Page 1 of Confessions of an Apache Pilot

CHAPTER 1

Captain Jennifer Walker

My eyes shot open to the sound of blaring alarms and my body being pressed tightly into my seat. I looked around wide eyed for a second until my mind caught up. Someone was shooting at us and the aircraft’s pilot was maneuvering out of the line of fire. The alarms were a nice touch, as if getting thrown back and forth in your seat wasn’t an indicator of trouble.

We were crammed into the back of a C-17, an oversized airplane with no windows, no movie, and no inflight meal. Not that we expected any of those things, but it was fun to joke with the flight crew about it. Fun for us. I’m pretty sure they heard these jokes daily. But they smiled and played along.

I glanced over at Sarah, my medic, and Karolyn, my crew chief. “What the hell, Cap? These guys are even rougher than you,” Sarah said, her face pale. She gave me a weak grin. Karolyn looked ready to puke. There was a greenish tint to her usually tanned complexion.

Giving Sarah an unamused look, I tightened my seatbelt. It was cinched down as much as it would go and I was still being tossed around like a ragdoll. Something tickled my nose and I brushed loose strands of hair out of my face. The jostling around had knocked my bun loose. “Come on, it's not that bad. We did worse maneuvers back in Texas.”

I was a Black Hawk Helicopter pilot with the U.S. Army. We flew medical evacuation missions, MEDEVAC for short. Karolyn was our mechanic, it was her job to keep the helicopter running. Sarah had the fun job of keeping the wounded alive until we could fly them to safety. Though I’d been flying for six years and we’d been working together as a team for more than three. We trusted each other with our lives on a daily basis.

“I don’t remember you ever making Karolyn throw up,” Sarah said with another grin. Karolyn just tucked her head between her legs, not bothering to answer. The aircraft rolled hard to the right, throwing us to the side again.

“We must be landing, feel the way we’re in a tight spiral? The pilot is keeping us over the airfield so that whoever shot at us doesn’t get a second chance. We’ll be on the ground soon.” My voice was tight, but calm. It was my job to keep everyone relaxed and focused.

There was a pair of young soldiers in the seat across from us and their eyes were wide as dinner plates. These guys were fine with being shot at, but they weren’t used to the idea of falling out of the sky. Everyone looked a bit green in the face and I wondered if the Air Force flight crew realized they were going to have a massive mess to clean up. This wasn’t the kind of flight that had puke bags for people. Too bad for whoever was responsible for hosing out the plane.

Karolyn's hand emerged from her lap with a thumbs up. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was a little queasy myself. That was the irony with helicopter pilots and their crews. We were fine when we were in control, but never really comfortable as passengers. It would be better once we were on the ground and on our way to our own aircraft.

The plane leveled back out and I let out a breath of relief. The pilot was trying to slow down quickly because it felt like the nose of the airplane was pointing straight up. The seats shook as the wheels made contact with the runway, and we finally came to an abrupt stop.

Silence was heavy around us and I knew more than a few of the guys were thanking whichever deity they believed in that we’d made it down in one piece. I grinned and glanced over at my girls.

“Alright gang, time to go.” I stepped into the aisle, waiting to get off the plane. Already the heat from outside was invading. It was thick and wrapped itself around me as I began to sweat. My hair stuck to my neck, making me regret not properly fixing my bun. Too late now.

“Holy hell it’s hot out here.” Sarah and I both turned and looked at Karolyn. “What? I’m roasting and we just got here,” Karolyn complained as she reached the ground. Sarah looked back at me and rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Just grab your bags and let's get inside before we pass out from heat exhaustion.” I told her, shaking my head. Karolyn wasn’t wrong. The heat here was worse than Texas, and standing on the tarmac wasn’t helping matters.

We watched as the forklifts unloaded our bags, sweat trickling down my back while they picked up pallets of equipment and dropped them off near us. That was typical of the military; hurry up and wait. The base rose up out of the desert like a sleeping beast.

This was Bagram air base. It was the largest military base in Afghanistan. It might as well have been a small city. I couldn’t even see the end of the runway. The place was massive. With any luck we’d get to see more of it in the next few days.

“Alright everyone, follow me. I’ll show you to your barracks for the night,” an Airman called out. With our bags finally in hand we followed him over to a large warehouse building. Inside were rows of at least a hundred sleeping cots. “Female changing room is to the north end, male changing room is to the south end,” he said, pointing to each.

A temporary co-ed space wasn’t uncommon. We were only here for one night, then everyone on the plane would be scattered across the country. I was used to sharing close quarters with other soldiers, men and women. You got used to the cramped space and lack of privacy quickly. You also learned to sleep through hundreds of men snoring or you went without. It was better to sleep.

The next morning, we wasted no time gathering our things and getting out of the barracks. We headed back to the flightline where we met our personnel sergeant, Ariel, inside one of the maintenance hangers.

“Hi,” she greeted us with a smile. We introduced ourselves, then settled in to hear her report. “First off, you’re not staying here in Bagram like you were supposed to. You’re heading into a bit of a mess,” she admitted.

My brows shot up. “Really?” I didn’t ask anything more. She was sure to tell me what to expect. I’d found it was best to wait for the explanation versus assume. And there was no point in getting agitated at the changes. That was another thing the Army was famous for. If you had a plan of any kind, they’d be sure to derail it.

Ariel motioned for me to follow her to a quiet part of the hanger. I wasn’t in the habit of keeping things from my crew, but she was our unit's senior personnel officer. She worked directly for the unit commander, so if she thought something warranted discretion, she was probably right.

“You’re being sent to Mazar E Sharif, or MES for short.” She held up her hand, silencing me before I could ask. “It's the northernmost base, just outside the city of Mazar. There was an incident up there, a big fallout between the MEDEVAC crew and the Apache crews. Big enough that the whole MEDEVAC team is being broken up. That’s why you and your team are being sent in to replace some of them.

“What happened?” I asked, “I know that MEDEVAC and attack pilots often have rivalries, but I’ve never heard of this happening mid deployment. It must have been bad.”

“It was, but I don’t have any of the details.” Disappointment filled her face, forcing me to bite back a smile. It could get boring on deployments. Everyone loved new gossip. “You get to go clean up the mess.”

Fun times ahead for me.

“Anyway, your ride will be here any minute. They’re flying down now. The old crew will get off the bird, you and your crew will jump in. The Apaches will be escorting them down and escorting you back.”

As if on cue, two helicopters rolled into the parking area and shut down. The crew inside the Black Hawk got out and walked off without saying a word.

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