treat them. The
Airmen are assigned to the 66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron. (U.S. Air
Force photo/Staff Sgt. Angelita Lawrence)
"With the exception of the last few years, AF Rescue as
a whole in the deployed arena has remained nichebased with the CSAR mission focus," said Maj. Joseph
Alkire, the 66th ERQS detachment commander.
"Although always capable of full-spectrum personnel
recovery options, the last few years have seen an
increase and expansion across the board in pararescue
mission set; most notably casualty evacuation in
support of Operation Enduring Freedom."
"Needless to say, before the temperatures started to
drop, we were extremely busy," he added.
The high operations tempo is mainly due to the changes
in their mission.
Combat search and rescue is the primary focus for the
crews. They diligently train in penetrating deep into
enemy-held territory to rescue downed fliers and have
been conducting these types of missions since the
Korean War in 1950. During the Vietnam War, rescue
crews recovered 4,120 personnel, including 2,780 in
combat situations. Their dedication to the mission
continues even today, with 470 U.S. or allied personnel
rescued since Sept. 11, 2001.
However, over time, the mission changed from simply
CSAR, and now includes casualty evacuation and
humanitarian disaster relief missions. Their ability to
A pararescueman provides medical attention to an Afghan who has suffered
gunshot injuries, Dec. 8, 2009. Pararescuemen are able to rescue patients in
any situation who need medical attention. The pararescueman is from the
66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron deployed to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.
(U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Angelita Lawrence)
According to Major Alkire, although other assets are
able to perform certain functions under the "pararescue
Page 15
umbrella," the Air Force is the "only service to organize,
train and equip a dedicated rescue force capable of fullspectrum pararescue across a wide range of threat and
environmental operating conditions."
Pararescuemen provide medical attention to an Afghan who has suffered
gunshot injuries, Dec. 08, 2009. The pararescuemen are able to rescue
patients in any situation who need medical attention. The pararescuemen
are assigned to the 66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron deployed to Camp
Bastion, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Angelita Lawrence)
"The HH-60G and Guardian Angel pararescue forces are
prepared for all PR missions, from CSAR to CASEVAC,
along with humanitarian disaster relief and noncombatant evacuation operations," Major Alkire said.
The dual role tasking, for both theater pararescue and
CASEVAC in Southern Afghanistan has Air Force rescue
forces gainfully employed. The rescue squadron
regularly employs with Army, Marine and British rescue
forces responding to missions. The ranges of mission
requests are often diverse, from ridgeline extractions to
dive operations, casualty evacuations to CSAR
recoveries.
"The highly maneuverable Pave Hawk helicopter and
the PJs are uniquely suited to accomplish them all in
support of sister services and international partners,"
Major Alkire said.
"The rescue squadron has been very successful in taking
on the broader roles in support of the medical
evacuation mission in Afghanistan, while maintaining

the constant alert required by the CSAR mission," Major
Alkire said. "The aircrews and the pararescue teams
continue to maintain the highest level of response and
care in a highly professional manner day in and day out,
whenever or wherever they are tasked. I can't ask more
than that."
A pararescueman provides area security while another HH-60G Pave Hawk is
picking up a patient Dec. 8, 2009. The members of the 66th Expeditionary
Rescue Squadron can respond to medical evacuations in less than seven
minutes to pick up patients in need of care. The pararescueman is assigned
to the 66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt.
Angelita Lawrence)
While the number of alert calls is diminishing with the
cold weather, the crew's willingness to fly into harm's
way is not. And no matter who the patient is, the sense
of urgency is still the same, something for which the
wounded soldier is grateful.
Safely recovered at Camp Bastion, the soldier is quickly
transported from the helicopter to the waiting medical
facility, where he is given all the treatment necessary to
return him to his unit.
It is another save and another successful mission
completed by these Airmen. They return to their rooms
to wait for the next call, ready and willing to do
whatever it takes to get to those in need, risking their
lives, "So that others may live."
From Chuck Morrow
Fri 1/8/2010 12:29 AM
Don't know if the following is true, but worth a quick check.
Lt. Gen Chuck Pitman, former Deputy Commandant for
Aviation with Gen Al Gray, requests that this Veteran scoop be
passed along on the All Hands.
Just wanted to let you know that, the same as many of you, I
Page 16
recently received my Military Retiree Account Statement.
Please review the back of your statement and verify who you
have designated as the beneficiary in case you die. Mine has
changed to someone I don't even know (Cathy J.
McMillin,"wife") as getting 100%.
Based upon the fact that recently the VA had military retiree
personnel information compromised it is interesting that
somehow my beneficiaries have changed.
If you look at the broader picture of what this means that
many veterans probably wouldn't catch this and that as we
lose more of our fellow service men and women each day this
would leave their dependents without the benefit they
deserve. I will be calling DOD first day they are open as well as
the DOD IG and local congressman...
Please send this out to the retirees you know and alert them to
check whether current beneficiary is. Ask them to pass it
along."
Chuck Morrow

From: Garth Lenz
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009
MOUNT ST. ELIAS MOVIE
Our readers may like to keep an eye out for the movie
"Mount St Elias". Miss Julia and I just watched it at the Bear
Tooth here in Anchorage as part of the Anchorage
International Film Festival. This documentary revolves
around an expedition to ski to the sea from the top of
Mount St Elias, a particularly brutal mountain in Southeast
Alaska. This expedition was conducted in 2007, but a
background story was a previous attempt made in 2002
which ended up in two deaths. There were also two saves
done by 210th Rescue. The PJs were Skip Kula and Mike
Wayt. This HH-60 mission may have the HH-60 altitude
record for 14,500 plus feet. The extreme terrain and
weather is very well depicted. The team dynamics come out
too, with the hard and focused Austrian (Axel) and the
sometimes doubtful teamies that questioned the judgment
of the bid at times. PJ's can still face these challenging
rescues in Alaska and Afghanistan! There is great extreme
ski footage too; reminding me of the days Alaska PJ's helped
cover these championships in the 1990's. Needles to say, I
highly recommend. Snowdance film, documentary, 100
minutes, director is Gerald Salmina.
G-Man
SPECIAL TACTICS AIRMEN PROVIDE
HUMANITARIAN RELIEF TO HAITI
By Senior Airman David Salanitri
Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs
1/13/2010 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- Two MC-130Hs from the
15th Special Operations Squadron and multiple teams from
the 720th Special Tactics Group deployed to Haiti Wednesday
in support of humanitarian operations in Haiti. These teams
bring an array of capabilities with them to the devastated
country.
"Our special tactics teams have three specific capabilities that
will allow for them to provide the best possible combination
of support to Haiti," said Maj. Jason Daniels, 720th Operations
Support Squadron director of operations.
Capability One, Airfield
"We are scheduled to be among the first people on the
ground over there and we don't know the extent of damage
done to the airfield," said Major Daniels. "Our goal is to have
the airfield ready to take on full traffic by tonight. We bring
our own lights and communication equipment so we are
prepared." In addition to opening up the International Airport
at Port-au-Prince, combat controllers are trained to survey
other areas to look for potential airdrop and landing zones so
other cargo and personnel can be accepted into the country if
required.
Capability Two, Medical
"Our members are trained paramedics and trained in trauma
related to disasters like this," said Major Daniels. "Since our
airfield will be open, we will be able to treat and Medivac
victims if needed. "Just like if we were deployed in combat,
we are ready to conduct search and rescue missions to include
rescuing members in everything from a collapsed building to
an elevator shaft."
Capability Three, Weather
"Weather will play a huge role in air operations. Our Airmen
will take on-scene observations so incoming aircraft will know
what to expect and can plan accordingly," said Major Daniels.
The major reinforced that all of the team members who are
deploying are dedicated and ready to carry out the mission.
"Every Airman we sent has either recently returned from a
deployment, is getting ready for a deployment or both," said
Major Daniels. "Our Airmen are motivated to help the people
of Haiti."
Page 17
'YUPPIE 911': BEACONS MAKE CALLS FOR
HELP TOO EASY
in the case of a woman who was frightened by a
thunderstorm.
By TRACIE CONE
The Associated Press
(10/25/09)
"There's controversy over these devices in the first place
because it removes the self- sufficiency that's required in the
back country," Scharper says. "But we are a society of
services, and every service you need you can get by calling."
FRESNO, Calif. -- Last month two men and their teenage sons
tackled one of the world's most unforgiving summertime
hikes: the Grand Canyon's parched and searing Royal Arch
Loop. Along with bedrolls and freeze-dried food, the
inexperienced backpackers carried a personal locator beacon
-- just in case.
In the span of three days, the group pushed the panic button
three times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous, lifesaving
rescues inside the steep canyon walls.
What was that emergency? The water they had found to
quench their thirst "tasted salty."
If they had not been toting the device that works like Onstar
for hikers, "we would have never attempted this hike," one of
them said after the third rescue crew forced them to board
their helicopter. It's a growing problem facing the men and
women who risk their lives when they believe others are in
danger of losing theirs.
Technology has made calling for help instantaneous even in
most of the most remote places. Because would-be
adventurers can send GPS coordinates to rescuers with the
touch of a button, some are exploring terrain they do not
have the experience, knowledge, endurance or equipment to
tackle.
Rescue officials are deciding whether to start keeping
statistics on the problem, but the incidents have become so
frequent that the head of California's Search and Rescue
operation has a name for the devices: Yuppie 911.
WHAT? ME WORRY?
"Now you can go into the back country and take a risk you
might not normally have taken," says Matt Scharper, who
coordinates a rescue every day in a state with wilderness so
rugged even crashed planes can take decades to find. "With
the Yuppie 911, you send a message to a satellite and the
government pulls your butt out of something you shouldn't
have been in in the first place."
From the Sierra to the Cascades, Rockies and beyond, hikers
are arming themselves with increasingly affordable
technology intended to get them out of life-threatening
situations.
While daring rescues are one result, very often the beacons
go off unintentionally when the button is pushed in
someone's backpack, or they are activated unnecessarily, as
LESS TROUBLE, MORE CALLS
The sheriff's office in San Bernardino County, the largest in
the nation and home to part of the unforgiving Death Valley,
hopes to reduce false alarms. So it is studying under what
circumstances hikers activate the devices.
"In the past, people who got in trouble self-rescued; they got
on their hands and knees and crawled out," said John
Amrhein, the county's emergency coordinator. "We saw the
increase in non-emergencies with cell phones: People called
saying 'I'm cold and damp. Come get me out.' These take it to
another level."
Personal locator beacons, which send distress signals to
government satellites, became available in the early 1980s,
but at a price exceeding $1,200. They have been legal for the
public to use since 2003, and in the last year the price has
fallen to less than $100 for devices that send alerts to a
company, which then calls local law enforcement.
When rescue beacons tempt inexperienced hikers to attempt
trails beyond their abilities that can translate into
unnecessary expense and a risk of lives.
Last year, the beacon for a hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail
triggered accidentally in his backpack, sending helicopters
scrambling. Recently, a couple from New Brunswick, British
Columbia, activated their beacon when they climbed a steep
trail and could not get back down. A helicopter lowered them
200 feet to secure footing.
IGNORING RISKS
When eight climbers ran into trouble last winter during a
summit attempt of Mount Hood in Oregon, they called for
help after becoming stranded on a glacier in a snowstorm.
"The question is, would they have decided to go on the trip
knowing the weather was going bad if they had not been able
to take the beacons," asks Rocky Henderson of Portland
Mountain Rescue. "We are now entering the Twilight Zone of
someone else's intentions."
The Grand Canyon's Royal Arch loop, the National Park
Service warns, "has a million ways to get into serious trouble"
for those lacking skill and good judgment. One evening the
fathers-and-sons team activated their beacon when they ran
out of water.
Page 18
Rescuers, who did not know the nature of the call, could not
launch the helicopter until morning. When the rescuers
arrived, the group had found a stream and declined help.
That night, they activated the emergency beacon again. This
time the Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter,
which has night vision capabilities, launched into emergency
mode.
When rescuers found them, the hikers were worried they
might become dehydrated because the water they found
tasted salty. They declined an evacuation, and the crew left
water.
The following morning the group called for help again. This
time, according to a park service report, rescuers took them
out and cited the leader for "creating a hazardous condition"
for the rescue teams.
Occasionally, John Cassidy’s AIG communication network
becomes the source of “ancient history”. There always seems
to be someone who can accurately recall a circumstance or
reason that offers an explanation and solution to the question
posed.
For example … the following is a communication from Robert
LaPointe regarding personnel and equipment from days gone
by. Robert was attempting to accurately record some of our
history in his PJ Association Digital Archive.
From: Robert LaPointe
WHO ARE THESE PJS
Can anyone ID the names and location of this photo? Based
on the twin 44’s SCUBA tanks and the old style harness
release, I place the period in the late 1960’s to early 1970’s.
Copyright © Mon Oct 26 2009 08:05:39 GMT-0800 (Alaskan Daylight Time)
1900 The Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com)
♦
From: Robert LaPointe
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
NEW ADDITION TO FAMILY
Sorry for the delay in sending out a photo of the new baby.
However, I have to admit that I have been having way too
much fun getting my 5 level in baby care. Now that I have
attained that goal, I am now authorized to care for baby
Deborah without supervision from Wendie or her mother.
Good thing I passed my upgrade because mom is heading
back to her family in Leyte right after Thanksgiving. We have
a full time live in nanny, which in the Philippines is called a
yaya. That allows for a full night’s sleep except for when
Wendie jumps out of bed because the baby monitor
announces the sounds of a hungry or wet child and she wants
to make sure the yaya is doing her job OK.
So without further delay here is the very happy LaPointe
family.
These guys really liked their MK-13s as each has a can of 12
flares hanging from the jump harness.
Regards,
LaPointe
From: Charles Hoell
Subject: WHO ARE THESE PJS - From Lapointe
Left to right: Butch Neal, Larry Huyett, and Glen Moore, of
GEMINI 8 fame. In those days some PJ's packed their radios in
those containers to keep them waterproofed. Nice picture.
Editor’s note: These three warriors, indeed, recovered Gemini 8, on
March 16-17, 1966.
Continued
Page 19
From: THOMAS NEWMAN
I think I know the names of 2 of the guys in the photo, but
rather than get them wrong and sound like a senili-gentarian,
I'll leave it to someone who worked with them.
OUR OTHER BROTHERS …
(DoD photo by Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison, U.S. Air Force/Released)
Photographer's Name: MSgt Jerry Morrison
Location: New York
Date Shot: 10/28/2009
Judging from the gear, however, I would place the photo in
the early to mid '60s:








AP29-S10 chutes (sliding riser forks just above the capewells)
Twin 40 jump tanks, with improvised manifold guard.
Early 60s wetsuits (USAF Rescue)
US Divers Calypso regulator
US Divers duck feet fins
ML4 raft kits
Mk13 flare taped to divers knife on leg
No med kits under reserve?
I can't explain the Mk13 flare boxes unless it was a joke or
subtle rebellion against one more unwanted dog & pony
photo session.
Merry Christmas to all
Tom Newman
Editors Note: The flare boxes were used to keep their radio’s dry.
U.S. Army Sgt. Mary Kay Messenger, center, sings God
Bless America as Air Force combat controller Staff Sgt.
Jesse Schrader, left, and Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd
Class Damion Salabie stand at attention during the
seventh inning stretch of game one of the World Series
between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York
Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York City, N.Y., Oct.
28, 2009. Schrader and Salabie have recently returned
from deployments overseas.
♦
NAVY SEAL DOWN … A TUCSON
HELICOPTER CREW LOOKS BACK ON AN
UNFORGETTABLE
RESCUE
IN
THE
MOUNTAINS OF AFGHANISTAN
Rear: Neil Armstrong / Glenn Moore / David Scott
Kneeling: Eldridge “Butch” Neal / Larry Huyett
The Tucson Weekly
By Leo W. Banks
It has been a quiet deployment. Maj. Jeff Peterson passes the
daytime hours sleeping in his hooch in Kandahar, and at night,
he stays awake "holding the brick"—his alert radio—waiting
for a call.
The job of the 305th Rescue Squadron, based at DavisMonthan Air Force Base, is to pick up downed airmen. That's
usually not a problem in Afghanistan, because Americans own
the night.
PJs and Astronauts await the USS Leonard F. Mason
recovery ship
The squad occasionally retrieves wounded soldiers the Army
can't get to because of weather or darkness. Or they evacuate
Afghanis hurt in car wrecks. But the kinds of missions the
305th trained for haven't happened.
♦
Page 20
They've been in Afghanistan almost six weeks. They've never
taken enemy fire. In three days, they're going home.
An urgent voice comes over Peterson's "brick." It's about 11
a.m. the morning of June 30, 2005.
Peterson suspects something big. The night before, his crew
had watched a CNN report about the crash of a Chinook
helicopter in northern Afghanistan.
"The only thing they told us was, 'Pack a three-day bag.
You're going up north,'" says Peterson.
Events over the next three days would land Peterson and his
five-man Tucson crew at the center of an episode that
continues to garner worldwide attention.
The 305th, part of the 920th Rescue Wing, is being sent to
pick up Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, one of a four-man team
ambushed by 150 Taliban fighters. Three of the SEALs are
killed.
When a Chinook responds to their desperate call for help, a
rocket-propelled grenade brings the chopper down, killing 16
more men.
Luttrell goes on to write Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness
Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal
Team 10.
The book is a best-seller in 2007. Universal Pictures is in
production on a movie for likely release in 2010. The director
will be Peter Berg of Friday Night Lights.
London-based Windfall Films has produced a documentary,
Helicopter Wars, describing four extreme wartime helicopter
missions, including the Luttrell rescue. It has already aired in
Great Britain and Australia, and is expected to air in the
United States in the coming months.
With the Afghan war back in the headlines, and none of the
news good, the rescue provides a glimpse into one story that
began horribly and ended well, thanks to the ordinary
Americans who made it happen.
Peterson's crew includes his 57-year-old flight engineer, a
former Pima County sheriff's deputy, silver haired, sometimes
cantankerous, sometimes a joker, cool under pressure.
His gunner is a nervous University of Arizona student. The copilot is a skinny, 40-year-old seasoned by thousands of hours
flying a Blackhawk along the Arizona-Mexico border for the
Border Patrol. But he carries rosary beads in his pocket just in
case.
Peterson himself looks like a fifth-grade math teacher. He
stands 5 foot 8, has a stout build, sprinkles of gray in his hair
and goes by the nickname "Spanky," after the angel-faced kid
in the Little Rascals comedies. He married his college
sweetheart six months before graduating from Arizona State
University in 1991.
They're the kind of fellows you might run into in the checkout
line at Safeway. Everyday guys. Air Force reservists. But when
their moment came, they rose to meet it.
"People have called us heroes," says Peterson, "but I don't
think of it that way."
His voice trails off as he thinks back to that dark night in
northeastern Afghanistan. A minute of private recollection
passes before he shakes his head in wonder.
"Sometimes, I still can't believe we pulled this thing off,"
Peterson says.
Operation Redwing goes south fast. The SEALs' mission is to
capture or kill a Taliban leader responsible for lethal bomb
attacks on U.S. Marines.
"People have called us heroes, but I don't think of it that way."
—JEFF PETERSON
But shortly after the SEALs rope down from a Chinook into
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enemy territory, they're discovered by three Afghan villagers
herding goats.
land of granite peaks, sheer rock walls and plunging canyons
that some believe shelter Osama bin Laden.
The Americans face an agonizing choice: Release the Afghanis
and trust they won't tell the Taliban about the soldiers, or
eliminate the risk by executing the villagers, one a teenage
boy.
Peterson and Macrander climb into their HH-60 Pave Hawk
helicopters, a version of the Blackhawk, and begin to search.
The SEALs take a vote, and it comes down to Luttrell's call.
Even though he knows he might be signing his team's death
warrant, he votes to turn the Afghanis loose.
But are they looking for Americans, survivors? Or is this a
trap by the Taliban to draw in another chopper and blow it
out of the sky?
Every night since then, Luttrell has awakened in a cold sweat
from the choice he made, feeling the agony of its
consequences.
The Pave Hawks orbit the target area, pleading on their
radios for the clicker to reveal his position.
"I'll never get over it. I cannot get over it," he writes in Lone
Survivor. "The deciding vote was mine, and it will haunt me
(until) they rest me in an East Texas grave."
The goatherds alert the Taliban, and within 90 minutes, the
Americans are battling for their lives. Luttrell describes the
four SEALs blasting away at Taliban fighters swarming over
the ridge above them.
But every time the SEALs shoot them down and clear the
ridge, more come to take their place. "Never even for a
couple of seconds was there a lull in the gunfire," Luttrell
writes. He called it the Little Bighorn with Taliban.
The battle ends with the deaths of Lt. Michael Murphy, later
awarded the Medal of Honor, and Petty Officers Danny Dietz
and Matthew Axelson. Luttrell survives when a rocketpropelled grenade blows him hundreds of feet down the
mountain, depositing him so far away that the Taliban
fighters are unable to find him.
Now command is picking up a clicking sound on a rescue
radio frequency.
It might be one or more of the SEALs, or survivors from the
downed rescue Chinook. At the time, the brass didn't know
everyone on board the Chinook had been killed.
Peterson and his crew, led by another chopper from the
920th under Lt. Col. Jeffrey Macrander, eventually make their
way to a Marine camp in Jalalabad, on the Pakistani border.
Their orders are to wait through the night to see if the
clicking returns.
At 4 a.m. on July 1, there it is again—the clicking.
The sound is coming from a 2-kilometer area near the crash
site, 7,000 feet up in the Hindu Kush mountains, a no-man's
It's 4:30 a.m.
Show yourself. We're here to pick you up. This is Air Force
Rescue. If you're out there, please show yourself.
Unknown to the rescuers, as The Washington Post reported
in 2007, Luttrell can hear the choppers circling overhead.
But the RPG explosion has ripped his pants off; his body is
riddled with shrapnel; his nose and three vertebrae are
broken; and dirt clogs his throat, leaving him unable to
speak.
The Post described Luttrell lying in the dirt beneath the
choppers mouthing a silent plea. Hey, I'm right here.
At 6:30 a.m., dawn breaks, leaving Peterson and Macrander
vulnerable to Taliban fire. And they're running out of gas.
On his radio, Peterson calls down to the survivor, telling him
they have to leave. "We had to bingo out," he says. "I'm
saying, 'Sorry, dude, but we're out of gas.'"
On the short flight back to Jalalabad, Peterson and
Macrander fight a sick feeling. They strongly suspect that one
or more wounded Americans are out there somewhere,
badly in need of help. But they can't find him.
Early next morning, an elderly Afghani man arrives at a small
Marine camp about 8 miles from the Chinook crash site. He's
carrying a note written by Luttrell.
He says men from his village, Sabray, found the wounded
American, and following a Pashtun tribal custom, they now
consider him their responsibility. They've taken Luttrell to
Sabray and are protecting him against a swarm of Taliban
soldiers.
When the villager's story is confirmed, the Americans have
the break they need. They know the clicking is coming from
one man, the missing SEAL, and they know exactly where he
is.
Page 22
But they'll have to fly into hostile Taliban country to get him
out.
Their first plan calls for a big Chinook to land and wait for an
already-inserted 20-man Special Forces team to grab Luttrell;
then everyone runs on board for a quick getaway. Peterson
and Macrander will stay back, ready to pick up possible
casualties from enemy fire or a crash.
But that changes with new intelligence about another
American soldier in a village 10 kilometers from Sabray. Now,
after grabbing Luttrell, the Special Forces will hike off to
investigate that report, making the big Chinook unnecessary.
He decides to dump fuel. He's directly above a river valley
full of farm fields and houses. He considers breaking off and
dumping in an unpopulated place, but he might not be able
to return to find Macrander again in the pitch-black night.
He flips open the cover on his dump switch, saying aloud,
"This is for Penny and the boys," and sends 500 pounds of
gas pouring from his chopper, probably souring the dreams
of Afghanis who sleep on their rooftops on warm summer
nights.
"I'm sure I doused some people," Peterson says. "But now I
had a weight cushion I was comfortable with."
The operation commander is a full-bird colonel, himself a
former SEAL. He's dressed in fatigues, has a sharp jaw and
the lean, hard body of an outside linebacker.
The choppers begin their ascent of the Hindu Kush, flying
through the narrow canyons that curve up rapidly toward the
invisible sky.
He turns to Peterson and Macrander and says, "Sixties,
you've got the pickup."
Nearing the target, the radio chatter becomes more frequent
and more urgent.
Minutes later, Macrander tells Peterson that his chopper will
be the one that actually lands and grabs Luttrell, while he,
Macrander, flies cover.
Josh Appel, an elite pararescue jumper (also called a PJ), the
Air Force version of a SEAL, doesn't like what he's hearing.
Now this father of four boys—who spends much of his free
time with his wife, Penny, hauling the kids to sporting events
around Tucson—is one of the key players in one of the
largest wartime rescues since Vietnam.
Known enemy sighted 100 meters north of the position. ...
Known enemy sighted 100 meters south of the position.
At the time, Appel had just graduated from the UA College of
Medicine.
His heart rate jumps. He begins to sweat. He thinks of all the
training exercises he's done in the desert outside of Tucson.
"I'm thinking, 'There's no way they're going to send us into
this,'" he says.
"But this was for real," says Peterson, then 39. "This was the
dance. All I kept thinking was, 'You can't screw this up.'"
This is the dance. Peterson can see it as his Pave Hawk
approaches Sabray.
The night of July 2 is moonless and extremely dark.
Macrander and Peterson fly toward the target, keeping their
choppers low, never more than 200 feet above the ground.
An AC-130 Spectre gunship and two A-10 fighter jets are
lighting up the night, dropping everything they have on
Taliban positions on the mountain.
Except for the green glow of their rooftop position lights,
they're flying black.
Through the pilots' night-vision goggles, the explosions look
like green lightning.
Peterson's crew stays mostly silent, each lost in his own
thoughts amid the drone of the chopper's engines.
"It was the Fourth of July out there," Peterson says.
Co-pilot Dave Gonzales, the Border Patrol man, is thinking
about the landing zone. He's seen satellite photos. They
don't give a 3-D image, but it looks big enough.
Appel sees it, too, saying, "Lights, explosions, tracer fire—it
looked like a Hollywood movie."
It's 11:30 p.m. The radio voices are much louder now, almost
shouting.
"I'm thinking this is going to be a piece of cake," he says.
Peterson worries his chopper might be too heavy. He'll need
maneuverability, and he's not sure he can make a safe
landing in the thin air above 7,000 feet.
Peterson can see the strobe lights on the helmets of Special
Forces soldiers around the village. But he can't see the
landing zone.
Page 23
"I mean, it was butt-ass dark," he says.
Prior to leaving Bagram Airfield, the Spectre pilot had agreed
to shine his infrared lantern on the landing zone to help
Peterson locate it. But the so-called "laser burn" isn't
working. The Spectre is above the clouds, and the infrared
illuminates the clouds, not the landing zone below.
The Spectre pilot's frantic voice screams over Peterson's
radio: "Halos! Halos! Negative burn! Negative burn!"
The flight leader of the A-10s hears the commotion on his
radio and asks his wingman to mark the landing zone with his
infrared laser.
Ten feet from the ground, the rotors kick up a storm of dust,
sending Peterson into a total brownout. He can't see the
wall, the ground, the cliff, anything.
Cusick is struggling as well. "For a couple of seconds, I had a
touch of vertigo looking down at the terraces going down off
the cliff," he says. "It was pretty disconcerting. But I got it
back together."
The chopper drifts toward the rock face. Cusick and UA
student Ben Peterson, the gunner, both have enough
visibility to see the danger.
They shout, "Stop left! Stop left!"
Peterson describes it as "a flashlight from God."
"It was a beam of warm light coming out of the sky, like
somebody saying, 'Hey, idiot, this is where you land,'" says
Peterson. "It went away after five or six seconds, but that
was enough."
Peterson brings his nose up and starts the approach.
In the back, Mike Cusick, the 57-year-old flight engineer,
looks out his gunner's window and sees the top of a house
looming a few feet below. The descending chopper just
misses it.
The village sits on a steep mountainside layered with
terraces. The landing zone is one of those terraces. A wall
borders it on one side, and a cliff with a 1,500-foot drop-off
is on the other. The margin is holy-smokes thin, maybe 10
feet on both sides of the rotors.
"I wouldn't try this landing at home, during the day,"
Peterson says.
But so far, the plan is working.
The landing zone has been lasered. Macrander has dropped a
glow stick on it, too, intended to provide further light, and
now he's orbiting to cover Peterson if the Taliban open fire.
The ordnance raining down from the American aircraft keeps
the enemy in their holes.
"I'm sure there were bad guys watching all this," says
Macrander. "But if you're Taliban, you're more worried
about an A-10 dropping a bomb on your head than a
helicopter flying overhead."
Peterson is confident he can put his Pave Hawk down.
Then ... nightmare time.
Pilot Peterson pushes his control stick right. Co-pilot
Gonzales lays a hand against his control stick, which is
connected to Peterson's, keeping the chopper from going too
far toward the ledge.
Peterson credits the experienced Gonzales, who used to fly
Cobra gunships for the Army, for his split-second reaction.
"He knew instinctively I might overcompensate and go too
hard right, sending us careening off the cliff," says Peterson.
Gonzales credits Peterson with keeping his concentration
amid great difficulty.
"Spanky went from being able to see, to not being able to
see, to listening to guys in back who could see," says
Gonzales. "His workload increased dramatically."
As Peterson maintains his hover, everything moves in slow
motion. He fears his rotors will hit the wall and shear off, and
rescuers will have to recover his body and those of his crew.
"I thought all was lost," says Peterson. "It was a dreadful
feeling."
Appel and Chris Piercecchi, the other PJ, lie down in the back
of the chopper and grab whatever they can, bracing for a
crash.
Peterson desperately needs a reference point. As the dust
settles just enough, he sees in the distance what looks like a
hanging plant. It appears to be suspended over the terrace,
blowing in the wash of his rotors.
It reminds Peterson of his mom's porch in Logan, Utah, and
the plants she kept there, draped with greenery. The
"hanging plant"—likely a clump of drooping grass, he says
now—provides a crucial reference, something to gauge left
and right, up and down.
Page 24
It's all he needs. He puts the chopper down two feet from
the cliff's edge.
But for security reasons, they can't talk openly.
"Are you being careful?" Penny asks.
They're on the ground for about 50 seconds, an eternity
when you're waiting to be vaporized by a grenade.
"Everything is good," Peterson responds. "Everything is
really, really good."
Appel and Piercecchi, now a UA medical student, leap from
the chopper. They struggle to get oriented in the darkness,
the swirling dust, the tremendous noise.
"Were you part of that SEAL thing?" she says.
They spot two people approaching from the rear, which
you're not supposed to do because of the spinning tail rotor.
One is Luttrell, the other Mohammed Gulab, Luttrell's chief
protector in Sabray.
Long pause. Penny says, "Did you just do what you were
trained to do?"
They're both wearing Afghani clothing, so-called man
jammies. Everything looks wrong to Appel. He's thinking
they're Taliban.
"I raised my weapon and trained it on them," he says. "I'm
considering, 'Do I shoot these people?' Because my first
objective is to protect the crew and my teammate. But we
realized it was Marcus."
Before taking him aboard, Piercecchi authenticates Luttrell.
He asks the 6-foot 5-inch Texan to say his dog's name and his
favorite superhero.
For the record, the answers are Emma and Spider-Man.
Luttrell crawls into the Pave Hawk and collapses against the
fuel tanks in back. The chopper lifts off the terrace, down
into the black hole below the cliff, and then away, as fast as
Peterson can manage.
They take Luttrell to Jalalabad and waiting doctors.
Now Peterson's adrenaline tanks, and he begins to shake
uncontrollably. His crew whoops in triumph. Piercecchi
jumps against the chopper window, smacking it and yelling,
"Spanky ... you the man!"
Peterson is sitting in his pilot's seat, thinking, "You have no
idea how close we came. They were sitting in back trusting I
knew what the hell I was doing."
He can't answer. "Everything is good," he repeats.
By now, Peterson's cheeks are wet with tears. He wipes
them away and pleads with Penny, "No, no, stop, please.
Don't get me all emotional."
"OK," she says. "I'm sorry. ... I'm sorry. ... I'm sorry."
She hangs up feeling the enormous relief of hearing her
husband's voice. She keeps it together long enough to drive
home, then the tears fall for her, too.
Now, four years on, none of the crewmen interviewed by
the Tucson Weekly talk eagerly. It's that way with men at
war, and forever will be.
Peterson, in a number of lengthy sessions, doesn't mention
the nightmares he has after coming home. But Penny does.
"The first week back, he'd wake up screaming," she says.
"But after he told more and more people about it, I think it
stopped being so intense for him."
Gonzales, a veteran of three tours in Afghanistan, is ecstatic
his crew was picked for the mission. "It's the job you train to
do," he says. "If you're asked to do it and don't want to, why
are you in the reserves?"
Cusick, a veteran of two tours in Vietnam, doesn't talk about
the fear or the dozen ways the mission could've ended
badly. He talks about the excitement.
"To do something like that in combat was an absolute thrill
to me," he says.
An hour later, still in Jalalabad, Peterson says the only thing
he wanted to do was talk to his wife. "I know it sounds
corny," he says. He finds a phone inside a tent. Some 8,000
miles away, Penny's cell phone rings in a fabric store near the
Tucson Mall.
Appel recently drove out to Davis-Monthan to watch the
documentary Helicopter Wars, and it transported him back
to that night in the Hindu Kush—maybe a little too well.
She knows something big has happened. TV news has been
airing stories on the missing SEAL, and she can hear the
emotion in her husband's voice.
The rescue has dramatically impacted his life. The 42-yearold, now an ER doc at both University Physicians Hospital
and University Medical Center, says it has allowed him to
As he watched, he started sweating. He felt palpitations.
Page 25
see how he operates under pressure, with lives on the line.
"It makes me enjoy every day I have," he says.
Talking about the rescue,
uncomfortable, hard to explain.
though—Appel
finds
PJs in northern Cal. It sure would be nice to get a large PJ
presence at this event. It would be even greater if we could get
active duty/Guard/Reserve PJs from outside of Cali too.
it
"Marcus and I exchange texts," he says, shrugging at the
seeming contradiction. "I don't know. We've got a connection. I
still feel sort of responsible for him."
Of the crewmen interviewed, only Gonzales has read Lone
Survivor. Luttrell's book makes quick work of the rescue, never
mentioning the crew of the 305th who plucked him off that
terrace, although that isn't the reason they've avoided the
book.
The reason ... well, none could really offer a good reason. The
best way to sum up their explanations is: We were there. We
did our jobs. Now it's over.
But for all these men, regardless of the bad news now coming
out of Afghanistan, the pride endures.
Reservists are sometimes looked down upon by active-duty,
and especially by Special Forces. Yet when the elite of the
American military needed one of their own rescued, reservists
stepped up and did the job.
Peterson, now a lieutenant colonel, describes it as deeply
gratifying. "We stick our butts on the line to save people," he
says. "That's our combat mission. We hold that really, really
high, and it was awesome to be a part of it."
Luttrell and Peterson trade text messages, too. Peterson has
just gotten one when he sits down at a west side restaurant to
talk about the rescue.
Luttrell wrote, "Hey, bro. Hope all's well. Thanks again for
saving my sorry ass."
I contacted CMS Lou Haack (R) last night to let the 129th
PJs/CROs know about this. I think the best way to reach the
former PJs is most likely word of mouth and the AIG. If anyone
in Cali is interested in going, please contact me. Like I said, I
should know something by Monday.
Thanks.
Dave Cruz
From: Dave Cruz
Cunningham Way Dedication at Travis Air Force Base
An update on the dedication of Cunningham Way at Travis AFB.
This is the email that the PO sent Jackie.
~~~
Dave
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------From: Dave Cruz
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2010
OFFICIAL DATE FOR CUNNINGHAM
DEDICATION CEREMONY TRAVIS AFB
WAY
I finally received confirmation of a firm date for the
Cunningham Way Dedication Ceremony at Travis AFB (March
4th, 2010, 10:00 am). As you all know, this is the
anniversary date for Jason Cunningham's death. I hope that we
can get good PJ representation this day. I know it will mean a
lot to his parents to have PJs at the ceremony. Not sure who to
send this to in terms of active duty, Guard and Reserve teams,
but I'm sure it will get to them. If anyone has any questions,
please feel free to email me at [email protected]. This is
the email sent to Jackie Cunningham from the Deputy Chief of
Protocol:
From: Angela Turner
From: Dave Cruz
TRAVIS AFB TO DEDICATE STREET NAMED
FOR JASON CUNNINGHAM
I received a phone call from Jackie Cunningham (Jason's
mom) on Christmas Eve letting me know that she had just
gotten off the phone with someone at Travis AFB. They
contacted her to let the family know that Travis AFB is
dedicating a street in honor of her son in Jason on March 4,
2010. These are the only details I have at this time. I should
hear back from Jackie on Monday with more specifics.
However, since the date is approaching, I wanted to get this
out to you in hopes that it will reach as many current/former
CUNNINGHAM WAY DEDICATION AT TRAVIS AIR
FORCE BASE
Mrs. Cunningham,
We are in the process of procuring tickets for yourself and your
husband. In order to do so, we need some information from
you: full names, home address and airport you would like to
use. The ceremony is scheduled for 10 am on the 4th of March.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
V/R
Angie
Angela J. Turner, 1st Lt, USAF
Deputy Chief of Protocol
Page 26
Page 27
From: Hickson, Bruce
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009
FMLA MILITARY LEAVE LAW EXPANDED
Yesterday, President Obama signed into law the Fiscal Year
2010 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2647). The
new law includes an expansion of the recently-enacted
exigency and caregiver leave provisions for military families
under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).
In January 2008, Congress amended the FMLA to provide:
* Exigency leave - up to 12 weeks of leave for urgent needs
related to a reservist family member’s (spouse, son,
daughter, or parent) call to active service. H.R. 2647 expands
the exigency leave benefits to include family members of
active duty service members. Under current law, only family
members of National Guard and Reservists are eligible for
“exigency leave.
*
Caregiver leave - up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave to an
employee to care for a family member (spouse, son,
daughter, parent, or next of kin) who is injured while serving
on active military duty.
*
H.R. 2647 expands the caregiver leave provision to
include veterans who are undergoing medical treatment,
recuperation or therapy for serious injury or illness that
occurred any time during the five years preceding the date of
treatment.
These previsions are effective upon enactment.
In addition to providing leave for military families, the FMLA
provides unpaid leave for the birth, adoption or foster care
placement of an employee’s child, as well as for the “serious
health condition” of a spouse, son, daughter, or parent, or for
the employee’s own medical condition. To be eligible for the
leave, employees must work in organizations of 50 or more
employees and work at least 1,250 hours in a 12-month
period.
♦
Have you paid your 2010 dues? Your dues must
be paid up for you to continue to receive Canopy
Chatter AND for admission to the Bi-Annual
reunion in Tucson in October.
Send your $20.00 check to:
The Pararescue Association
P.O. Box 1304
Mary Esther, FL 32569
ANNUAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
October 24, 2009
In keeping with Article 5, Section 5.1 and 5.2 of the
Association by-laws the 2009 Annual Board of Directors
meeting of the Pararescue Association was held by telephone
conference call on October 24, 2009. (Note: The minutes are
subject to approval at the next general membership
meeting.)
Roy Taylor, President called the meeting to order at 12:00
CDT.
Board members participating were:
Roy Taylor, President
Harry O’Beirne, Vice President
Gene Armstrong, Secretary
Jim Watson, Treasurer
William Vargas, President Emeritus
K. O. Kelly, Member
Charles Morrow, Member
Michael Fleming, Active Duty Member
Tom Bausman
Doug Horka, Canopy Chatter Publisher
Jim Cusic, Memorabilia Manager
Dennis Craft, Web Site Webmaster
Bill Preble, 2010 Reunion Representative
A motion to approve the minutes of the September 6, 2008
General Membership Meeting was made by Bill Vargas and
seconded by Doug Horka. The motion was approved by
majority vote.
The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Jim Watson,
Treasurer. He presented the 2008 Financial Report as was
submitted to the IRS, plus the 2009 Financial Report for
January 1 through October 18, 2009. The Association
checking account balance was $15,973.63, and the Fidelity
Cash Reserve Account was $12,563.41. A motion to approve
the Treasurer’s Report was made by Bill Vargas and seconded
by Harry O’Beirne. The motion was approved by majority
vote.
Jim Watson requested permission to deposit all checking
account funds, except $5,000.00, into the Fidelity Cash
Reserve Account in order to accumulate more interest. He
can issue checks of $250.00 or more for any expenses that
arise. The request was approved by majority vote.
Jim Cusic presented the Pararescue Association Memorabilia
Inventory. There was $8,949.00 worth of memorabilia on
hand at the Pararescue School at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
Funds generated from the sale of the memorabilia are being
transferred to the Association or the Pitsenbarger fund, as
appropriate.
Page 28
Roy Taylor thanked Doug Horka for accepting the
responsibility for publishing the Canopy Chatter both in hard
copy and on the Pararescue Association Web Site.
reporting period would correspond with the annual Board of
Directors meeting. Jim Watson seconded the motion. The
motion was approved by a majority vote.
Doug Horka requested permission to purchase a bulk mailing
permit for the Canopy Chatter as it would reduce the mailing
cost per copy from about $2.00 to an estimated $.70. The
cost of the permit would be $185.00 initially and about $185
per year. Each mailing is approximately three hundred fifty
copies. Roy Taylor made a motion to approve the request and
Jim Watson seconded; the motion was approved by majority
vote. It was agreed that if a mailing is returned as not
deliverable two times, the name of that individual will be
removed from the mailing list until he provides a current
address. Each Association member is encouraged to receive
the electronic copy rather than the hard copy in order to
keep the cost of printing and postage to a minimum. Each
issue of the Canopy Chatter is posted on the pjassn.net web
site.
Roy Taylor led a discussion about the 2010 Reunion. No one
from the reunion committee was available to give an update
but had provided the date by email. The tentative dates for
the reunion and rodeo are 6 through 13 September, 2010.
More information will be forthcoming in the Canopy Chatter.
Dennis Craft reported that the cost of the pjassn.net web site
is $29.95 per quarter rather than the previously reported
$29.95 per month. Dues status will soon be included on the
web site.
Roy Taylor reported that the Pararescue Association lifetime
membership issue is still being researched and is unresolved
at this time.
Roy Taylor led a discussion as to the merits of changing the
IRS status of the Association to a 501 (C) 19, Military
Association, rather than the current 501 (C) 7. The cost would
be $750.00 filing fee. It would allow for tax deductible
donations to the Association. The Board will do further
research into the issue.
Roy Taylor requested that the Pararescue Association
members observe the protocol for PJ Charlie’s attendance at
all reunions. That is that the unit that brings Charlie to the
reunion also takes Charlie home with them. It is requested
that the leadership of all active, reserve, and guard units
spread the word to their members that Charlie is off limits
until he is returned to the unit. Charlie is to be displayed at
the reunion for all to enjoy and take pictures with him. There
is to be no hotel damage, personal injuries or damage to
Charlie. Once he is returned to his original unit, all restrictions
are removed.
New Business:
Jim Watson, Treasurer, reported that presently he must make
two financial reports each year; one to the Pararescue
Association at the general membership meeting, or on the off
year to the telephonic Board of Directors meeting, plus the
annual income report to the Internal Revenue Service. Bill
Vargas made a motion that the fiscal year be changed, with
IRS, from 31 December to 30 September in order that the
In order to document a previous vote of the general
membership that was inadvertently left out of that years’
minutes; it is hereby published that in order to comply with a
requirement of the Association by-laws that the Board of
Directors meet each year the following will apply. On each
even calendar year, a General Membership and Board of
Directors meeting will be held in conjunction with the
reunion; and on each uneven year, a Board of Directors
meeting will be held by a media connection. Minutes will be
documented for each meeting.
Bill Preble came on line at this point and entered the
discussion of the 2010 reunion. He will be calling the
appropriate individuals for further assistance.
The meeting was adjourned at 13:10. A meeting was to follow
immediately for the Pararescue Benevolent Association Inc.
Respectfully Submitted:
S/Eugene F. Armstrong
Secretary
Minutes of the meeting of
The Pararescue Benevolent Association Inc.
October 24, 2009
Doug Horka, President and only member participating,
reported that information from SMSGT Schultz, is that
tentatively there is a line item in the U. S. Air Force
construction budget, for the new Pararescue Center at
Kirtland AFB, for $125,000.00 for the purchase of a statue of
S/SGT William Pitsenbarger, as designed and approved by the
Pararescue Association in 2002. The Center is scheduled for
completion about April, 2010.
More details will be
forthcoming.
Doug reported that there is approximately $15,000.00 in the
scholarship fund.
Respectfully submitted for Len Vigare, Secretary in his
absence:
S/Eugene F. Armstrong
Eugene F. Armstrong
Page 29
Source: Air Force Magazine, November 2009. Used without permission
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
For you old timers – particularly those of you who might have been at NKP or Udorn, Thailand on December 5, 6 and 7, 1969,
THIS is the airframe which picked up Woody Bergeron – more widely known as Boxer 22B. See Robert LaPointe’s book All for One
for the definitive narrative of the “largest, successful search and rescue mission by the USAF in the Vietnam War”.
This article appeared in the 2009-2010 editions of “Footprints” – the newsletter of the Jolly Green Association.
Page 34
IT IS WITH DEEPEST REGRETS
From: "K.O." Kelly
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Subject: Death of PJ Wife – JAN FERNANDEZ
Jan Fernandez, long time PJ wife of Joe Fernandez died today
(Thursday November 12, 2009) around noon. She had been
having some medical problems in recent times and cause of
death was most likely heart failure or stroke. Specifics are
unknown at this time. Services are being finalized and details
will follow. It is hard to lose someone you love; a child or wife
especially. Our heartfelt prayers go to Joe and his family during
this difficult time.
From: "K.O." Kelly
Subject: Jan Fernandez Memorial
In memory of Jan Fernandez, Joe and their daughter Lori will
host a Celebration of Her Life, from 1:00PM-3:00PM on
Saturday November 21, at Jan's favorite eating place, The Siam
Garden Cafe, 334 Eglin Parkway North, Ft Walton Beach. You
are invited to attend and remember Jan, a friend and loving PJ
wife. The family would appreciate a card from you with a
personal note from you about Jan or a personal note about
your friendship (serious or funny). The cards will be read at a
"Card Reading Time" during the memorial dinner.
From: Chuck Hassler
Subject: Pierrette Vargas
Pierrette Vargas' obituary appeared in today's Albuquerque
Journal. We lost a wonderful PJ wife and good friend when she
passed. I have fond memories of Pierrette, and I especially
remember her great culinary skills. It was always a good time
visiting Pierrete and Bills's warm and friendly home.
Chuck Hassler
VARGAS -- Pierrette Vargas, 78, resident of Albuquerque since
1976, born in Quebec, Canada, passed away on November 19,
2009. She is survived by her loving husband, retired CMSGT
(USAF) William V. Vargas; daughter, Cynthia Laudick and
husband Ted; sons, William V. Vargas Jr. and wife Debra,
Stephen Vargas and wife Theresa, and Victor Vargas II;
grandchildren, William, Brittany, Alexandra, Michael, Maria,
David, Jordan, and Brandy, and several great - grandchildren.
Pierrette met Bill in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada and they married
on April 23, 1955. A devoted mother, she especially enjoyed
traveling the world with her family during Bill's military service.
Pierrette was a wonderful cook and very proud of her French
Canadian heritage. Cremation has taken place. A memorial
service will be held at French Mortuary, Lomas location, on
Friday, November 27, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. with burial following
at Santa Fe National Cemetery at 1:00 p.m.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Len Vigare / Jeanne Vigare
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009
From: Gene Armstrong
Pierrette Vargas passed this morning in her sleep. She and Bill
would have celebrated their 55th Anniversary in April.
Subject: Ed Rice
We are getting word that Ed Rice passed away about three
months ago. As we receive more information we will get it to
you.
From: WILLIAM VARGAS
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009
A memorial service for my wife, Pierrette, will be held at the
French Mortuary, 1050 Lomas Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM
87112 on Friday, November 27, 2009 at 10:00 AM, with burial
following at the Santa Fe National Cemetery at 1:00 PM. Please
visit the online guestbook for Pierrette at:
www.RememberTheirStory.com
Thanks,
Bill Vargas
Ed was an instructor at the Arctic Survival School at Nome,
Alaska, from about 1948 to 1950. He then joined Rescue as a
Land Rescue Specialist before becoming Pararescue. He
eventually was assigned to the Parachute Test Center at the
Yuma Test Station. I think I remember him telling me he had
about 1,700 jumps. He was also a champion boxer while in the
Navy.
We will miss Ed and his great stories. A good man.
Gene Armstrong
Page 35
From: Harry O’Beirne
Subject: PJ Armin Sahrai
We have very limited information. TSgt Ivan Ruiz was notified
of Armin's death late yesterday by Armin's brother. All we
know at this time is that Armin was found unresponsive in his
home.
PJs,
PJ Armin Sahrai has passed away. I don't have any details.
Armin Sahrai was a PJ for 10 years and then received a medical
discharge due to a training accident. I am sorry for his family,
particularly at this time of year. The funeral details are on the
internet (by John Cassidy), and if you can go it would be
appreciated.
When we gather in groups or reunions, we talk a lot of
comradeship and what it means to us, and we buy each other
drinks. Now it is time to buy this PJ a last drink. We can all
send a condolence card and $10 (or whatever you want) to the
family at the address below.
You may not have known Armin personally, BUT HE WAS A PJ,
and let us not forget that. This appeal does not come from the
family, but from the Pararescue Association.
His last duty station was at the 38th RQS, Moody AFB, GA.
Armin served his country honorably and faithfully, in war and at
home station, as a PJ for over 10 years before being medically
separated as a result of a training accident.
TSgt Ivan Ruiz is the POC between us and Armin's family. Once
we find out more information concerning a memorial and
funeral, we will spread the word.
In the mean time, all we can do is pray for Armin's incredible
soul … and pray for Armin's grieving family.
Please disseminate this message widest. Armin Sahrai was
highly respected and loved by all who knew and worked with
him. He was my team-mate and a close personal friend. I will
miss him with all my heart and soul.
Mr. & Mrs. Artin Sahrai
5104 Southcreek Dr.
Lincoln CA 95648
Very Respectfully,
Lee Shaffer, CMSgt, USAF
Pararescue Career Field Manager
HQ USAF/A3O-AS
Special Operations and Personnel Recovery Division
From: Simone, Steven A Maj USAF ACC 38 RQS/CC
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009
From: Dave Cruz [mailto:[email protected]]
All,
We in the 38 RQS were also informed of this grave news this
morning and wanted to express our deepest condolences to the
Sahrai family. For those that didn't know him, Armin was
probably the most dynamic, likeable and magnetic personalities
that one would ever meet in their lifetime. He was the informal
leader, the life of the group and the heart of the squadron all in
one. He will truly be missed by all of those that he touched.
Very Respectfully,
SS
38 RQS Commander
From: Shaffer, Lee W CMSgt MIL USAF AF/A3/5
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 2:04 PM
Subject: Armin Sahrai
Warriors of Guardian Angel and Special Tactics,
It's with a heavy heart and failing words that I inform you of the
passing of a fellow warrior and brother … Pararescueman
Armin Sahrai.
Subject: Patriot Guard issues mission for Armin's
memorial service
This afternoon Armin Sahrai will be laid to rest in Sacramento,
CA, after a memorial service to be held at Mt. Vernon Memorial
Park in Elk Grove, CA. We were able to invite the Patriot Guard
(PGR) who posted a mission on their website within a few hours
after a request from Armin's family. They put this mission
together with very short notice. We hope there will be a good
turn-out of PGR members.
For those who are unfamiliar with the PGR, check out their web
site at www.patriotguard.org. They are an amazing group of
people who attend funerals of Veterans to honor our service
men and women who have passed. They originally started up
to keep war protestors from disrupting Veteran's funerals.
Thanks to the PGR we are seeing less and less of these war
protestors at funerals, which is the way it should be. The PGR is
mostly comprised of Veterans who care a great deal about
honoring our fallen. If you own a motorcycle you can certainly
join their group in any state. Their website has instructions for
signing on with them. I've been with them for a few years.
They also do welcome home events as well. Check out their
website if you get a chance.
Page 36
Here is the mission that was posted this morning on their
website for Armin:
family and watch an excellent DVD memorial created by one of
Armin's PJ brothers. It was very nice.
The PGR has been invited by the family of Armin J. Sahrai of
Orangevale CA who passed away unexpectedly on December
20, 2009. He is survived by parents Saghar and Mahmood
Sahrai, and brother Artin Sahrai. He was a graduate of Casa
Robles High School Class of 1996. SSgt Armin Sahrai earned the
2003 outstanding Pararescue Airman of the Year award. Armin
served three tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan. He is
loved by all who were blessed to meet him. Military Services will
be held Tuesday, December 29th, Mount Vernon Mortuary,
8201 Greenback Lane, Fair Oaks.
Later that evening, many of us were invited to a favorite
bowling alley to drink a few beers, eat some good food and
even get in some bowling. Once we closed the bowling alley we
made our way back to Armin's house to share more stories
about Armin and drink a few more beers. The evening ended
around 0230, as many guys needed to travel home the next day
and needed some rest. I would say that the memorial service
was a true testimony of the PJ brotherhood and how well they
respected and admired Armin Sahrai. For all the PJs who
attended, they certainly did a great job today. Below are some
photos that were taken at the memorial.
PGR to Stage at Mount Vernon Memorial Park 11:15 Hrs.
PGR will stand a flag line during graveside services 1200 Hrs.
SSgt Sahrai will receive honors graveside rendered by the USAF
Honor Guard.
With pride,
Dave Cruz
Mt .Vernon Court of Honor RC will be John Steiner USAF CMSGT
(ret)
FORECAST: 40% rain, 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and ride
safe, cages welcome and recommended.
You do not have to be a Veteran or a motorcycle rider to attend
this mission. Everyone is welcome. We encourage those who do
not ride to attend in your car. If this will be your first mission go
to the staging area and you will be briefed there. Dress for
motorcycle riding or dress casually if you are driving a cage
(car). You may monitor this thread by checking the “Email me
when someone replies to this thread“ box and you will receive
an email if there are any updates.
Please ride/drive safely. The thread:
Bill "Doc Hawk" Hawkins
PGR Nor-Cal State Captain, Capitol Region
[email protected]
From: Dave Cruz [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Subject: Pararescueman Armin's memorial service
Update on Armin's memorial service today at 12:00 at Mt.
Vernon Memorial Park, Elk Grove, CA:
The turnout for the service was amazing. PJ representation was
impressive to say the least. Chief Shaffer spoke and did an
incredible job along with other Pararescuemen. It truly was a
wonderful service. We were all quite surprised by the number
of Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) who attended to form a flag line.
There were over 23 PGR members there. Armin's family and
friends arrived in large numbers too. After the service was over
we all met back at Armin's home to share stories, comfort his
Page 37
♦
Editorial Comment
Doug Horka
Canopy Chatter Editor
President, Pararescue Benevolent Association
A few weeks ago, on John Cassidy’s AIG communication
net, a lively discussion was held – in response to the
picture collage which was created following the loss of PJ
Armin Sahrai.
A number of correspondents LIKED the idea of the collage
and wanted to know if the Pararescue Benevolent
Association (or the PJ Association in general) could
support a formal program to create and present similar
remembrances to future PJ survivor families. I took note
of the interest, and if it is sustained, will present the idea
to the Board.
BUT … like any other project, in order to succeed, there
will have to be a Point of Contact (POC) who will take
appropriate action in accordance with a plan
So … WHO’S VOLUNTEERING to take charge?
I
recommend that you check in with Dave Cruz to
determine “how” and “How much” was involved in the
collage pictured above.
Page 38
Let me know what is decided and I’ll help publish it thru
Canopy Chatter.
~~~~
Doug Horka
[email protected]
In addition to the collage, there were also spirited
discussions regarding the Last Drink program as well.
Some contributors thought that the “condolence card
and a few dollars” program currently in place was
appropriate, while others felt that a more convenient
method of sending money (such a PayPal) might be more
appropriate.
Following are some additional comments which grew out
of the Last Drink discussion.
From: Anthony Tormey
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010
then to the general membership if he is willing to take charge
of the endeavor.
One of the major reasons the "Last drink" program has
continued, is the feed-back from the widows of our deceased
PJ's. The last drink program also gives us the chance to write a
parting note to the wife (or family) of the deceased. The
amount can be more than the $10. It can be any amount that
you want to give.
If I remember correctly, many years ago --- we used to give an
arrangement of flowers. This cost was paid by the Pararescue
Association.
If some of the guys wanted to get together and purchase a
Photo display, I think that would be great. A younger PJ's wife
and kids might enjoy this type memorial which remembers their
husband/father. On the other hand, a 65 to 80 year old wife
might prefer to have something that wouldn't have to put up on
a wall. As it is now, the widow can always pull out and reread
the personal notes and letters sent to her after her husband has
passed.
A good idea, with some pros and cons. The pro is a tribute such
as what you suggest would be a truly heartfelt and more long
term display of the community’s memory of the individual for
the family to display. The process and cost isn’t too difficult or
expensive. My guess is the collage put together for Armin’s was
done by someone familiar with Power point or other similar
program. I would then save it as an 18X24 or whatever desired
size, and email or take it to Staples for printing and mounting it
as a poster suitable for display at the funeral/memorial and
then kept by the family. The cost I think is around $20 or $30
The suggestion that Harry has made is a good one. Hope to see
the information provided to the BOD at the reunion in October.
Maybe Harry can present his findings of what a company would
charge and any other expenses that would be involved.
~~~
Chuck Morrow
The con is I wouldn’t be too quick to replace the “Last Drink”
project. I think this program allows for the individual to
acknowledge the remembered and if I recollect from posting by
Harry O, designed to help with perhaps unexpected cost for the
family, or if not an issue, for the family to use as desired in the
members memory.
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL PJ’S, PAST AND
PRESENT:
Instead, I would continue to encourage others to support and
participate in the Last Drink program and then approach the
Pararescue Benevolent Association to sponsor this Photo Essay
Project.
~~~
Anthony Tormey
♦
From: Chuck Morrow
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010
Being as I'm on several committees I can't volunteer the extra
time at the present. But I think the suggestion that Harry
Swanson made, be considered. If Harry would be in charge for
getting any and all information on a presentation like he
suggested, he could then make a presentation to the BOD and
♦
And another view … as expressed by recent PJ widow
Glenna Eldridge.
After talking to President Roy Taylor, and at his
suggestion, I’m writing to express my deep gratitude to
each of you for the incredible and unique “Last Drink”
program. (I personally don’t know of another like it.)
When John lost his long battle with cancer and passed
away on 4 May of 2008, the overwhelming response I
received from PJ’s all over the world was astonishing!
I received tributes from older PJ’s in their 80’s all the
way down to young guys who were still going through
the pipeline. Almost all of the PJ’s, and many of their
wives, that sent me a “Last Drink” also took the time to
write a personal note to me and his children…even those
who didn’t know John or I personally.
And while the money is a help, and may very possibly
make a huge difference to some families when expenses
are incredibly high I suspect the majority of the
Page 39
recipients are most grateful for the remarkable network
of support. I know the love and caring you wove around
me and my family came at a time of our greatest need.
Each card was a salute to John, to the way he had lived
his life, and to the path he had chosen. It was as if each
one of you were standing in my kitchen lifting your glass
in a toast to John and to me. Each tribute helped to
build a strong web of support that was invaluable at a
time when I needed that connection and support more
than you can possibly begin to imagine. Additionally,
each time I needed a “boost” in the following month of
incredible pain and loneliness all I had to do was look
back through those cards and once again I was
surrounded with your unselfish support and love.
This program truly exemplifies your motto “So That
Other’s May Live” in a way that I’m sure most of you
really don’t realize. It may not be the physical rescue
that each of you trained for, but it most certainly is a
rescue—in the finest sense of the word—all the same.
Those cards and notes literally helped me to live again
and they helped me get through the hardest time of my
life. They helped…along with all the follow-up calls and
emails--humorous and “otherwise”--that I still keep
receiving from so many of you…to give me the strength
and courage needed to rebuild my family and my life
without John in the way that he expected me to do. For
that, I want to thank you from the bottom my heart for
myself, my children, and for all the widows and families
who have experienced this same amazing tribute to
another fallen PJ. I hope and pray this program
continues for as long as the need exists
I send each of you my love and respect and that of
John’s children and grandchildren.
Warmest Regards,
Glenna Eldridge
♦
Doug,
Thank you for your kind words. I wasn't aware anyone
was thinking about trying to do this through PayPal ...
This program is not about the money … to lose the
support those cards and notes give the family would
simply gut the real reason for the program. If I can do
anything else, please let me know... Glenna
♦
From: Hickson, Bruce
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009
50-YEAR REUNION, 6594TH
GROUP (AUGUST 2010)
TEST
6594th Test Group of Hickam Air Force Base Falling
Star Reunion – 50-Year Anniversary
July 30, 2009
The first aerial recovery of the Corona Program was
successfully executed in the skies over Hawaii on August 19,
1960. In celebration of this milestone achievement, we are
organizing events for the week of August 16-20, 2010 in
Honolulu, Hawaii. The highlight of this commemoration will be
a dinner event on Thursday, August 19, 2010 ~ precisely on our
50-year anniversary date ~ at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu.
The 6594th Test Group / 6593rd Test Sq (Special) operated out
of the Hickam Air Force Base for 27 years recovering film
capsules in support of the Corona Program and follow-on
reconnaissance satellites. Historians consider the Corona
Program’s mission achievements to be equivalent in aerospace
significance to the Wright Brothers’ First Flight or Yeager
Breaking the Sound Barrier. The role of the 6594th Test Group
has long been recognized as a singularly key element in the
success of the Corona Program, which accomplished the
following firsts:
•
•
•
capsule
•
First return of an object placed in Earth’s orbit
First pictures of Earth from space
First space program with more than one return
First space program to reach 100 missions (145 total)
If you have any updates of your contact information or a fellow
6594th Test Group / 6593rd Test Sq member, please email
[email protected] or fax 808-842-3492 it to
us
Dates:
August 16 through August 20, 2010
Tentative Agenda
Monday, 8/16/10:
Registration and Evening Cocktail
Reception
Tuesday, 8/17/10:
Golf and Tennis Outings
Wednesday, 8/18/10: Day Event at Bellows AFS
Thursday, 8/19/10: Dinner at Hale Koa Hotel
Friday, 8/20/10: Aloha Gathering with trip down “Memory
Lane” at Hickham “O” Club
Further details (time, place, cost, etc.) will be relayed as events
are finalized.
Continued
Page 40
Lodging:
Hotel reservations can be made through the Hale Koa Hotel
website at www.halekoa.com or by calling 1-800-367-6027.
MAYOR NAMES NEW FIRE CHIEF
Accommodations at the Bellows Air Force Station cabins can be
made through their website at www.bellowsafs.com or by
calling 1-800-437-2607
Albuquerque Mayor-elect Richard Berry has named a
19-year veteran of the Albuquerque Fire Department
as the city’s new fire chief.
We will forward additional information as details are finalized
for the August 2010 events.
Aloha
11/24/2009
By: Austin Reed, Eyewitness News 4, and Reed Upton, KOB.com
“Today it is my great honor to appoint James Breen as
my new fire chief for the City of Albuquerque,” Berry
announced at about 11:00 Tuesday morning to the
applause of a roomful of fire fighters.
Program Committee Members:
Ray Romero, Chair
98-1992 Hapaki Street
Aiea, HI 96701
808-543-1731
[email protected]
Verne Erickson, Co-Chair
98-099 Uao Place, #2709
Aiea, HI 96701
808-485-0878
[email protected]
Chief James Breen
With
Frank Adams
Bill “Yogi” Bear
Al Blankenship
Doug Miller
Jimmy Shiramizu
♦
Pararescue Association Dues
Are your dues paid up and current? Check the
Pararescue Association Web site (www.pjassn.net)
to see your status.
Don’t miss the EARLY information about the
upcoming 2010 reunion as well as all of the recent
Canopy Chatter issues.
Members age 80 and older are EXEMPT from
annual dues. The rest of us owe $20.00 per year.
Breen has been with AFD since 1990 and most
recently has been the commander of the
department’s Second Battalion on Girard, the city’s
busiest fire district.
Breen has also been an instructor at the city’s fire
academy and was deployed in 2005 to New Orleans
help in the aftermath Hurricane Katrina.
Breen replaces Chief Robert Ortega who has been
chief for eight years.
“My focus on fire chief is increasing our cost
effectiveness, increasing operational efficiency,
increasing fire fighter safety for high-risk operations
and providing for professional development
opportunities for our members,” said Breen at
Tuesday’s news conference.
Breen will assume the duties of fire chief on
December 1.
♦
Page 41
From: L.D. Jeffries
Date: January 31, 2010
Subject: DD-214'S AVAILABLE ON-LINE
This may be particularly helpful when a veteran needs a
copy of his DD-214 for employment purposes. NPRC is
working to make it easier for veterans with computers
and Internet access to obtain copies of documents from
their military files.
Military veterans and the next of kin of deceased former
military members may now use a new online military
personnel records system to request documents. Other
individuals with a need for documents must still complete
the Standard Form 180, which can be downloaded from
the online web site.
Because the requester will be asked to supply all
information essential for NPRC to process the request,
delays that normally occur when NPRC has to ask
veterans for additional information will be minimized.
The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) has
provided the following website for veterans to gain
access to their DD-214s online:
PUT DOWN THIS ISSUE OF CANOPY
CHATTER
Pick up your checkbook and a pen and pay your
Pararescue Association Dues
Write a check for $20.00 and send it to:
P.O. Box 1304
♦
http://vetrecs.archives.gov/
The new web-based application was designed to provide
better service on these requests by eliminating the
records centers mailroom and processing time.
Please pass this information on to former military
personnel you may know and their dependents.
♦
Post your article or suggestions HERE. The entire staff
of Canopy Chatter awaits your contributions.
Contact:
Canopy Chatter
11 Tideswell Lane
Worcester, MA 01609-0422
[email protected]
♦
♦
Page 42
PARESCUE MEMORABILIA ORDER FORM
Order Date
Quantity
Desired
>>>>>
ASSOCIATION PORCELIN CUP: This is a 16 oz. color-footed funnel mug.
$
White with large maroon handle, maroon base and a maroon imprinted
Association emblem. $15.00 each
MAROON OR WHITE CAP, OR TAN CAP WITH FLAG ON THE
BILL: The cap is a lightweight brushed cotton twill cap with a silver PJ
emblem embroidered on the front. $15.00 each
Maroon _____
$
Tan/Flag ____
$
LAPEL PIN: this is a ¾” gold lapel pin, PJ emblem shaped, with the Emblem
PJ DECAL: This is a 4-inch vinyl decal with metallic silver background and
ASSOCIATION PATCH: This is a 4-inch, 5-color embroidered Association
Large ____
Small ____
Large ____
Small ____
PJ CHALLENGE COIN: The coin has the PJ Flash on one side; the other
Bronze _____
$
Pewter _____
.999 Silver PJ CHALLENGE COIN: Design is same as above, but in
$
silver. $60.00 each
PARARESCUE STICKER: “USAF Pararescue” with PJ emblem on left side
$10.00
$
and master jump wings on right side. 16” x 2” size. Designed for outside
application. Maroon letters and silver emblems and wings. $3.00 each
PARARESCUE LICENSE PLATE FRAME: “Pararescue” along the top,
$
with Jump Wings and SCUBA emblem along the sides, and “That Others May
Live” along the bottom. $20.00 each
All orders will be charged a MINIMUM of $5.00 for Packaging and
Postage. Orders which are large or heavy may be charged
ADDITIONAL postage.
$
$
cloth patch. Large or Small Sizes available. $5.00 each
side has “Living By The Motto”, Chief Aircrew Wings, Master Jump Wings, Dive
Badge, “PJ” and Feet. 1-1/2” Diameter. Available in Bronze or Pewter. $8.00
each
$5.00
$
black PJ emblem imprint. $1.00 each
This is a 3-inch, 4-color vinyl decal of the
Association emblem. Available as Large or Small $1.00 each
Additional
Postage
$
imprinted in maroon. It may also be used as a tie tack. $5.00 each
ASSOCIATION DECAL:
Item Total
Cost
Postage
$4.00
$5.00
↓
↓
Sub-Totals for Merchandise and Additional Postage
GRAND TOTAL FOR THE ENTIRE ORDER
>>>>>>>>>>
Location where this order should be mailed
Recipient Name
Street Address
City
State / Zip Code
Contact Telephone Number
Make check or money order for the GRAND TOTAL AMOUNT payable to The Pararescue Association and mail it
WITH THIS FORM to:
Pararescue Association
P.O. Box 1304
Or contact Jim Cusic at the Pararescue School (Work) 505-846-7403
// (Home) 505-508-1490
Revision of October 2009
Page 43
GRADUATION CEREMONY
Contributed by Jim Cusic
PJ / CRO Schoolhouse
Class 2009-03
04 December 2009
United States Air Force Pararescue and Combat Rescue
Officer School
Air Education and Training Command
Detachment 1, 342nd Training Squadron
Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico
A1C Pitsenbarger Memorial Guest Speaker:
Timothy A. Wilkinson, USAF MSgt. (Ret.)
The Graduates (by rank)
Capt. Kevin DIEBLER
Capt. Niul MANSKE
Capt. Nicholas MORGANS
st
1 Lt. Augustin VIANI
st
1 Lt. Kyle WELLS
TSgt. Christopher LAIS
SSgt. David FARFAN
SSgt. Michael INGLIS
SSgt. Carl JENSEN
SrA Brandon FORSHAW
SrA Nathan SCHMIDT
A1C Adrian FOSTER
A1C Daniel McNEELY
A1C Patrick McNEELY
A1C Ryan ONLEY
A1C Steven REBITZ
A1C Charles SNOVER
A1C Benjamin TAYLOR
Amn Adam AZAR
Amn Kristofer FELIX
Amn Lee Von HACKPRESTINARY
AB Luke DRYDEN
AB Richard Luna III
AB Kelby McCAN
AB Joseph MOTT
AB Kenneth O’BRIEN
AB Eli REYNOLDS
The Jason D. Cunningham Award is given to the graduate who
demonstrated overall superior medical achievement and
performance throughout all medical phases of training to
include EMT-paramedic, PJ medicine, and FTX. The recipient
was chosen through cadre observation, academic scores, and
overall hands-on medical performance during all phases of
training.

The award goes to: AB Luke Dryden
The Charles D. King Award is presented to the PJ graduate who
demonstrated overall superior academic achievement. This
award is named in honor of Air Force Cross recipient,
Pararescuemen Airman First Class Charles D. King. King was
missing in action Christmas day 1968 during a rescue mission
over Laos. He was never heard from again. A distinguished
graduate of his Pararescue class, he was officially declared
killed in action on 5 December 1978.
 The award goes to: AB Luke Dryden
The Arthur N. Black Award is presented to the PJ graduate
who demonstrated overall superior esprit de corps, motivation,
and teamwork. This award is named in honor of Air Force
Cross recipient, Pararescuemen Airman Third Class Arthur N.
Black. Airman Black was held as a prisoner of war from
September 1965 until February 1973. He was the first enlisted
Air Force Cross recipient of the Vietnam War and was
nd
battlefield-promoted to 2 Lieutenant for his esprit de corps,
motivation and teamwork while a POW.

The award goes to: SrA Brandon Forshaw
The Duane D. Hackney Award is presented to the top over-all
PJ graduate who demonstrated the highest degree of
leadership, professionalism, honor, and dedication to duty.
This award is named in honor of Airman Second Class Duane D.
Hackney, who at 19 years of age was the youngest enlisted
man to be awarded the Air Force Cross and was the most
decorated Air Force enlisted man of the Vietnam War.

The award goes to: A1C Patrick McNeely
Page 44
The Lt. Colonel Don Flickinger Award is given to the Combat
Rescue Officer graduate, who demonstrates the highest degree
of leadership, professionalism, academic achievement, and
dedication to duty. This award is named after Lt. Col. Donald D.
Flickinger, a flight surgeon. Lt. Col. Flickinger’s most famous
rescue came in August of 1943. Lt. Col. Flickinger volunteered,
along with Sgt. Harold Passey and Cpl. William MacKenzie, to
parachute into the Burmese jungle to rescue 21 downed
airmen. Although parachute rescues were not officially
authorized at the time, this mission is considered by all PJs to
be the birth of Air Force Pararescue. Famous CBS reporter Eric
Sevareid said of his rescuers: "gallant is a precious word: they
deserve it".

The award goes to: Capt. Nicholas Morgans
♦
“Congratulations” and “A Job Well Done” from all
your new brothers in the Pararescue Association
♦
ANNOUNCEMENT
The USAF Pararescue and Combat
Rescue Officer School
Commander, Commandant, staff, and
graduating class,
requests your company at the
graduation banquet of Class 2010-01
Friday, 16 April 2010
1700 (Social) 1830 (Dinner)
To be held at the Marriott Hotel
2101 Luisiana Blvd NE Albuquerque, NM
87110 (505)-881-6800
Meal: TBD
PRICE: $25.00 Cash or Check Only
(505) 853-7301 or DSN 246-7301
Checks Payable to: USAF Pararescue & Combat
Rescue Officer School
3700 Randolph Ave., Bldg 437
Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-5726
Military: Service Dress
Civilian: Semi-Formal
R.S.V.P. by 01 April 2010
POC: SSgt Lennell DeLoatch
SSgt Willie Moore
505-235-9865
♦
Payment due by 1 April 2010
No refunds after 10 April 2010
Page 45
From: The Kirtland Air Force Base Nucleus
Friday, October 23, 2009
Contributed by Bill Vargas
PARARESCUEMEN: IN LIKE GUERILLAS, OUT
LIKE DOCTORS
The monument at the Pararescue School here is of the man
who epitomizes the essence of what it means to become a
member of the Air Force Pararescue Team. Airman First Class
William H. Pitsenbarger is memorialized with a statue depicting
him kneeling on the ground; gun in hand, medical kit beside
him, looking up at the helicopter as it flies away from his drop
spot.
Airman Pitsenbarger received a posthumous Medal of Honor in
2000 for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his
life above and beyond the call of duty.”
He died April 11, 1966 in Vietnam. He assisted in evacuating
wounded service members, repelling the enemy and refused
evacuation himself as he continued to treat the wounded.
A larger-than-life bronze of Airman Pitsenbarger, “Pits” for
short, is supposed to grace the entrance of the new PJ campus
now under construction in the former Zia Housing area. The
plan is to move Pits inside the entrance of the main building
after it is complete. Funds are still being collected so that the
memorial can be made. For more information, go to
www.pitsenbargermemorial.net
What does a PJ do? A PJ performs as the essential surface-air
link in personnel recovery and material recovery by functioning
as the rescue and recovery specialist on flying status as mission
crew or as surface elements:
* Provides rapid response capability and operates in the six
geographic disciplines (mountain, desert, arctic, urban, jungle
and water) in day or night, including friendly, denied, hostile or
sensitive areas.
* Provides assistance in and performs survival, evasion,
resistance and escape
* Provides emergency trauma and field medical care and
security
* Moves recovered personnel and materiel to safety or friendly
control when recovery by aircraft is not possible.
Qualification training to become an apprentice PJ begins with a
selection process that involves physical fitness, academic
testing and a determination that the candidate has an intense
motivation to become a Pararescueman. If selected to
continue training, students go through at least 18 months of
rigorous training, learning everything from sky diving, scuba
diving, combat rescue, conventional medicine and combat
medicine. After successful completion of all this training, the
new PJ has earned the right to wear the maroon beret with the
Pararescue badge and bloused jump boots.

PJ WINS LANCE P. SIJAN USAF
LEADERSHIP AWARD
On behalf of the 720 STG/CC, Col Bradley P.
Thompson is proud to announce that SSgt Gino P.
Kahaunaele, from the 24 STS, is the AF-level winner
for 2009 Lance P. Sijan USAF Leadership Award,
Junior Enlisted Category. Please congratulate "Kbar" for his hard work and great achievement.
TSgt Julie E. R. Gutierrez
NCOIC, Group Commanders Support Staff
720th Special Tactics Group
223 Cody Ave Hurlburt Field, FL 32544
Subject: 2009 Lance P. Sijan USAF Leadership Award
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009
He is only the second PJ to be awarded this
prestigious award in our rich and honorable
history!!!!
SMSgt Ramon Colon-Lopez
24th STS/SEA
(910) 243-0255
Subject: RE: 2009 Lance P. Sijan USAF Leadership
Award
Gino truly had an outstanding year and we are very
honored to serve with him here at the mighty 2-4.
His sound leadership and tactical deftness attest to
the caliber of man he is and this award is testament
of such. A big Hoo-Yah to our brother at arms K-Bar
for being the first ever PJ Junior NCO to receive this
prestigious award!
SMSgt Ramon Colon-Lopez
24th STS/SEA
Page 46
As a result of negative inflation and the consumer price index
going down over the past year the Social Security
Administration has announced there will be no COLA this year
for Social Security recipients. Under federal law VA’s COLAs
cannot exceed the Social Security COLAs. Therefore, VA is
barred from making a COLA increase for recipients of its
benefits.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2010
VA STATEMENT ABOUT 2010 BENEFITS AND
PROGRAMS
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
wants to inform Veterans and other beneficiaries of the
following changes that will take effect in 2010:
VA will Freeze Increase in Prescription Copayments: Any
increase in Veterans out-of-pocket payments for
pharmaceuticals will be delayed until June 30, 2010. This
means the department will delay a scheduled $1 increase – to
$9 – in the copayments facing Veterans for each 30-day supply
of medicine for the treatment of conditions not related to
military service. During this period, VA will also keep $960 as
the maximum, annual out-of-pocket payments for
pharmaceuticals for non-service-related conditions. The $960
cap will not apply to Veterans in priority groups seven and
eight. The yearly maximum out-of-pocket payment was
scheduled to increase to $1,080. There are no copayments
associated with the treatment of conditions related to military
service.
VA will Distribute Insurance Dividends: Approximately 900,000
Veterans are in line to share $286.4 million in annual insurance
dividends during 2010. VA operates one of the nation’s largest
life insurance programs, providing more than $1 Trillion in
coverage to seven million service members, Veterans, and
family members. These payments will be made to insurance
policy holders on the anniversary date of their policies.
Payments will be sent automatically through different payment
plans and the amounts will vary based on the age of the
Veteran, the type of insurance, and the length of time the
policy has been in place. Consistent with private mutual
insurance company practice, the VA is returning a portion of
premium payments back to policyholders because the agency
had strong financial results.
Veterans who have questions about their policies may contact
the VA insurance toll-free number at 1-800-669-8477 send an
email to [email protected]. They may also visit the Internet
at www.insurance.va.gov.
No Adjustment in COLA for Disability Compensation + Pension
Benefits:
VA provides compensation and pension benefits to over 3.8
million Veterans and other beneficiaries. Presently, the basic
monthly rate of compensation paid to Veterans ranges from
$123 to $2,673. Annual income limits for disability pension
begin at $11,830 for a Veteran without dependents and
increase for Veterans who have dependents, who are
housebound, or who need regular aid and attendance.
Veterans who have questions about their benefits may contact
the VA’s financial benefits toll-free number at 1-800-827-1000
or go to www.vba.va.gov/VBA.
♦
From Chuck Morrow
Sat 1/9/2010
Costly Agent Orange-Heart Disease Link
Looms – An Editorial Opinion
Tom Philpott
www.military.com
December 31, 2009
The cost of war -- on veterans’ health and taxpayer wallets -will loom a little larger in the New Year when the Department
of Veterans Affairs issues a final rule to claim adjudicators to
presume three more diseases of Vietnam veterans, including
heart disease, were caused by exposure to Agent Orange.
The rule, expected to be published soon, will make almost any
veteran who set foot in Vietnam, and is diagnosed with
Parkinson’s disease, B cell leukemia or ischemic heart disease
(known also as coronary artery disease), eligible for disability
compensation and VA medical care. The exception would be if
credible evidence surfaces of a non-service cause for the
ailment.
Katie Roberts, VA press secretary, said no estimates will be
available on numbers of veterans impacted or the potential
cost to VA until after the rule change takes effect sometime in
2010. But the National Association for Uniformed Services was
told by a VA official that up to 185,000 veterans could become
eligible for benefits and the projected cost to VA might reach
$50 billion, said Win Reither, a retired colonel on NAUS’
executive board.
NAUS also advised members that VA, to avoid aggravating its
claims backlog, intends to “accept letters from family
Page 47
physicians supporting claims for Agent Orange-related
conditions.” It said thousands of widows whose husbands died
of Agent Orange disabilities also will be eligible for retroactive
benefits and VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.
In last October’s announcement he said VA “must do better
reviews of illnesses that may be connected to service, and we
will. Veterans who endure health problems deserve timely
decisions based on solid evidence.”
“This is huge,” said Ronald Abrams, co-director of the National
Veterans Legal Services Program. NVLSP has represented
veterans in Agent Orange lawsuits for the last 25 years. The
non-profit law group publishes the “Veterans Benefits Manual,”
a 1900-page guide for veterans’ advocates to navigate the
maze for VA claims, appeals and key court decisions.
When a disease is added to VA’s list of ailments tied to Agent
Orange, veterans with the disease can become eligible for
retroactive disability payments, back to the date original claims
were rejected, if after 1985.
Abrams said he can’t guess at how many more thousands of
veterans previously denied disability claims, or how many
thousands more who haven’t filed claims yet, will be eligible for
benefits. But numbers, particularly of those with heart disease,
will be very large, he suggested.
All of the veterans “who have been trying to link their heart
condition to a service-connected condition won’t have to do it
now if they’re Vietnam vets,” Abrams said. For VA, it will mean
“a significant amount of money -- and many, many, many
people helped.”
The excitement over expansion of benefits for Vietnam
veterans, and worry by some within the Obama administration
over cost, flows from an announcement last October by VA
Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. He said three categories would be
added to the list of diseases the VA presumes were caused by
Agent Orange. Veterans with the presumptive Agent Orange
ailments can get disability compensation if they can show they
made even a brief visit to Vietnam from 1962 to 1975. With a
presumptive illness, claim applicants don’t have to prove, as
other claimants do, a direct association between their medical
condition and military service.
Shinseki said he based his decision on work of the Institute of
Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies. VA contracts with
IOM to gather veterans’ health data and investigate links
between diseases and toxic herbicide used in Vietnam to
destroy vegetation and expose enemy positions.
In a speech last July, Shinseki, former Army chief of staff and a
wounded veteran of Vietnam, expressed frustration that “40
years after Agent Orange was last used in Vietnam, this
secretary is still adjudicating claims for presumption of serviceconnected disabilities tied to its toxic effects.” VA and the
Defense Department should have conducted conclusive studies
earlier on presumptive disabilities from Agent Orange, he
suggested.
“The scientific method and the failure to advocate for the
veteran got in the way of our processes,” Shinseki bluntly
concluded.
Joe Violante, legislative director for Disabled American
Veterans, praised Shinseki’s decision. But he said VA faces a
“logistical nightmare” in trying to find veterans turned down on
earlier on claims. A VA official told Violante, he said, that cost
of the search could be part of that nightmare.
Chairman of government affairs for Vietnam Veterans of
America until last October was John Miterko. He said he wasn’t
surprised that Shinseki added ailments to the Agent Orange
presumptive list including heart disease.
“If you look at the Vietnam veteran population, the diseases
we’ve contracted and the mortality rate, the only group dying
faster rate are the World War II veterans,” Miterko said.
“We’re picking up diseases by our ‘60s that we shouldn’t be
getting until our late ‘70s, early ‘80s. So his adding other
diseases, heart disease in particular isn’t a surprise.”
Both Shinseki and his predecessor, James Peake, former Army
surgeon general, had long military careers and served in
Vietnam. “That’s a hell of a bonus for us,” Miterko said. Both
of them have shown “much more empathy, much more
understanding. They would have seen many of their own peer
group suffering from the effects of exposure to Agent Orange.”
Miterko doesn’t believe anyone can estimate how many
veterans will benefit from the new presumptive diseases. VA
will continue to process claims individually, he said, and likely
won’t be accepting Agent Orange as the cause of heart disease
for someone “who has smoked for 40 years and is morbidly
obese. Common sense is going to have to prevail as well.”
To comment, send e-mail to [email protected] or write to Military Update,
P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111
Agent Orange was one of the weed-killing chemicals used by the U.S.
military in the Vietnam War. It was sprayed to remove leaves from trees
that enemy troops hid behind. Agent Orange and similar chemicals were
known as “herbicides.” Agent Orange was applied by airplanes,
helicopters, trucks and backpack sprayers.
In the 1970’s some veterans became concerned that exposure to Agent
Orange might cause delayed health effects. One of the chemicals in Agent
Orange contained small amounts of dioxin (also known as “TCDD”), which
had been found to cause a variety of illnesses in laboratory animals. More
recent studies have suggested that dioxin may be related to several types
of cancer and other disorders
Page 48
A follow-up to a story in a previous edition of Canopy Chatter
A HABIT OF HEROISM
By John T. Correll
airforce-magazine.com
Vol. 93, No. 1 January 2010
With 200 combat missions as a PJ in Vietnam, Duane Hackney
was the most decorated airman in the Air Force.
Duane Hackney was not one to make much of his own
accomplishments and adventures. Anything but. He claimed
that he joined the Air Force “on a whim” to “get out of cutting
the grass back home.” He said he wound up in the pararescue
specialty because that was the shortest line at the career
counseling center when he was in basic training. Hackney
married in 1982, but did not tell his wife—a post-Vietnam
generation member of the Air Force—about his combat record.
She discovered that her husband was a war hero when she
read about him while studying for a promotion test.
Even
for
heroes,
heroism is usually a onetime event, but Duane
D. Hackney made a
habit of it. He was the
most decorated airman
in the Air Force. Eight
rows
of
ribbons
stretched from the top
of his pocket up to his
collar. Many of them
were for individual acts
of valor, earned during
200 combat missions in
Vietnam. They included
the Air Force Cross, the
Silver
Star,
the
Distinguished
Flying
Cross with three oak
Air Force pararescue jumper Duane
leaf
clusters,
the
Hackney on duty in Southeast Asia,
Airman’s Medal, and the
checking the jungle penetrator on his
HH-3 helicopter.
Air Medal with 18 oak
leaf clusters. In later
years, Hackney favored long-sleeved uniform shirts, which
covered some of the burn scars on his arms.
Hackney was born in Flint, Mich., in June 1947. He lettered in
football, baseball, and swimming at Beecher High School and
joined the Air Force in June 1965. Qualifying as a pararescue
jumper, or PJ, took about a year. It included medical and scuba
training, combat survival school, jump school at Ft. Benning,
Ga., Army Ranger school, topped off by “goat lab” at Eglin AFB,
Fla.
He was smaller than some in his PJ class, but Hackney was
stronger than he looked. At Ft. Benning, a contingent of Navy
SEALs lost money betting that their champion could outlast
Hackney in one-handed push-ups. He was the honor graduate
of his group and got his choice of assignments. He chose
Vietnam. “The top graduates got lucky and could pick
Vietnam,” he said. “Others got stuck with Bermuda or England.
We all knew where the action was.”
He began his first combat tour Sept. 27, 1966, at Da Nang, the
northernmost US air base in Vietnam, 85 miles south of the
Demilitarized Zone. Da Nang was already known as “Rocket
City” because of the frequent Viet Cong and North Vietnamese
mortar and rocket attacks.
It was also home to the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery
Squadron whose mission was to go get pilots who had been
shot down or other troops stranded behind enemy lines. The
conspicuous stars of ARRS were the PJs, who went down on
jungle penetrators, often under fire, to bring out the wounded.
The squadron flew the HH-3E, most famous of the rescue
helicopters and called the “Jolly Green Giant” because of its
green and brown camouflage. The rescue helicopters flew in
pairs. The “low bird” picked up the survivor. The “high bird”
waited nearby, ready to help if needed, or to extract the low
bird crew if they were shot down themselves.
Into the Fray
Hackney was an airman second class, as the two-stripe E-3
grade was then called. He flew his first rescue mission within a
week of arriving in Vietnam. On Oct. 2, he was the PJ on Jolly
Green 36, an HH-3E that recovered a fighter pilot on the
ground eight miles southeast of Sam Neua in Laos.
Hackney (l) and TSgt. Phil Resos, snapped with their mascot, the Jolly
Green Giant.
It was a surge time for traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the
infiltration route that ran down the western side of the Annam
Mountains, through the Laotian panhandle into South Vietnam
and Cambodia. Access to the trail from North Vietnam was
through several mountain passes, the main one being the Mu
Page 49
Gia Pass, about 75 miles above the DMZ. It was there that
Hackney flew his most famous mission on Feb. 6, 1967.
Early that morning, Capt. Lucius L. Heiskell, a forward air
controller from Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, flying low and slow
in a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, was shot down just north of Mu Gia.
He parachuted into a small valley several miles to the east, an
area of rugged karst and thick jungle growth. Heiskell made
contact on his survival radio with circling aircraft but signed off
after a few minutes because he heard enemy search parties
approaching.
Two Jolly Green rescue helicopters scrambled from Nakhon
Phanom, just across the Laotian panhandle from Mu Gia, at
10:05 a.m., and reached the pass half an hour later. The high
bird, Jolly Green 36, remained on orbit, while Maj. Patrick H.
Wood threaded the low bird, Jolly Green 05, along the valley,
avoiding 37 mm guns firing from the north ridge. Wood
hovered above Heiskell’s last known position and sent down his
PJ. That was Hackney, who was on temporary duty at NKP. He
climbed on the penetrator and descended through three levels
of jungle growth. On the ground, he saw footprints but could
not find Heiskell, so the helicopters returned to NKP to await
further developments.
Heroism Runs in the Family
At 4:30 that afternoon, a fighter pilot at Mu Gia picked up a
radio message from Heiskell. The two Jolly Greens launched
again and got there an hour-and-a-half before dark. Two A-1H
“Sandy” attack aircraft were at the scene and in radio contact
with Heiskell. However, the mountaintops were hidden by
overcast, so the Sandys could not fly into the valley to provide
protection for the helicopter. The entire crew of Jolly Green 05
wanted to try the rescue anyway, and Wood decided to go in
without escort. The helicopter crew raised Heiskell on the
radio. He had some abrasions and minor injuries but was able
to direct the Jolly Green to his
location. Hackney went down for
him and three minutes later,
Wood reported that Heiskell was
aboard.
Back at NKP, Heiskell’s fellow
FACs gathered around the radio
at squadron operations, cheering
as they followed the news. The
jubilation did not last long. Jolly
Green 05 pulled out under heavy
ground
fire
and
almost
immediately radioed that “we’ve
been hit, we’ve been hit!” A
burst of 37 mm flak had torn into
Hackney (l) and a fellow PJ,
the helicopter amidships, causing
Sgt. William Flower, in a photo
severe damage and setting off a
from the early 1970s.
raging fire.
“I was bending over him [Heiskell] doing a medical evaluation
when flak hit us,” Hackney said. “There was smoke and flames
everywhere. The survivor reached out for help. I kept my
emergency parachute hanging on the forward bulkhead near
the left scanner’s window. I grabbed it and helped the survivor
put it on. I left the survivor by the crew entrance door and
headed aft to find another parachute. I found one hanging by
the ramp and began to put it on. That’s when the second burst
of flak hit us. There was an explosion and I was thrown
backwards—hard. I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. I tried to
get my balance and was surprised to see my helicopter flying
away from me. I had been blown out the aft ramp of the HH-3.
I did not have the parachute completely on yet, and was only a
couple of hundred feet above the treetops.”
He pulled the ripcord and held tight to the parachute harness.
The parachute was still opening when he hit the trees, but it
slowed his fall and left him suspended several feet above the
ground. He freed himself and climbed down. The helicopter,
out of control, crashed into a karst outcropping at high speed.
The high bird dropped down to pick up Hackney, but found no
trace of Heiskell or the other members of the Jolly Green 05
crew.
Hackney was in shock and badly burned, and when the
helicopter landed at NKP, he was exhausted and went “out like
a light” on the hospital stretcher. He awoke when he heard a
medical technician say he thought Hackney was dead. “That
really scared me,” he said.
He would later receive the Air Force Cross for his actions that
day. “With complete disregard for his own safety, Airman
Hackney fitted his parachute to the rescued man,” the citation
said. “In this moment of impending disaster, Airman Hackney
chose to place his responsibility to the survivor above his own
life.”
“Heroism seems to have run in Duane’s immediate family,” said
Robert L. LaPointe, a former PJ, author of PJs in Vietnam, and
keeper of the USAF Pararescue Association historical archive.
“His father won the Silver Star and Purple Heart in World War
II. He had kicked a Japanese grenade out of a foxhole and
jumped on three soldiers to protect them from the blast.
Duane said, ‘My father told me to keep my head down in
Vietnam. While I was [there] in the hospital, I got a letter from
dad. He wrote, I told you to keep your head down.’ ”
Hackney was back in action before the end of the month and
took part in another extraordinary mission several weeks later.
On March 13, two marine troop transport helicopters went
down just south of the DMZ, and Hackney was a PJ on one of
the HH-3Es sent to get the survivors. The crash site was on the
slope of a mountain ridge in jungle so thick that the rescue
hoist cable had to be fully extended 240 feet to reach the
ground. As Hackney rode up from his last descent, “bullets
Page 50
began to pepper the aircraft like popcorn popping,” the pilot’s
mission report said.
As Hackney worked on the wounded in the helicopter cabin, a
bullet grazed his helmet and knocked him out. He regained
consciousness shortly and resumed setting fractures and
applying tourniquets. His own injuries would have been worse,
but the emergency
radio in his pocket
had stopped a piece
of shrapnel. Both
he and the marine
wounded
were
treated at the field
hospital at Dong
Ha.
A Star Turn
Hackney (above and below), when he was
Military Airlift Command’s 1967 Airman of the
Year.
His Air Force Cross
was presented in
September and, at
the same
ceremony, he
received the Silver
Star for bravery
during a rocket
attack on Da Nang
July 15. “Airman
Hackney entered
the most heavily
damaged area while
the attack was
occurring and was
personally
responsible for
saving the lives of
six men,” the
citation said.
Hackney
“unhesitantly
approached burning
aircraft and
exploding ordnance
to rescue wounded
personnel.”
His combat tour ended in October 1967, and he was assigned
to the 41st Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron at
Hamilton AFB, Calif. He made the rounds of network television
programs interested in his story. He appeared on “The Tonight
Show” with Johnny Carson, and on the Ed Sullivan, Art
Linkletter, and Joey Bishop shows, and spent Christmas 1967 in
Monaco as the guest of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace.
Detroit, in his home state of Michigan, put on “Hackney Day,”
at which he was guest of honor. He was Military Airlift
Command Airman of the Year in 1967 and in 1968, he received
the Cheney Award, named for an airman killed in Italy in World
War I and given for “an act of valor, extreme fortitude, or selfsacrifice.”
Hackney returned to Vietnam for a second combat tour in
1970. His name shows up regularly on reports of air rescue
missions in North and South Vietnam and Laos. One of the
more eventful of these was a foray into Laos April 9, 1971, to
bring out four South Vietnamese soldiers who were encircled
by the enemy. Three HH-53Cs—larger than the HH-3 and with
more range—responded to the call. Hackney, by then a staff
sergeant, was one of three PJs on Jolly Green 70.
Heavy ground fire stopped the first attempt to lower the jungle
penetrator, and the lead PJ, A1C Ervin A. Petty, took out a .51caliber gun site with the helicopter’s left window minigun. The
South Vietnamese were on the slope of a hill, and Hackney
suggested a low hover and pulling them straight into the door
rather than using the hoist. Petty straddled Hackney in the
door, and Hackney pulled the soldiers high enough for Petty to
get them the rest of the way inside.
An Oct. 11, 1967 Air Force Times
recognition of Hackney’s rescue
exploit, for which he had the month
before been awarded the Air Force
Cross. (Army Times Publishing
Company)
The exchange of fire was
withering. An A-1H Sandy
was shot down. The three
miniguns on Jolly 70 were
spitting out 6,000 rounds
a
minute
and
the
helicopter had been hit in
No. 1 engine and other
critical areas. PJ A1C
Donald J. Pecoraro saw
Petty and Hackney go
down. Hackney’s helmet
had been hit, but he
appeared to have only a
flesh wound, along with
loss of balance and
difficulty standing and
walking. Petty’s wound
was worse. He was hit by
a .51-caliber round that
ripped away the back of
his right bicep.
Petty’s fellow PJs insisted
that he be taken to the
Army hospital at Da Nang. They had been there for medical
proficiency training and believed the doctors less quick to
amputate than at some facilities. Petty survived—and kept his
arm. Meanwhile, the medics noticed a bullet hole in Hackney’s
helmet and feared trouble. Incredibly, though, the bullet had
gone in at the front, looped across the top of his skull inside the
helmet, and exited at the back.
Page 51
“He did not want a Purple Heart,” said James Scott, a PJ who
roomed with Hackney for a while at Da Nang. “He did not want
any recognition. He just wanted to pull his share and do his
job.”
In 1973, Hackney was a tech sergeant with a line number for
promotion to master sergeant, but he decided to leave the Air
Force. For the next four years, he was a deputy in the Genesee
County Sheriff’s Department in his hometown of Flint. In 1977,
he returned to the Air Force, even though he had to take a cut
in grade. “The main reason I came back to the Air Force was
because I missed the traveling and camaraderie,” he told
Airman Magazine. “When I had an opportunity to get back in
uniform as an E-4, I jumped at it.”
A Sadly Short Retirement
He moved back through the ranks quickly, making staff
sergeant and tech sergeant at his first eligibility. He went
through rescue training again and became a PJ instructor. He
also served with special operations forces in Turkey and
Grenada.
Chief Hackney as he neared retirement.
While stationed in
England in 1980, he
took part in the
rescue of two British
civilians who had
been
mountain
climbing in Wales. He
sustained
several
injuries, including a
broken hip and a
fractured skull, during
that operation. In
1981, he had a heart
attack in England and
that was the end of
his days as a PJ.
Back from England, Hackney was assigned to the 23rd Air Force
intelligence division at Scott AFB, Ill. It was there that he met
Carole Matlack one day at the soda machine. She was a senior
airman at the Military Airlift Command Rescue
Communications and Control Center, and she had never heard
of Duane Hackney. When he was first at Da Nang, she said, “I
was five years old and did not really follow the news of
Vietnam.” They were married in 1982.
was First Sergeant of the Year in 8th Air Force in 1987, and was
a chief master sergeant when he retired in July 1991.
The Hackneys built a new home in Trout Run, Pa., and moved
there in November 1992. He attended Lycoming College in
nearby Williamsport, planning to become a nurse anesthetist.
Hackney had completed one full semester and was in his
second semester when he had another heart attack and died in
September 1993. He was 46. Visitors packed the funeral home
in Flint for three straight days to pay their respects. The Flint
Journal reported that the funeral procession was five miles
long.
He is not forgotten. In 2006, the Air Force Basic Military
Training Center at Lackland AFB, Tex., dedicated buildings to
nine enlisted heroes. One of them was named for Duane
Hackney. In 2009, he was inducted into the Michigan Aviation
Hall of Fame.
“When I arrived in Vietnam in 1971, Duane and others had set
high standards for us to follow,” says LaPointe of the USAF
Pararescue Association. “When one reads the facts concerning
Duane’s actions on the day he earned the Air Force Cross, many
would call his survival miraculous. Some claimed it was
instinctive, the result of intensive training. Regardless of how
Duane survived, he became an Air Force legend. Being a legend
after the Vietnam War was not an easy task. When asked about
his Air Force Cross, Duane often stated, ‘I was just doing my
job. Any one else in my situation would have done the same.’ ”
“Duane lived life to the very limit,” says Carole Hackney
Bergstrom, who now lives in Williamsport. “It seemed to me
that he lived every single day as if it might be his last. Every
single day he did as much as he could jam into one day. ... He
never did anything halfway. It was all or nothing. ... There is no
doubt in my mind that this all or nothing attitude is what got
Duane through Vietnam.”
airforce-magazine.com material is under copyright by the Air Force Association.
All rights reserved. The Air Force Association, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington,VA
22209-1198
♦
He did not talk about Vietnam, and it was from studying Air
Force history for her promotion test that she learned of what
her husband had done. Their son, Jason, was born in 1984.
Hackney did not like the intelligence work. He cross-trained
into the security police field and, in 1985, moved to K. I. Sawyer
AFB, Mich., a Strategic Air Command base, where he was first
sergeant of the security police squadron. He found the
responsibility of working with 450 airmen satisfying. Hackney
Page 52
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Page 53
Return Address:
P.O. Box 1304
Canopy Chatter
Quarter 1 2010
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Pararescue Association
SOME OF THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE …
PJs in Haiti
PJs in Afghanistan
Graduating Class 2009-03
Page 54

- (www.PJAssn.net).

Transcription

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