downwardspiral

Thats hilarious! www.FourWheelerHB.com

Yes indeed. Legalize 'em, tax 'em, and let the users pay for their own rehab. www.FourWheelerHB.com

Ok here's mine My first deployment as a Marine Ch-53 Crew Chief was an annual trip to Bridgeport, CA where the Marines hold their mountain terrain training course. My squadron was deployed there for 21 days during February and March to support the grunts going through their training. It was also intended for us to learn/practice our operations in the miserable enviroment that the 10k foot high snowy mountains are. As many of you may know, helicopters do not perform well at around 10k feet. The year prior a helicopter crashed due to lack of lift during takeoff causing them to hit a huge tree they were desperately trying to get over. A pilot died in that incident so needless to say I was scared shitless during the entire 21 days stay. We were there for about 10 days when two of our most experienced pilots were flown out to get some mountain operations flight time. Their first flight there, called an indoctrination flight, was intended for them to get familiar with flying in the snow and landing in all the LZ's before actually allowing them to fly grunts around. I was scheduled, along with two other much more experienced crew chiefs (since I was still a newbie), to accompany them on this flight. The thing about landing a helicopter in the snow is that when coming in, the rotorwash picks up the loose surface snow and causes whats called a white out. In the middle of a white out its scary as hell, visibility is minimal and exactly like being in a cloud except we are close as hell to the ground. The trick is to land as close as possible to trees (I know, its seems unnatural) so that there is a reference to the ground that you might be able to see through the white out. So there I am with a pair of extremely experienced pilots and a pair of extremely experienced crew chiefs. What can go wrong? The first LZ they decide to land in happens to be huge because they want to play it safe. The night prior it snowed so its fresh and about 4-6 feet deep and of course, as we are coming in for a landing, the pilot at the controls heads straight for the middle of this huge LZ. I think to myself that was an odd thing to do. Since I am with such experienced people it must not be as odd as I think. As soon as we get to down to 50 feet AGL the snow picks up and everything instantly goes white. I look out the left side, I look out the right side, I look out the front....no point of reference to the ground anywhere. Just complete freakin white! Again nobody is showing any concern and continue as normal. The crew chief in charge (CCIC) had his head completely out of the open upper half of the right side crew door searching for the ground. Being useless I figure I can at least watch and learn so I go over there and stick my head out as well. Sticking my head out I still can't see anything but white. I remember thinking how surprised I was that I wasn't getting vertigo. Suddenly, I see what I think is the ground and estimate that we were close to being at about 10 ft AGL. At 10 feet the crew chief's responsibility is to notify the pilot at the controls of the helicopter's altitude because the altimeter is unreliable at that point. Just as I was about to point out the ground to the CCIC, he says over the intercommunication system (ICS),"I got sight of the ground. Calling down from 10 feet. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 foot." The whole time I had my eyes fixed on the surface snow. When he says 1 foot I actually do see the ground and its fucking moving! Oh shit! No time to do anything. No time to say anything. We just plow in. My knees buckle and my face hits the crew door. The CCIC's head hits the door frame before he gets thrown against the forward wall directly behind the right side pilot. The other crew chief had the same thing happen to him because he was on the left side with his head completely out of the open window. After hitting the crew door I slam into CCIC and crumble at his feet. During the split second that this happened I'm imagining the CH-53 indo'ing up on its nose and the rotor blades sheering off after hitting the ground. I'm imagining the carnage and panic I'm gonna see when our momentum stops. I'm imagining how much pain I'm gonna be in. I'm imaging us sitting out in the freezing fucking cold ass snow waiting for a medivac. I open my eyes and thank our lucky stars there's no carnage. Both the CCIC are moving, although very slowly. I hear the pilot asking if everyone is ok and there is nothing but silence because the three of us got our bells rung hardcore. The CCIC says he's ok, so does the other crew chief and they both look at me. I'm freaking out because I know I took some damage when my face hit the crew door but can't feel anything. I put my hand to my mouth only to find it full of blood when I pull my hand away. The CCIC sees me about to freak and says,"Its just your fucking lip you pussy. Your ok." The pilot says,"What? Is he bleeding?""Yeah he just busted his lip." "You ok Lance Corporal?" Still shakin up I respond with,"Yes sir." It turned out all the damage to the helicopter, as well as my lip, was minor. At that point on, every landing, I sinched up my gunners belt (a safetly belt that wraps around the chest and attaches to the ceiling)as short as it would go. Another lesson learned the hardway. For those of you that do not know what a CH-53 looks like, here ya go http://millerswebsite5.tripod.com/53pics.html I have many crazy near carnage incidents involving the CH-53. If you want to hear more, bring beer. www.FourWheelerHB.com

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Progessive system of taxation - not sure what that means. sounds negative tho Realistic, historically consistent national security policy. - hmmmm Support for public education - I'm totally against public Ed. Parents should be a major portion of their children's education rather than let the gov. handle it. If they had to pay for it I'm pretty sure they'd pay more attention. Realistic consideration of family planning. - hmmmm Not sending our troops to war unless absolutely necessary. - Necessity is debatable. I hate the peace keeping missions. Unfortunately whenever the UN feels its necessary the U.S. ends up shouldering the responsibility. www.FourWheelerHB.com

we welcome you too, after all the policies of GWB could hardly be called libertarian I thought this was a Liberals Unite thread not a Bush Basher's Rally? Oh wait it must be the same thing. Uh thanks but no thanks. I was just trying to be inclusive.... Oh come on...have a sense of humor. www.FourWheelerHB.com

Well my parents didn't approve. I was a "latchkey kid" and was expected to come straight home from school. I'm not sure if most kids are like me but I risked punishment quite often and got away with a hell of a lot more things than I got busted for. I certainly don't believe that parents can and will knowing everything about what their children are doing. For those parents that think they do, they are just fooling themselves. I would think 8-10 years of age would be a good time to introduce kids to gun safety. I don't know for sure but that is the age range parents start allowing their children some freedom. www.FourWheelerHB.com

we welcome you too, after all the policies of GWB could hardly be called libertarian I thought this was a Liberals Unite thread not a Bush Basher's Rally? Oh wait it must be the same thing. Uh thanks but no thanks. www.FourWheelerHB.com

Me too. Asthma and vision hindered that tho. Got to be a CH-53 crew chief instead which is way kooler. www.FourWheelerHB.com

sorry I am LIBERTARIAN not LIBERAL but good luck with that. www.FourWheelerHB.com

Parents won't personally know all the kids their children hang out with. Because of this I feel that teaching all children about gun safety is equaly as important as teaching them about sex. Why? I'll tell you. When I was 14 I went over to a friends house after school. A friend that my parents didn't even know existed. His parents weren't home and he felt the need to show off 'his' shotgun. I asked if it was loaded. He said,"Nah my dad never keeps em loaded." He ended up putting a hole in his floor because it was in fact loaded. He was gonna point the thing down the hallway into his bedroom before I protested. Strangley, he listened to me when I told him to point it at the floor. Too bad he wouldn't listen to me when I told him not to pull the trigger and put it away. Fortunately I knew enough about guns at that age to be very afraid of 'em loaded or not. This kid didn't have the sleightest clue. Although neither of our parents found out about this incident, I never hung out with that kid again. www.FourWheelerHB.com

ok then....in that case what would think about parents who don't send their children to a gun safety course? provided they don't teach they're kids about gun safety themselves. www.FourWheelerHB.com

I swear it was an unintentional hijacking...i swear www.FourWheelerHB.com

Do you have kids? If so, have you or do you plan on sending them to a gun safety course? www.FourWheelerHB.com

yeah but my parents will let me stay out till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays www.FourWheelerHB.com

Well, I think he recently got married... and no i'm not married www.FourWheelerHB.com

shhhhh.....thats a secret

lol Darcy...actually I do flirt with em. can't help myself sometimes. marsha always teases me about that. And yes we have met Nightingale www.FourWheelerHB.com

ITs true www.FourWheelerHB.com

What are you seeing that I'm not seeing? That never happens cuz they're all so busy drooling over Jake www.FourWheelerHB.com

mental note: don't get in plane if labrys is flying www.FourWheelerHB.com

um yes, yur sleepy www.FourWheelerHB.com

thats what i was thinking 500 nautical miles south of the point where there earths circumferance is exactly 500 nautical miles. Unfortunately, thats enough info to get a latitude but what about the longitude? www.FourWheelerHB.com

duh...the orgasm. hers and mine in that order www.FourWheelerHB.com

Oh yeah? Bet you don't know how to adjust an SKS for the Coriolis effect. www.FourWheelerHB.com