Risk Management Magazine

It was a typical multiple-unit training assembly five-drill weekend. The unit had planned a battalion field training exercise at an area a little over an hour away. Like most drill weekends, everyone seemed to have too much to do and not enough time to get it all done.

By today’s technological standards, our antiquated AH-64As were dinosaurs — mostly analog switches, steam gauges and paper maps, baby! The glass cockpit concept (computerized displays with multifunctional screens and buttons) sounded like something from the future to us, but we considered flying these aircraft as a bit of a badge of honor.

It was August in Tikrit, Iraq, and I was assigned to C Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment (Air Ambulance). The unit’s deployment had been extended from 12 to 15 months and morale was dim — at best. Eventually, though, a light at the end of the tunnel appeared.