If you had asked me a month ago if I was a particular fan of helicopters, I would have rolled my eyes. But that was before I saw this cool-as-hell send-off video for the 4-6 Heavy Attack Reconnaissance Squadron Apache unit.
An AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter lands during a combined arms demonstration as part of South Carolina National Guard Air & Ground Expo 2009 at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., Oct. 10, 2009. (U.S. Army/Sgt. Roberto Di Giovine)
Welcome to Confessions Of, an occaisional series where Task & Purpose's James Clark solicits hilarious, embarrassing, and revealing stories from troops and vets about their job, billet, or a tour overseas. Are you in an interesting assignment and think you might have something to share? Email james@taskandpurpose.com with your story.
"Nothing is more powerful than a young boy's wish. Except an Apache helicopter. An Apache helicopter has machine guns and missiles. It is an unbelievably impressive complement of weaponry, an absolute death machine."
While this Patrick Stewart quote may be from an R-rated movie about a talking teddy bear, it's remarkably accurate. After all, the old warhorse has been kicking ass since it was first adopted by the U.S. Army in the 1980s. Designed to get into trouble fast and put it down even faster, the AH-64 Apache usually comes bristling with ordnance, from an M230 chain gun firing 30mm rounds to Hellfire missiles and rockets.
In the words of Tyler Merritt "it's basically a fucking flying tank."
The competition to be the next Army helicopter is heating up. On June 20th, Sikorsky's S-97 Raider once again took flight completing a 90-minute demonstration, the first since an August 2017 crash caused by flight software errors grounded the program
I don't know anything about Michigan politics, or really care for that matter, but I spotted a new 30-second spot from John James, a former West Pointer and now businessman running for the U.S. Senate, and I'd like to talk about it.
U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. John Nimmo, Sr.
On April 18, during an unannounced visit to Baghdad, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced an additional 217 American troops and a fleet of AH-64 Apache helicopters will be deployed to Iraq to assist local forces in the upcoming assault on Mosul, which is widely expected to be one of the bloodiest — if not the bloodiest — battles of the campaign against the Islamic State thus far.
