10/1/2003: PA National Guard in Afghanistan

[zippyt]

bruce said "To unload just open the rear ramp then squat and poop troops. "

I can tell you from personal experence that i would much rather get "pooped" from a chinook than any other helocopter because of the tail rotor (or lack there of ). When ever we got "pooped" from any thing other than a chinook there was ALLWAYS some "airdale" or "zoomie" pointing the way to go ( like we couldn't see the tail rotor ) . I did see a chinook almost go down once , they were trying to land on a flight deck of a LPD in rough seas , the flight deck was pithcing and rolling , the piolet tryed to match the rais and fall of the ship but didn't quite get it right . the helocopter and the ship hit so hard it knocked most of us off our feet . I as usual had gotten stuck on loaders platoon , helos were bringing equipment back from land ( jeeps and the such ) . We would wait for the jeep to hit the deck , bust the rigging loose then drive the jeep below decks . This was fun untill a jeep didn't start when it was suposed to , the driver didn't put the parking brake on , the jeep rolled accross the flight deck untill one wheel was hanging off the edge , Damn good thing I got that jeep going or else i would have been sleeping with the fishes !!!!!