Salman Pak, Iraq
THE STEADY BEAT OF the helicopters’ dual rotors could be heard long before the CH-47 “Chinooks” came into view, flying low over the concrete barriers surrounding Combat Outpost (COP) Cleary, southeast of Baghdad. The choppers, resembling a pair of flying buses, glowed ghostly green in the soldiers’ night vision goggles (NVGs) as they touched down on the COP’s landing zone (LZ) and lowered their ramps to accept passengers. Three platoons of soldiers (about 150 men) from the 3rd Infantry Division’s Alpha Company 1-15 (call sign: “Hard Rock”) quickly made their way to the rear of the two aircraft, ignoring the bits of gravel and glass that were kicked into the air and blown forcefully outward by the helicopters’ massive rotor blades.
Following the repeatedly rehearsed plan, the soldiers quickly filed in order into the back of the “birds,” sitting on the vinyl-bottomed benches that lined the sides of the helicopters. As the last man boarded each Chinook, the tailgunners strapped themselves in on their helicopters’ respective rear ramps, and the two-ship flight lifted quickly into the air and sped away into the night.
