Vets flock to copter exhibit - Center hopes Huey will draw crowds

I was in St. Louis about a month ago when an Apache flew over us. I was riding with my Dad, and we followed it until it landed in a field for a presentation.

It was one of the neatest things I have ever experienced. One father was holding his daughter, and explaining that "that man (the pilot) protects our freedoms." When the rotors stopped, men, women and children rushed to it to look at it upclose and meet the pilot and co-pilot.

I was so proud to be an American -- to be able to see a military helicopter fly overhead and not be afraid, and then to be able to approach the craft and talk to the pilot without fear.

My eyes welled with tears in gratitude for our freedom as I stood in front of the helicopter and faced it head-on!

I know what you mean!

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The Tampa Tribune Brooksville Guard Chopper Unit May Go To Iraq By JIM TUNSTALL jtunstall@tampatrib.com Published: Nov 8, 2003 [full text] BROOKSVILLE - Michele Riley remembers the deadly crash of a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter in Somalia in 1993.

Her husband was in flight school at the time, learning to fly a similar craft.

On Friday, 10 years later, the Spring Hill woman awoke to news of another Black Hawk down - this time in Tikrit, Iraq, killing six soldiers in an apparent attack with a rocket-propelled grenade.

``It really hit home. It made his job a reality,'' Riley said. ``I'm very nervous, and our son [Hunter, 9] says it's not going to be the same without Dad home. But I have full faith in him. He's a great leader.''

Scott Riley may not be home because there is a flip side to U.S. military units coming home from Iraq. Others have to replace them.

And he's among 74 members of the Florida National Guard's 171st Aviation Battalion that may get the call soon.

Thursday, the Brooksville-based unit was put on alert, meaning its members and their eight Black Hawks could be sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or somewhere in this country for homeland security.

Scott Riley, 33, a second lieutenant and full-time maintenance test pilot, joined the 171st two years ago after a 10-year hitch in the Army.

He left the Army in favor of the Guard because on active duty he faced the likelihood of a fourth ``hardship tour,'' he said. ``I'd served two tours in Bosnia and one in Korea, so I got out. Now I may be going on my fourth anyway.''

The Boynton Beach native will be joined by Chief Warrant Officer Jerry Furlong and others in a mission that could have them ferrying troops and equipment across Iraqi soil.

``They made [the alert] official Thursday, but rumors had been flying,'' said Furlong, 27, a Bartow native. ``I figure, hey, let's go get it done. We've lost a lot of people over there, but that's par for the course. We knew it wasn't going to be an easy task. This is what we do.''

Friday's fatal U.S. helicopter crash was the third in two weeks, raising the death toll to 32 in the bloodiest seven days for Americans in Iraq since Baghdad's fall.

The local pilots were stoic about theirprospects.

``We try to learn something from it,'' Riley said of the crash.

Many Florida Guard families had been hopeful since the military confirmed last week more than 1,000 Floridians among the first deployed to Iraq can expect to leave the region between Feb. 10 and March 11.

Thursday's alert is akin to a warning order, said Jon Myatt, spokesman for the Florida Department of Military Affairs in Jacksonville.

``There's a rotation [of troops], and they probably will be deployed,'' he said. ``There's a good chance they will be mobilized before Christmas.''

Riley and Furlong will take a piece of home with them.

``Pictures of family and friends,'' Riley said.

``And some Gator stuff,'' Furlong said.

``I'm a big Gator fan.''

Reporter Jim Tunstall can be reached at (352) 628-5558.

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Thank God for our wonderful military and their famlies.

"Thank God for our wonderful military and their families."

Amen!

"It looks just like it did 31 years ago," said Antienowicz, who served with the Army's 17th Air Cavalry, H Troop in Vietnam. "It brings back memories of the missions we were on. It's weird, you see Hueys all the time, but this is one we were on."

Records obtained by the Veterans Center, shows that helicopter 71-20139 was delivered to the Army in June 1972. By August, it was one of about five being used by the H Troop of the 17th Air Cavalry in Vietnam. The records show that from March 1973, the helicopter was on loan to NASA, when actually it was in service with Air America, according to pilots who flew for the organization. Their logs show the helicopter number, the flight time and destination.

I wonder if it's the most famous of the Air America Hueys:

Air America Huey taking off from MACV
Team outpost in Chau Doc Province, An
Phu District in 1969, about 1 km from
the Cambodian border.
Photograph Submitted By Scott Phillips

I almost got on with AA as a structural mech.
Ah well.

How can one ever forget the sound?
No sound like it.
I remember seeing AirCav coming back to Chu Lai in a long line. looked like huge dragonflys skimming over the ground.
And the sound. wock, wock, wock.