James Mackler

Swarmer

March 20, 2006

I am sure that most, if not all of you, have seen the attention that operation swarmer is getting in the media. The term swarm implies a lot of activity and, in that regard it accurately reflects my role in the operation. In other words, I have been flying my butt off.

I was scheduled to do my two week rotation in the planning cell during this time. That planning job is night shift work and involves preparing all of the maps and gps data for the next day's flights. When swarmer came up, however, planning moved a lot higher than me and I got back involved in flying. I have been flying, under night vision goggles, three of the last four nights. My crew has been doing everything from transporting prisoners, to dropping off troops to conduct raids, to picking up cameras and film for use by the media, to flying reconnosance along various roads. I know this sounds exciting but it is not really. It is routine flying. Routine flying, however, makes for good experience and I have been happy to get it. I now have about 200 hours of combat flight time, almost half of which is google flight. That is less than average for our company but pretty good for a new pilot.

I know that a lot of you would like the "inside scoop" on Operation Swarmer to help you make sense of the media hype. Unfortunately I am not in a position to give much additional perspective. Even if I was, I wouldnt really be at liberty to write anything about the operation in this forum. It is very hard for me to see from my vantage point what, if any, long term effect this operation will have on the war in general or Iraq in particular. It seems to me that the media is making it out to be a lot more than it is but I suppose time will tell. All I know for sure is that it is giving me a break from "battlefield circulation" missions and that is a good thing.

Kirkuk

February 24, 2006

I returned yesterday from a three week stint at FOB Warrior near Kirkuk. My battalion has been taking turns sending pilots and helicopters to Warrior to support the commander up there. Warrior has OH-58 scout helicopters (Kiowas) but no Blackhawks so they rely on us for all passenger air transport. Four crews traveled to Kirkuk for this three week rotation. I shared the day shift with one crew and the other two crews were on the night shift.

I have mixed feelings about the deployment. On the positive side, we lived two per CHU and had a good dining facility, a modern gym, quick laundry turn-around, and flew a lot. On the flip side, when we were not flying we were required to remain on standy-by at the hanger for up to 12 hours at a time. Also, I flew with the same person every single day. This allowed me to learn a lot but also tends to get old. Finally, I actually missed Speicher, which I have begun to see as home.

The mission load was heavy, varied, and interesting. I flew about 60 hours in 3 weeks. By way of comparison I flew 100 hours in the preceding 16 weeks. We flew battlefield circulations just like at Speicher. We also flew "aerial snap traffic control points (TCPs). These involve loading the aircraft with infantry (and a bomb sniffing dog) and flying around the greater metropolitan Kirkuk area looking for suspicious vehicles or people. When something suspicious was spotted we swooped down, dropped off the ground forces, and provided aerial security while they conducted searches. This allowed me to get used to doing quick landings to fields and roads and to get comfortable flying around buildings, wires, towers, camels, cars, sheep, and other obstacles. It also allowed me to play with the dogs when they weren't working. It made me miss my pups but I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend my time than allowing a German Shepherd to practice attacking me.

Kirkuk Weather

January 24, 2006

On January 22nd my aircraft and our sister ship just barely arrived at FOB Warrior near Kirkuk through increasingly poor weather without having to turn back to FOB Speicher. In retrospect, we should have turned around because the weather did not clear for 48 hours leaving us stuck. You all might remember that I spent Christmas night in Kirkuk under similar circumstances.

In addition to our crews, another flight of 2 UH-60s from our company got stuck at Speicher. This totaled 16 crew members and about 50 passengers all stranded. We were put up in the transient housing section of the FOB which, I have to say, is not well maintained. We stayed in a well heated tent on bunk beds but did not have sheets, blankets, pillows or towels. The bathrooms were filthy and the showers overcrowded and clogged. Nonetheless, we were warm, safe and dry and, as Ive said many times before, things could have been much worse.

One good thing about FOB Warrior is that the Air Force shares the base. For whatever reason, this seems to bring better facilities to the base. We spent many hours at the "Clamtina". This is a club set up in a clamshell aircraft hanger. We sat around drinking "near" beer from bottles, eating fresh popcorn, and playing board games. It was actually a lot of fun. I think we all forgot for a few moments exactly where we were and why.

We finally returned to Speicher today only to be sent on a four hour "battlefield circulation" mission. The mission went without a hitch and I am finally back in my own CHU.

Neighborhood Improvements?

January 2, 2006

My battalion lives in LSA 11. This stands for, I think, Living Sustainment Area 11. It is our neighborhood. Two days ago the civilian contractors began pouring concrete sidewalks between the CHUs in our LSA. These will be invaluable once the rains start. The alternative would be slogging through what I hear is oatmeal-type mud. The sidewalks, however, are a little depressing. They seem to be a permanant fixture in what I like to believe is a temporary environment. I have attached a photo of the sidewalk in my little row of LSA 11. My CHU is the second down on the right. It is just past the door with the porch and the santa picture. Oh, Happy New Year!

The Holiday Spirit

December 28, 2005

I wanted to share some pictures with you from the past few days. You will see attached to this entry the following:

Two photos from our command post here at Speicher. Notice the festive decorations.

A few photos from the midnight Christmas dinner we had at the Forward Operating Base Warrior chow hall near Kirkuk when we got stranded there. There is a picture of Floyd using his leatherman to crack open some lobster and another of me standing next to an odd food sculture.

A photo of the tent we stayed in Christmas night (also the first night of Chanukah). It was drafty but cozy.

A photo of the actress Kelly Hu (X2 and Scorpian King) sigining one of our pilot's (Anna) helmets. She is writing. "To Fly Girl - you go!". Anna, you will notice, is not wearing an Army issue hat. We flew Kelly Hu all around Iraq to meet the soldiers before we got stranded.

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season.

Done With Planning

December 17, 2005

I spent the last week and a half on the "planning cell". That meant that I was working at night preparing the maps and GPS loaders for the next day's missions. The work was moderately interesting but it meant I did not fly during that time. My time on the cell, however, finally ended and I was back in the air yesterday.

I flew a relatively short night mission - about 3 and half hours under goggles. We are starting to get some winter weather here. There was a dust storm and some rain the morning before I flew. Night time temperatures are in the 40s. It is getting into the 70s during the day. The change in weather led to some interesting flying. The air was "soupy". I could see objects on the ground fairly well but all of the haze made it difficult to pick out details or make out the horizon in flight. That is not a big deal since I can use the instruments to determine whether I am level but it takes some getting used to.

Other than the brief flight, there is not much to report. Most days are pretty much like the ones before. Our miniature CHU christmas tree has a few presents under it and the twinkling lights in our little window still great me when I come home each night. Two of my CHU-mates are away for a while so its just me and Floyd. The box we live in is a lot more comfortable with two people than with four.

Thank you all for staying and touch. Enjoy the holiday season.

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