Another Look Behind the Curtain
Following up on my “Look Behind the Curtain” post from yesterday, comes this fascinating look at just one operation in Iraq, with a Predator drone identifying a target and American pilots responding from Michael Yon:
A group of four Kiowa Warrior pilots were only a few minutes away from the enemy, but their helicopters were on the ground and the engines were cold, while the pilots were waiting in a building near the runway, playing Guitar Hero to pass the time.
A soldier interrupted the Guitar Hero session, telling the pilots to get in the air. Orders would come over the radio. The pilots abandoned Guitar Hero and raced out the door into the cold night to their OH-58D Kiowa Warriors, economy-sized helicopters that would make a Ford Pinto seem spacious. The pilots crammed two each into the two helicopters, strapping in, cranking engines, while radio chatter had already started. The pilots learned that the Predator had identified a target, which it would laser-designate for a Hellfire shot from a Kiowa.
Yon, another independent journalist in Iraq, is providing the kind of coverage the mainstream media cannot due to budgetary reasons. Its expensive to put a modern news reporting team on the ground anywhere, much less a war zone. But the independents are filling the gap, for those who know how to seek them out.
