Hello!

Hope this finds you all well and prospering!

First things first! Have you made your

reservation for the Saint Christopher’s in New Orleans yet? The deadline is fast approaching. Be sure to get this done as soon as possible so you can

lock in the special rate. We are rounding out the final details, and the annual meeting reservation

data is now available on the CHPA website. So be sure to sign up online for the annual meeting as well. The alcohol is on me, but you have to

register first. I will expect to see your smiling face in NOLA, so don’t let me down!

This past weekend, I made a quick trip to New Orleans for business. There is so much to do and see. We stopped in at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and it was really a great tour. The city was

really hopping and I cannot wait to go back and spend some time looking at everything! Seeing the Mississippi River was probably my favorite

part. I fly over it nearly every day, and have been next to it many times before, but it is really something to see up close. I never get tired of

looking at the activity and seeing all the ships! By the way, I am also working on an iTunes playlist of great New Orleans music for all our annual meeting attendees! Be on the lookout for that too!

Additionally, we were thinking it might be a great idea to invite local aviators from the surrounding areas to the annual meeting, although

this idea hasn’t been fully formulated yet. During my time flying in the Gulf Coast region, I have been on the lookout for USCG helicopter crews

or even National Guard, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps crews as well. If you know of any way of contacting these folks, please drop me a line. Also, if you know of anyone who would like to sponsor the annual

meeting, let us know! CHPA had a great time at VHPA in San Diego. I was sad that I

couldn’t make it but Jay, Rusty and Lynn tell me that we had a very successful show and welcomed several new members, plenty of renewals

and even a lifetime membership! THANK YOU to all of those who not only apply for membership, but who continue to renew. Another big thank you to our CHPA members (mainly Rusty, Lynn and Jay!) who routinely

make our presence at these shows a reality.

“Uncommon Reunion”

Lorna Thackeray

“Memories”

Mark Harp

“Pilot Magic”

SPC Elizabeth Gorenc

“Flight Medic Still Serving”

SGT Candace Westlund

Annual Meeting, New Orleans

Jay Brown

and much, much more!

Presenting! July 2010

CHPA President

Hi guys!

Hope this finds you all

well! As usual, we’ve been working hard on lots of great

things for our CHPA members. We had Quad-A last month and it was a huge success. We

welcomed many new members (THANK YOU!) and visited

with lots of current members. While there, CHPA was

recognized by the Texas National Guard for our contributions and support.

Special thanks to Mrs. Christine Gilbreath who has been

wonderful to work with and thanks to COL MacGregor and

the TX NG for taking the time to say thanks! On behalf of CHPA, I can say it was a true

honor!

We’ve also been working to finalize the agenda for our

Annual Meeting in New Orleans. One of my friends, Mrs. Theresa Wright, has

generously taken the time to assemble an informative article

on must-see locations and interesting things to do in New

Orleans. LTC and Mrs. Wright have generously offered to meet us for a leaders’ recon in

August, after I get back from Haiti, so we should have even

more good ideas on things to do. Be sure to make your hotel

reservation now! The deadline for getting the CHPA special rate is August 23!

Annual Meeting • September 24th – 26th • New Orleans

Concluded on page 2

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We sure appreciate those of you who

continue to tell your friends about CHPA!

Click here to tell some more!

Tell Your Friends About CHPA! Many of you have taken advantage of

the ―Tell A Friend‖ function on the CHPA website as well! Keep up the great work! We

rely on our members to pass the word to their buddies!

I’m very glad to hear that you are

enjoying the new formatting of The Swash

Plate. We sure work hard on it! Why not take

some time and send us your own news. No news is too big or too small! We love to hear from our members! Oh, and by the way, a couple of you

emailed and asked me to find the contact information for Mr. Herb Dargue. We ran a story about him

two issues back. I think my new phone ate my email, but please email me again and I will work on the

hookup! I apologize for this slip-up on my part! Thank you!!! I am pretty excited about going to Haiti later this month. I won’t be back before it is time to put

out the Swash again, but I hear that there is some internet access down there, so hopefully I can take some

time to email my monthly submission remotely! As always ... be sure to let me know what you think about CHPA. I am very interested in hearing

your feedback! I look forward to seeing you all, September 24th – 26th in New Orleans.

Duty • Honor • Courage Lori G.

CHPA’s Patch Collection

CHPA is collecting patches for display

at our venues at HAI, Quad A, and

VHPA. Several of our members have given us patches which we put on

display when we set up our booth. If

you have any patches you’d like to share send them to us at:

CHPA

PO BOX 15852 Washington, DC 20003

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Roger Riley tells the story of the last time he flew in his Bell UH-1H Iroquois during the Vietnam War at the Billings Flying Service hangar south of Billings on Saturday. The helicopter is now owned by Billings Flying Service. Riley was in Billings to see the chopper for the first time since he flew it in Vietnam before it was shot down in 1971. Larry

Mayer, Gazette staff

A California man makes the trek to Billings, MT to

see and fly the helicopter he piloted during the

Vietnam War. The Laotian hilltop where hundreds of shattered

and bleeding South Vietnamese troops had swarmed in a desperate huddle waiting for U.S. helicopters to rescue

them March 19th, 1971, was suddenly deserted and

quiet.

Pilot Roger D. Riley, a California boy flying his third sortie through a virtual shooting gallery in the jungle below, had barely touched down when an enemy

soldier popped out of a foxhole a dozen feet away. Before Riley’s door gunner could cut him in half with 100 rounds from his M60, the man from the

People’s Army of Vietnam raked Riley’s Bell UH-1H Iroquois utility helicopter from tail rotor to nose, emptying the magazine of his Russian-made AK-47.

―I was amazed that only three bullets out of 30 in the magazine hit us,‖ Riley said nearly 40 years later on the eve of his reunion in Billings with his old warship. On Saturday, Riley saw her for the first time since he bid his crippled helicopter farewell on an

airfield in what was then South Vietnam. The helicopter, now with a new civilian number, N458CC, has been a familiar sight in Montana

since the late 1990s, when it became part of the fleet at Billings Flying Service. ―I got the helicopter from a company that used it for crop spraying in Alabama,‖ Gary Blain of

Billings Flying Service said. ―They had crashed it and rebuilt it.‖ For the last 11 or 12 years, the helicopter has been used for firefighting, construction ―and just

about everything but drug and gun running,‖ Blain joked. It’s been on the front page of The Billings

Gazette more than once, including a shot a few years ago when it went down in the Yellowstone while fighting fire near Livingston.

―They are amazing machines,‖ the Billings pilot said of the helicopter built for war in 1967. ―And this particular machine has had an amazing history,‖ he said.

Blain, a history buff, was almost as excited about the reunion as Riley. ―A lot of former Vietnam-

era pilots have flown for his company over the years and they’ve told remarkable stories,‖ he said. ―These guys, they get an incredible attachment to their aircraft,‖ he said. ―They were 20 years old

and they flew them in life-and-death situations every day.‖ The door was closed when Roger Riley and his brother Robert drove up to the helicopter hangar

at Billings Flying Service on Saturday. A group of invited guests waited inside to meet them and share a hot dog and hamburger barbecue. When the door opened, Roger Riley saw the UH-1H helicopter he last

flew when he was shot down in Laos in 1971. The Blain family had it decked out with flags and U.S. Congressman Denny Rehberg waited to shake his hand.

For Riley, Blain said, the reunion was ―kind of like seeing his old high school girlfriend again.‖

Blain said he was surprised when Riley contacted him out of the blue in January. One of Riley’s crew had traced the machine to Billings on the

internet, and the pilot wanted to pay a visit.

Uncommon Reunion Lorna Thackeray Reprinted with permission of The Billings Gazette

Continued on page 4

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“North Vietnam,

anticipating an incursion at the Laotian border, had brought an

estimated 36,000 troops into the area.”

―It’s going to be great,‖ Riley said in a

telephone interview from his Squaw Valley home, just before he and his older brother Robert

R. Riley hopped in a car for the drive to Billings. Robert R. Riley, who preceded his brother to Vietnam, also had occasion to fly the aircraft

during his time in the Army. Roger’s crew chief, Harold Fetty, flew in from Oklahoma City, as

did John Snyder of Spencer, OK, who was a crew chief on another helicopter in the same unit.

All four men were Ghost Riders, the name adopted by Company A, 158th Aviation

Battalion, which had been established at Fort

Carson, CO, in the summer of 1968. The Ghost Riders were headed to South Vietnam with

helicopters fresh off the assembly line. Robert R. Riley got there first and was

done with his tour when Roger Riley arrived in Vietnam as a replacement pilot in June 1970.

By September, Roger had been assigned his own aircraft — 67-

17678. For the next seven months, until the encounter in

Laos disabled the helicopter, Riley and his bird were almost inseparable.

The operation that ended their relationship was

one of the bloodiest episodes of that long war. Named Lam Son 719, the

operation was designed to disrupt a supply route in Laos that North Vietnam’s army could use in an offensive against the South. South

Vietnamese troops were to cross the border into Laos, supported from the air by American forces.

US ground forces were prohibited from entering Laos.

Contemporary accounts say 22,000 South Vietnamese troops participated in the ill-conceived campaign. Many of them were ferried

in by American helicopters beginning on February 8th, 1971. The choppers brought in

supplies and took out the wounded for the next 45 days.

―I was under fire every day during that period when I was on a mission,‖ Roger said. ―I

got a day or two off, but most of the time I was

flying.‖ It was a bloodbath from the start. Roger

and hundreds of other aviators assigned to the operation flew in and out, ferrying their savagely wounded South Vietnamese allies from landing

zones in Laos to the South Vietnamese base of operations at Lang Vei right on the border, he

said. North Vietnam, anticipating an incursion

at the Laotian border, had brought an estimated 36,000 troops into the area. They came with

deadly artillery and anti-aircraft guns. Troops

from the south were shredded. Some estimates put casualties at 10,000. A decision to withdraw

the South Vietnamese was made March 9th, and the dangerous business of extricating the troops

began. ―We were always

supposed to take out the

wounded first, but they walked all over the wounded, threw

their guns away and got on,‖ Roger said of the ravaged

troops. Frantic men grabbed the

skids as the helicopter lifted off

the ground, and some fell to their deaths as the machine

headed skyward into heavy fire. On March 19th, the pilots’ situation went

from bad to impossible. Ten Ghost Riders and 10 helicopters from the Robin Hood unit were sent to rescue a South Vietnamese battalion

surrounded on a hilltop. ―I personally successfully brought in two

loads,‖ Roger said. ―But by the third sortie, all 10 of Robin

Hood’s helicopters were too damaged to go and four Ghost Riders were out of commission. The surviving Ghost Riders flew in trail formation,

one following another toward the landing zone,‖ Roger said. Cobra gunships circled, providing

cover as the larger Hueys maneuvered into position.

Continued on page 5

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Roger Riley’s Bell UH-1H Iroquois sits damaged on the runway at a military base in Khe Sanh, South Vietnam after being shot down during Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971. The helicopter is now owned by Billings Flying Service

and is used to fight wild fires. Photo courtesy of Roger Riley

One of the helicopters was shot down near the landing zone and Roger’s company commander,

who had been leading the sortie, tried to fly to the rescue, but a bullet caught him in the spine. Two other Ghost Riders broke formation to assist the command ship. Roger continued to the landing zone and put

his machine down just as the enemy soldier opened fire with his AK-47 from close range. From the left, more enemy soldiers approached. There was no time to do anything but hope the wounded bird could fly. Roger lifted her off the ground, bullets whizzing everywhere.

A bullet had torn through the 8 1/2 foot tail rotor, and the damage ―set up a vibration that just about set my teeth to chattering,‖ Roger said. ―I just bit my lower lip, pulled pitch and got out of there.‖

He flew low, touching the treetops, so he could put down if he had to. A command and control officer flying high above warned him that he was headed for an enemy mortar barrage, so he quickly

changed course to go around. They flew over an anti-aircraft gun, but Fetty was able to kill that crew, Roger said.

The South Vietnamese operations base was only about five minutes away. Although the base was

continuously under fire, they were able to set down safely. A Life magazine reporter, John Saar, was there that day as the Ghost Riders came in.

―The Hueys flail into sight, but their cabins are empty,‖ he wrote. ―The pilots are shaken and angry and they climb out of their armored seats for a council of war.‖

―Yet the word comes down for another attempt and the grumbling Ghost Riders climb into their cockpits to crank and fly.‖

But Roger and 67-17678 would fly no more that day. He spent the night at the operation base in a bunker dug out by a bulldozer and covered with a

flimsy layer of logs. Enemy artillery battered the base through the night.

―A direct hit would have killed us all,‖ he said. The next morning, he gathered his crew and they caught a ride back to Khe Sanh, a base in South

Vietnam that had been abandoned earlier in the war, but served as the center for American air operations in Laos that spring.

Roger watched as a huge Chinook helicopter brought his injured bird in, suspended from a cable. 67-17678 landed hard, damaging the

skids. Checking her out, Roger found three bullet holes — one in the rotor, another that just missed

him and knocked out one of the radios and another that shattered the lip of the cargo deck.

Roger and his crew hitched a ride with another Ghost Rider back to Camp Evans, where the unit was based in the Haunted House. 67-17678

was already there. ―She beat me back home,‖ he said.

But her damage was too severe to be repaired at the camp and she was soon hauled

away. Roger, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the mission, was assigned a new machine. That was the last time he saw her.

Concluded on page 6

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Gary Blain, of Billings Flying Service, right, and Roger Riley lift off for a recurrent flight training mission at the company's hangar south of Billings, MT on Saturday. Larry Mayer, Gazette staff

Before his tour was over in May, Roger

had been shot down a total of three times. Fetty and 67-17678 were to meet again.

The crew chief flew in the repaired helicopter after the war, when she had become the property of the Oklahoma National Guard.

Fetty received the Air Medal for Valor for his exploits in Operation Lam Son 719.

On Saturday, after telling the story of the last flight, Blain invited Riley for some recurrent

flight training. It was one last sortie in the ship that saw them through their worst nightmare.

The helicopter seemed to slip sideways for a

couple of seconds, but then Riley climbed and banked toward the South Hills. ―It’s great.

Another month and it would all come back to me,‖ he said.

―It was just automatic back then.‖

Submit Your

Photos!

CHPA has a growing collection of photos

reflecting the spectrum of our

Combat legacy …

If you would like to contribute to the collection please

click here to upload!

Share the Swash! Please feel free to forward this issue of “The Swash Plate” to your colleagues, potential members, and other interested parties!

Volume 5, Issue 7 CHPA • The Swash Plate www.chpa-us.org

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C/227th AHB, 1st Cavalry Division

C Co, 227th AHB will hold its reunion September 16th – 19th, 2010 at the Radisson

Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. For more information contact Don Doane

at ddoane45@aol.com or give him a call at

615.614.1376.

1st Attack Helicopter Battalion, 24th Aviation Brigade Reunion

The 1-24th AHB Vipers will be holding a reunion in Savannah, GA, October 15th – 17th, 2010. If anyone is a former 1/24th Viper and wants to attend, send your information to

viperreunion@gmail.com. Please include your name, e-mail (civilian preferably), address and phone. Look forward to seeing everyone!

Viper 249 Barry Thomason

256.842.5140 Office

270.268.6014 Cell 256.313.3208 Fax

1st Squadron, 9th Calvary Reunion

The 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry will hold its 2010 Reunion October 7th – 10th, 2010 in

Columbus, GA. For more details and registration see the

Bullwhip Squadron Association website at

www.bullwhipsquadron.org/.

For any questions you may have contact

Larry Wright, larryw9thcav6566@aol.com or 812.871.8642

Does your group have a reunion coming up soon? Let us know and we’ll mention it here!

Somehow over the course of time, as happens with organizations whose members tend to move frequently due to job changes or reassignments, we’ve lost contact with some of our members. We’d love

to re-establish contact and continue to provide support and a venue for staying in touch with friends we’ve shared so much with. If you know any of the following folks, please let them know we’re trying to get in

touch. Ask them to give us a call at 800.832.5144.

Chris Armbrust James Cahill Gregory Coker

Christopher Ezell Craig Francis

Michael Miller James Muckleroy Michael J. Rogers

Michael P. Spain Stephen Weaver

Reunions and Gatherings

Members Missing In Action

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I remember sitting on the Tiger Airways jet bound for Vietnam so many years

ago. Wasn’t my first time to fly on a jet or prop

job since I had grown up in

the military and had flown

on planes

following my father’s change

in duty stations, but

was the first time I could remember ever

sitting in a plane and

looking over the seats and seeing nothing but the rear of men’s

heads all sporting the same hair cut and same colored clothes. O.D. Green. So when

the plane finally decided to land, we, or at least I, was thinking

that we would land in Vietnam itself. Wrong. We landed in

Tokyo, Japan in order to change planes for the final hop into Vietnam. Actually it was our

second stop on our way to Vietnam.

One of the troops had smuggled an Alaskan Husky

puppy on board the plane during our brief stop in Alaska to refuel the jet. It was in May, but it was

colder than a well digger’s butt outside the terminal. The reason

for it being so cold is because we were all wearing jungle fatigues

and jungle combat boots, neither of which were designed to keep

you warm, the exact opposite.

We had to get off the plane while they refueled and therefore had

an hour to kill wandering around the terminal. I had walked outside the terminal and walked

by a group of troops who were haggling

with an Eskimo

woman about the

puppy since

she had three or four to sell

or get rid of it

appeared. I overheard

the money

part of it and think they

finally gave like twenty bucks for a full blooded husky; malamute

to be more exact. The puppy caused a little amusement on the plane when he got loose and

went running down the aisle towards the rear where the

stewardesses were. This in turn caused the stewardesses to, in a

sense, confiscate the puppy for the remainder of the flight. The last thing I remember was the

puppy being left in the care of the stewardesses after

we landed in Japan. Always

wondered what happened to that puppy after that.

We all were given orders

after getting off the jet in Tokyo

to stay in a certain area or we

would be arrested and all that bull. Years later I figured out

that it was to do with customs regulations, so as long as we stayed in that holding area, we

did not have to go through the customs procedures.

The next jet we boarded was smaller, a hell of a lot

smaller. We were all packed in for the flight, with none of the

stewardesses or comforts of the

larger bird we had flown in on. It was then that I found myself

sleeping like I had never slept before. So the flight from Tokyo

into Vietnam I do not remember. It was then that I began to realize that just prior to arriving at

whatever stressful destination might be in store for them.

That’s why the movies will show guys going into combat sleeping

before entering battle. Guess it is the way we handle the stress. Also a good way to reserve

energy and catch a few winks I guess. That I do remember.

You’d be surprised how you can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, in

positions that you would not think possible. Like the time I fell asleep on a twin engine

Caribou cargo plane that had done an abrupt

wing over on take off because

we were receiving enemy fire from the

ground, more than likely Viet

Cong taking pot shots at us. Our

Memories Mark Harp

Concluded on page 9

“The plane ride was a long one for sure, nobody knew what to expect, we just all knew

that we were headed for a war zone called Vietnam.”

“You would be surprised how you

can fall asleep at the drop of a hat.”

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survey equipment went sliding all

over the place and with us being strapped into the jump seats it

was hard to grab and hold onto to Uncle Sam’s equipment in a fraction of a second when you

realize the plane is doing an extremely steep bank. Once the

plane leveled back out, equipment secure, I remember

falling sound asleep sitting straight up.

When the jet began to get

ready to land, the warning light about fastening your seat belt

came on and I guess that is what woke me up. It was just a few

minutes later and the jet nosed down and then I remember feeling the jet’s wheels hit the

tarmac, the engines hitting reverse and slowing down. We

were all straining to get a look outside and see what the hell was

going on. I was one of the last to leave the jet. We had all stood up and were standing in a

straight line down the middle of the plane. A few feet from the

door I got a faint smell of what smelled like feces, I watched as

each man took his turn and his head disappeared out and slightly downward as he took a step

down the stairs of the portable ramp. The smell increased in

strength as I finally took my turn making the turn and walking

outside into the bright sunlight. That smell, that smell of crap, I will always remember. Over the

years many people have asked, ―What do you remember about

Vietnam?‖ My answer is normally one word, which is the

truth, not being a smart ass as

most would think after my response, just one word, ―Crap.‖

It is the first smell of Vietnam and the last, as best I can remember.

I remember damn near tripping and falling down the

stairway because I was blinded by the oppressive sunlight and

having just come out of a darkened tunnel, for lack of a

better description at this point

about the inside of the jet. But more importantly, I was scared

beyond belief and I remember the first Vietnamese I saw was

working on something on the tarmac not to far from the jet and he was bent over doing

something on the ground. All the thoughts

about hitting the ground

running, bombs falling, bullets flying

everywhere had flooded

my head before getting

off the plane even though there were no

sounds of any of that while getting off the

plane. I remember that my eyes

finally got accustomed to the strong sunlight of Vietnam and I could see what was going on

around me. So here I was, in Vietnam, eighteen years and 4

months in age, scared and totally uncertain of where I would end

up in the next few days. I

remember following the other troops dressed in their O.D.

green jungle fatigues and boots, just like me, across the flight line at the Cam Rahn Bay airfield

into a building. That is where my memory

of flying to Vietnam stops. I did not go to Vietnam with friends

who were all from the same hometown and same army

battalion as many of the first

soldiers who went to Vietnam did. They were lucky, they had

other people who they could depend on, who had known them

probably for years and years prior to going to Vietnam. They had close friends. For those of us

who followed and replaced those that went

before us, we did not

have those friendships

or

closeness, so

therefore, we had to

have many attributes

they did

not. We had to have an inner strength that

those who went first will never fully understand. We had to

stand alone as many of us do today; a part of, but outside of the Vietnam experience as some

would say.

“Anyone who says they were not scared to step off

that plane is either lying or an absolute fool.”

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The Saint Christopher Hotel

The Annual Meeting is on schedule and shaping up to be another great and enjoyable gathering. How could you go wrong with a party setting like New Orleans? As a reminder the date for the

Annual Meeting is September 24th – 26th and the host hotel is the Saint Christopher, located on Magazine Street, literally a half block

from the French Quarter. The online registration for the Annual Meeting is up and

running at the CHPA website. This is the fastest way to register and takes only seconds to complete. The schedule of events is being put

together and will be available online in a few days. As always the

schedule is going to be intentionally sparse, allowing you plenty of time to set your own pace and visit

the sites that interest you most. And New Orleans is chock full

of historic and cultural landmarks so plan to be busy the entire time you’re in

Louisiana. We hope you’ve marked your calendar and are making

your plans to join us in ―The Big Easy.‖ We have selected a great venue for the group dinner, complemented with an incredible

menu of Southern and Cajun delicacies. We’ll gather at Mulates, the world famous ―King of Cajun Dine and Dance Halls.‖ The dinner will be buffet style with mini po-boys, fried alligator, bite-

sized catfish, zydeco gumbo, stuffed pork tenderloin, chicken and sausage jambalaya, and sweet potato crunch. We’re looking

forward to the delectable, hometown favorite of homemade bread pudding with rum sauce. To start the evening off right there’ll be

a cash bar while we renew friendships and welcome our newcomers.

Remember that hotel reservations have to be made

separately from the meeting registration. The deadline for the

special rate of $79 per night is August 23rd so now is the time to secure your room reservation and the

special rate. The best way to make your hotel reservation is to contact the Saint Christopher hotel directly at 504.648.0444. Be sure to tell them you’re attending the Combat Helicopter Pilots Association Annual

Meeting. In the next few days we’ll finalize the brunch menu and finalize the special event and we’ll be

ready to laissez les bon temps rouler. I know most of you have visited New Orleans so you know there will

be plenty to keep us busy and entertained. For example, on Sunday, September 26th we’re planning a sailing excursion on Lake Pontchartrain, thanks to the hard work of Rusty Bourgoyne.

If you need to contact us for anything we’re available to help. Give us a call at 800.832.5144 or email us at HQ@chpa-us.org. We always look forward to hearing from our members and we look

forward to seeing you all in New Orleans.

2010 CHPA Annual Meeting News Jay Brown

Mulates

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CWO William “Scott” Anderson, a Canby, OR resident and medevac pilot for 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, prepares an illusion during his magic show for Task Force Double

Eagle at Joint Base Balad, October 31st.

Often National Guard Soldiers apply their civilian training to enhance their military deployments. A Soldier in Task Force 38’s medevac unit, Company C, 7th

Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment did just that during his mobilization to Iraq.

When the Canby, OR resident was not using his military skills as a medevac pilot for Company C to help

people receive medical attention during Operation Iraqi Freedom, CWO William S. ―Scott‖ Anderson applied his

civilian skills as a magician to help people in a different

way. Anderson used illusions mixed with comedy to

provide an escape from deployment life and entertain fellow service members, civilian contractors and local Iraqis.

―He’s professional when he needs to be, but he can lighten the mood when it’s needed,‖ added SGT John McCully, a medevac crew chief and Camas, OR resident.

In his free time, Anderson performed frequent shows at the medevac company’s coffee shop, during holidays and

at unit events. He also participated in, and won, Joint Base Balad’s October talent show.

―He has helped the moral of the company,‖ said McCully. ―Whenever we have events, at work, pretty much whenever he’s around, the guy has a gimmick up his sleeve. He loves entertaining people.‖

Anderson’s illusions ranged anywhere from impromptu card tricks for friends, pulling a

participant’s previously signed dollar out of an uncut lemon randomly chosen by that participant, to transforming handkerchiefs into candy for Iraqi children.

Anderson also used his magic and comedy as a way of breaking the ice with new people around JBB and forming relationships with Iraqis.

―He is good at building relationships with people,‖ said SGT Candice Westlund, Corvallis, OR resident.

Anderson worked through translators to perform shows for groups of Iraqi children during base-

hosted events and completed illusions for the Iraqi special weapons and tactics officers. He also worked with parents to entertain children under care of the hospital here.

―His tricks make kids smile and forget that they are in pain or injured,‖ said Westlund. While entertaining others and helping them through the deployment, Anderson said his magic

provided an outlet for him. ―It’s a piece of home I got to bring with me,‖ he said. ―It’s something I can do that’s fun, and it is

good for stress.‖Anderson has been a performance magician since 1999.

He started entertaining elementary kids at Fort Lewis, WA during drug abuse resistance education he taught by using illusions he learned from a friend. From there, he expanded his audience to birthday

parties, state fair goers and stage acts including large scale illusions. The better I got, the more shows I could get,‖ Anderson said. ―I was doing side jobs at

nights and on weekends.‖

Medevac Pilot Performs Magic SPC Elizabeth Gorenc

Concluded on page 12

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CWO William “Scott” Anderson, a Canby, OR resident and medevac pilot for 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, presents COL Alvin Foshee, 244th Aviation Regiment Commander, with Foshee's signed $5 bill hidden in a lemon as part of an illusion

during a Halloween magic show for the 244th at Joint Base Balad.

When he deployed to Afghanistan,

Anderson continued his magic shows to entertain soldiers and Afghanis. He

continued to develop his shows by incorporating personal experiences from his deployment, and then used those

experiences to once again entertain soldiers and Iraqis during his latest

deployment. While magic proved beneficial

during times overseas, it was those same deployments and experiences that proved

beneficial to Anderson’s magic career.

―After being here and performing for Iraqi kids, I came up with a kids’ show

to do back home,‖ said Anderson. ―It teaches kids lessons in patriotism: what it

means, freedom, taking pride in your country, celebrating diversity and patriotic symbols.‖

Working under the name of ―SGT Stripes,‖ Anderson is scheduled to perform his show, ―The Magic of Patriotism,‖ when he returns home for Oregon students enrolled in reading programs.

He also plans to continue performing as a magician for larger audiences after the OIF deployment. In his free time, Anderson worked on his newest show, ―The Magician Expeditions,‖ a biographical

theater magic show based on his deployment interactions and experiences.

The Swash! [Call For Articles]

We hope you enjoy your newsletter! We work to find articles of interest for our very diverse membership

ranging from human interest to humor and wonderful war stories of helicopter pilots and crewmembers’ daring

do. Our most entertaining and informative stories come from you, our membership. If you have an idea for an

article, or if you have an article you’d like to submit it’s as easy as emailing us. The story can be about anything

from flight school to real life, TINS, or there-I-was stories. We’ve published several stories over the years

ranging from tales of flight school a long, long time ago to real life “war stories” that we’re sure most of you can

identify with.

We look forward to hearing from you so, take a moment to lay fingers on keyboard or just put pen to paper

and send in those stories. You can email them to HQ@chpa-us.org or through the US Post Office to:

CHPA • PO Box 15852 • Washington, DC 20003

Volume 5, Issue 7 CHPA • The Swash Plate www.chpa-us.org

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The medical evacuation mission is one that provides hope. Soldiers on the ground need to know they can trust those who are standing by

to come to them in time of need, and deliver them from peril.

The Oregon National Guard has one medical evacuation unit. It has a proud heritage

and is widely respected in the Army community, both for its stateside mission of Search and

Rescue and for its combat mission of medical

evacuation. C Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, 13th Sustainment Command

(Expeditionary), from Salem, OR executed the Corp’s medevac mission in Iraq during their time

at Joint Base Balad. They were stationed out of Joint Base Balad from May 2009 until January 2010.

A medevac unit is comprised of crews made up of

pilots, flight medics, and crew chiefs. Pilots are responsible

for planning the missions and flying the aircraft wherever needed, sometimes in very

austere conditions. Flight medics render aid to the

wounded or sick while enroute to the next higher level of medical care. Crew chiefs are

responsible for keeping the aircraft mission capable and they are instrumental in sustaining the aircraft, a force multiplier on today’s

battlefield. The support personnel in the unit keep the crews and aircraft ready and oftentimes

are the unsung heroes in support of the ever changing mission of the medevac community.

Given the unique importance of the medevac mission, soldiers in these units are often the best of the best in the aviation community

and are selected with special care. Historically, the active Army medevac

units, such as C Company, 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment (Airborne), who replaced

C/7-158 AVN in January 2010, rarely invite anybody to join their unit in combat, as they

have come to theater with personnel they trust and have worked with.

However, due to the proven effectiveness

and performance of C/7-158 AVN, some of the soldiers were sought after once the active

component saw them in action. SGT Michael Barber, a flight medic and

civilian paramedic from Eugene, OR was invited by the commander of C/7-101 AVN, MAJ Brady

Gallagher, from Cullman, AL to be a part of the

unit after his tour with C/7-158 AVN was complete.

―The 101st has a long and proud reputation for mission accomplishment,‖ said

Barber. Barber said that the

National Guard does have

differences from the active component in regards to

medevac, because of the amount of experience within its

ranks. The turnover rate tends to be lower in the National Guard.

―What really separates us from the active duty

medevac units,‖ said Barber, ―is the mission we perform back in Oregon.‖ Barber is honored to

contribute to the 101st standard of excellence in combat. His example of duty performance and dedication lives on in his daughter, Jordyn

Barber, from Lake Oswego, OR. She graduated from high school in June, and has made her

intentions known to be a doctor. Barber decided to stay in order to achieve the 80% rate for the

Post-9/11 Montgomery GI Bill benefits. ―I realized my daughter was just like me

when she showed her drive and determination in

setting her goals, and telling me her steps to accomplish them without much input from me.

I’m sure she’ll let me know where to send the checks at least,‖ said Barber.

Oregon National Guard Flight Medic Continues to Serve SGT Candace Westlund

Concluded on page 14

“The work we perform

back home has helped make us the unit we are in combat.”

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“there is at least one other proud and honor bound medevac company in the Army that is deserving of recognition”

Barber said her dreams could become reality due to the transferability of the MGIB benefits.

―It is a nice relief, considering the commitment my daughter and I are about to embark on,‖ said Barber.

Barber also looks forward to returning home and continuing to contribute to the Oregon National Guard.

―It has always been a personal goal of mine to become more involved with training for those that

wish to become medics or flight medics. When I get home, I would also like to look for an opportunity to work with those returning home to their families and adjusting

back to civilian life,‖ Barber said. Barber said it was difficult to stand at Pickard Medevac

Compound and watch the last serial of aircraft depart from JBB to go home.

―Spending time with them at the aircraft prior to them

taking off reminded me of where this journey began,‖ said Barber, ―as well as where it ends when I return home to Oregon.‖

However, Barber has made a home for himself with his new unit.

‖I have always believed that Oregon Dustoff leads the way in regards to medevac, but I now know that there is at least one other proud and honor bound medevac company in the Army

that is deserving of recognition,‖ said Barber.