A day in a Cali National Guard Medical Mission, Dominican Republic, Army Air Mobile Ops

A Day of political protest gets dangerous.

An in bound Black Hawk 1 of 3 hops left to come in is carrying 14 US ARMY Air Force and Host Nation Security Forces. This Bird at 700ft on approach yo land DRAWS FIRE from protestors in the town below only a 1000 meters from our Base Camp perimeter.

3 more Choppers were in bound at that time, I immediately began scanning the perimeter for any approaching mobs who new our only (LZ)landing was our base camp the local 3 star luxury Hotel in town.

After determining an immediate threat to the safety of inbound birds with 24 personel, I began communicating to our Radio Operator to get to HQ and Filght Command that we need to redirect our incoming birds to approach from the West South West to avoid the chance of any further risk to mission personnel by flying over a known hot spot.

Later local news reported a grave mistake made by protestors thinking that their army was deploying forces to answer to the protesting.

The Flight Commander confirmed the danger as small arms fire safe altitudes start a 3500 ft. our birds were at 700 ft.
He confirmed this with a story about Iraq and Small arms from the ground. Also I found out that the pilots are protected with extra armor under their seats but otherwise the chopper and personnel were very Vulnerable!

Category:

News & Politics

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