Training for war is dangerous, too
Old Trooper sends us a link from Fox News which reports the death of seven Marines in the deserts of Arizona;
The helicopters, an AH-1W “Cobra” and UH-1Y “Huey,” were conducting a routine training exercise at 8 p.m., the statement said. The helicopters were over southeast California in the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Dustin Dunk, the public affairs chief from the air station, said.
Maureen Dooley, a Miramar public affairs officer, told Fox News Radio that Marines use the training area because the terrain is similar to what they would face in Afghanistan. These training sessions help them gain some familiarity before they deploy.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation. But it’s a reminder that although war is dangerous, training for it everyday is just as dangerous. That’s why just making it to twenty years deserves a pension and life-long medical care. Garrison life is not all boot shining and polishing floors.
Category: Military issues
The only friends I ever lost in the service were from training accidents….
Old Tanker, Except for 2, it was the same for me. The wing I served with had 6 squadrons of P-3 Orions, and each aircraft had a crew of 10-14 men, depending upon the mission tasking. In an 18 month period, we lost 3 of them, with all onboard. On two of those “incidents” I lost a close friend. On one of them, I shared a meal just a few hours before he died. Even routine missions could turn bad very quickly. I apologize for the length here, but below is one of my own experiences I wrote about awhile back. Everyone has a similar story, I’m certain, that speaks to the dangers of just everyday service, echoing Jonn’s post above. Below is one of mine: ——————————————- My crew had been tasked out from Lajes Field, in the Azores, to track a Soviet Boomer (ballistic missile sub). About halfway through the mission, the flight crew determined that the fuel management system was acting up, and we couldn’t draw from the center fuel tank. Well, we quickly determined that we had sufficient fuel (barely) to get back to Lajes, but not to divert anywhere else. We declared an emergency and headed home. While enroute, a thunderstorm developed over the Island, and we began to encounter headwinds that slowed us down and increased our fuel consumption. It was already after dark, going on about 2100 hours when we hit the storm, about 10 miles out from Lajes. Now, the thing about Lajes Field is that the only place they could build the runway was down the middle of this long valley, with nice rocky hills along each side. It’s also perpendicular to the prevailing winds, so you ALWAYS have a crosswind. Then, the runway ends just before you reach a 200 foot cliff that drops off into the ocean. Lajes is like the world’s largest aircraft carrier, except that it doesn’t move, unless an earthquake hits, which they do. Fairly often. But I digress… We had to come in over the water and over the cliffs, and the wind was really picking… Read more »
“But it’s a reminder that although war is dangerous, training for it everyday is just as dangerous. That’s why just making it to twenty years deserves a pension and life-long medical care. Garrison life is not all boot shining and polishing floors.”
Amen, Jonn.
Condolences to the families.
Agreed. Condolences to the families, and may the fallen rest in peace.
But it’s not only field/flight/at sea training that can be dangerous. The closest I ever came to buying the proverbial farm probably wasn’t in Iraq or Afghanistan – it was while performing peacetime garrison-type duty in Korea. Long story; I’ll post it if there’s interest.
But at least no one got so scared that they had to change their shorts afterwards. At least not as far as I know. (smile)
Hondo,
Post away! It’s all good reading, and it’s very nice to hear how the other folks spent their time.
This caused a family scare today, I have a cousin that is a Cobra driver out that direction, and nobody had heard from him in a while.
War is risky business. To get the job done we have to do things that most people do not consider “safe”. Their losses shall be felt just as keenly as if they had died while at war.
AW1 Tim: May just do that. This post doesn’t really seem to be the appropriate place, though. If we have a post re: Korea in the near term future (or if one can point me at one from the reasonably recent past), I’ll look at posting it there.
I was an AF jet engine mech, F-15s the whole time. Never knew anybody who bit it myself. But while I was at Luke AFB in Phoenix, a young crew chief who was TDY (from Nellis in Vegas, I think) got a little too close to the inlet of an F-16 one night at the other end of the flight line. And while I was at Luke, my fiancée at Bitburg AB, W. Germany got assigned to pick up Eagle parts in the woods for a few days. Course, the morgue detail had already been through, but she said every so often she’d get a whiff of what she thought was burnt flesh.
Both “training accidents,” of course.
‘Cuz if you’re not in a war, you’re training.
Sigh.
The worst I saw was a grunt that got run over by a tank there at Camp Pendleton. Marines getting sick left and right!
Rest in Peace Marines.
An audio report I heard this evening, had some female soldier chiming up about how she could not understand why there was a need to train at night. “I mean, it’s dangerous to do that.”
They actually had to get a response from the military to explain why they were training at night.
Is or military that far gone?
Yat Yas
Having been a tanker, that was the nature of both my friends accidents. Rollovers, both were loaders that couldn’t get back in the turret in time. One was in a creek and both were at night.
As I was hitting the hay last night, I suddenly remembered another story of military people dying stateside in peacetime. But unlike the idiot wench who asked why they had to do dangerous stuff at night, this time it was because of one insatiable ego who did dangerous stuff with government property — and personnel — for kicks.
You’ll probably remember the story: 1994, Fairchild AFB here in Spokane WA. A “hot-stick” a-hole pilot cranked his B-52 into a 90-degree bank while flying low and slow, with results that were predictable, even if you weren’t an aerodynamics engineer.
I lived in Phoenix at the time, but never forgot the startling video footage. (And then YouTube comes along, years later.)
Lt. Col. A-hole had been reprimanded numerous times for this kind of crap, albeit only verbally. He called the numerous aircrew who refused to fly with him “pussies.”
Ironically, the only officer who’d tried to stop A-hole was his co-pilot that day, and they had two other cols. on board with them. All four bit it. Hard.
Worse yet, the col. to whom A-hole’s co-pilot had strenuously complained refused to ground A-hole. He also intended to be on board that day, considering it a “choice sortie,” but he was called away at the last minute and replaced with another officer. He was ultimately court martialed for 2 counts of dereliction of duty, received a written reprimand, and got to give up $1,500 of salary a month for five months and look at himself in the mirror every day for the rest of his life.
Sadly, that flight was to be the final flight before one of the passengers retired, and his friends and family were waiting for the craft to land so they could greet him and douse him with water. A helluva thing to have to see.
Here’s one detailed recounting.
And another.
All that we did and do is dangerous, because it’s supposed to be.
But we have no call to make it more dangerous than it needs to be.
[…] somber reminder: Training is dangerous. February 29th, 2012 Just a few days since the Marine Helo Crash there has been another training accident. This time it is the US Coast Guard. Authorities sent […]