TGO David

Top shelf martinis at Luckyforward's house!

‘Neither of us expected to get out ... alive’ Pilot earns Distinguished Service Cross after fighting off surprise attack By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Jul 20, 2008 11:47:16 EDT In the clear skies north of Baghdad, a single word — “Mayday!” — turned a special operations mission on its head, diverting some of America’s most elite forces from their mission to kill or capture a known terrorist to a desperate fight for their lives, pinned down, outnumbered and outgunned. In the brutal hours that followed that Mayday transmission on Nov. 27, 2006, Chief Warrant Officer 5 David Cooper of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment — the “Night Stalkers” — would earn a Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions to relieve his beleaguered colleagues, while an Air Force F-16 pilot would lose his life. Cooper received his award — the highest ever for a Night Stalker — from Adm. Eric Olson, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, July 11 at the 160th’s home post of Fort Campbell, Ky. In the early afternoon of Nov. 27, 2006, Cooper was the pilot in command of an AH-6 Little Bird attack helicopter, flying lead pilot in a flight of six helicopters: two AH-6s, two MH-6 troop-carrying Little Birds and two MH-60 Black Hawks, also with special ops ground troops aboard. Their mission was to kill or capture a “foreign fighter facilitator,” according to a summary of the action released by the 160th. The weather was perfect — “Clear, blue and 22,” in aviator-speak. But as the six helicopters flew between “logger” sites about 50 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Cooper’s wingman suddenly transmitted “Mayday!” An insurgent had hit the aircraft with a rocket-propelled grenade, but no one had realized that at first because it didn’t explode. “I looked out the window there and saw that he didn’t have a tail rotor, and if you know anything about helicopters, that’s an important piece,” Cooper said in a July 10 interview. Cooper’s wingman had to land the aircraft quickly, while simultaneously keeping its speed up so that the wind would keep the helicopter straight. Fortunately, the landscape below was mostly flat, open desert. “He did an excellent job of doing a running landing in the desert, where he hit the desert floor at about 60 miles per hour,” Cooper said. “The pilots had only superficial injuries, but certainly that event changed the center of gravity of the mission that day.” The four troop-carrying helicopters landed beside the crippled helicopter immediately. The special operators jumped off, checked on the pilots of the crashed aircraft and then set up a perimeter. The Black Hawks quickly evacuated the pilots of the stricken aircraft, leaving 18 to 20 ground troops, plus the two MH-6s and their four pilots. Cooper declined to identify which unit the troops came from, beyond calling them “friendly special operations forces,” but the 160th forms part of the Joint Special Operations Command task force in Iraq, where it typically flies special operators from Delta Force, Naval Special Warfare Development Group and the 75th Ranger Regiment. Cooper and his co-pilot stayed airborne for several minutes to make sure the position was safe, then, seeing no enemy forces, he landed. After about 40 minutes, several trucks with anti-aircraft machine guns approached their location. Unsure whether these belonged to Iraqi police, a local militia or enemy fighters, the senior ground force non-commissioned officer asked Cooper to get airborne and check them out. The question was answered when the gun trucks opened fire on the small special ops force. Cooper took off and quickly realized the full extent of the threat: there were six to eight gun trucks mounted with double-barreled ZPU-2 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine guns about 1,400 to 1,600 meters away. Each gun truck was crewed by four or five men, “so there were probably about 40 fighters out there,” he said. Meanwhile, another two trucks had appeared and disgorged at least 20 enemy fighters. They occupied a house about 800 meters from the grounded helicopter and took the U.S. force under fire with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, RPK machine guns and AK-series assault rifles. The U.S. troops were armed with infantry weapons that could reach the enemy fighters in the house, but not those in the gun trucks. To make matters worse, the desert offered no cover to escape the gun trucks’ murderous fire. “It was flat like a tabletop, so we really had no defilade to get to,” Cooper said. “The ground forces were pinned down immediately … It was kind of a one-sided deal.” As soon as Cooper was aloft, the enemy fighters directed all their fire to his aircraft. “That’s OK — until you get hit — because if they’re shooting at me, they’re not shooting at the ground forces,” he said. Cooper and his co-pilot, a chief warrant officer 4 whom he declined to name because he’s still flying combat missions, were the only friendly force capable of attacking the gun trucks, which they did, using their two six-barreled 7.62mm miniguns that fire about 3,000 rounds per minute and a pair of 2.75-inch rocket pods loaded with a mixture of flechette, high explosive and smoke rounds. “We tried to put as much fire as we could on the gun trucks and on the fighters at the house,” Cooper said. Air Force F-16s were on station to provide close air support, but from their high altitude they were unable to discern the friendly and enemy forces, Cooper said. “We realized quickly that we were the only fire support that we were going to get that day,” he added. Flying anywhere from 5 to 50 feet off the ground, Cooper could feel his helicopter shuddering and hear the metal-on-metal sounds as enemy rounds struck the aircraft as it flew in again and again, firing at the insurgent positions. He could also hear the enemy’s near misses. “When that round goes past the cockpit it sounds like the snap of someone’s fingers — a pop,” he said. “That day, it sounded more like popcorn.” But as the minutes ticked by, Cooper and his wingman could tell they were gaining an edge. “The rate of [enemy] fire had diminished, so we knew we had hit either the guns or the crews of probably at least two of those trucks,” he said. Even as he tried to kill them, Cooper was impressed with his enemies’ resilience. “They were not fleeing, they were hanging right in there,” he said. “They were disciplined fighters.” After 12 to 15 minutes, Cooper was running low on ammunition, and landed back beside the crashed aircraft. He and his co-pilot stared at each other wide-eyed. “Neither of us really expected to get out of this fight alive,” Cooper said. He paid tribute to the four MH-6 pilots on the ground, who all later received Bronze Stars with “V” devices. “Those guys were off-loading unstable rockets off of the downed aircraft and loading them into my aircraft when I landed,” he said. “That’s not a recommended procedure in the book, [and] they were doing that all the time under fire and in plain view of the enemy.” After no more than five minutes, Cooper and his copilot took off again. “We weren’t ordered to go back up,” he said. “I’m a gun pilot, and my duty is to support the ground forces.” After another 15 minutes of fighting against a hail of insurgent fire, Cooper was running out of fuel and ammo and had to put down again. “I was going through ammunition at a fairly rapid clip,” he said. The MH-6 pilots used a Leatherman tool to remove the crashed Little Bird’s auxiliary fuel tank and use it to refuel Cooper’s aircraft. Then Cooper took off yet again, this time spending half an hour in the air. He got as close as 800 meters from the gun trucks and 200 from the house. “I was flying as erratically as I could to throw off the aim of the gunners,” he said. Cooper and his wingman were slowly turning the tide of the battle. Most of the insurgents who had occupied the house a couple of hours before were now dead. Half of the gun trucks were out of action, with many insurgents killed and wounded in and around them. No longer able to cope with the withering fire that the AH-6 was delivering, the surviving insurgents began to retreat. Then tragedy struck. Maj. Troy Gilbert, an F-16 pilot providing close-air support for the mission, was finally able to identify the moving enemy vehicles and was placing effective fire on them when his aircraft crashed about four or five miles away from the downed helicopter. He was killed. Gilbert was posthumously awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross with “V” device. The actions of Cooper, 48, and his wingman were later credited with preventing further loss of friendly forces. Cooper was “ordered off the battlefield” after he landed for the fourth time. “We were out of gas and out of bullets and they needed to get a new team of AH[-6]s in there,” he said. The new team arrived, but the battle was over. The special operators remained on the ground until nightfall, when a downed aircraft recovery team flew in to extract the crashed helicopter and the troops. “By the time I got that aircraft back to base I was pretty well spent,” Cooper said. According to a summary of Cooper’s actions released by the 160th, “his aggressive actions, complete disregard for his personal safety and extreme courage under fire resulted in him single-handedly repelling the enemy attack … If not for CW5 Cooper’s actions, the ground force would have become decisively engaged and would certainly have taken heavy casualties.” But Cooper is humble when discussing his role. “I just happened to be the guy there that day,” he said. “Any one of the Night Stalkers that’s in this formation would have done the same thing I did.” http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/army_dsc_072008/

I'm just curious, but did you bother reading the initial post? He asked for DA/SA recommendations. How exactly does the Glock fit that requirement?

My check for $200 to the BATFE goes out by FedEx Express Saver today. This is their cheapest service and just gives me the peace of mind that comes with being able to confirm delivery. I have no fantasies that this will somehow expedite the process and in reality it's not much faster than US Mail. We ship so much by FedEx at my office that it's actually a bit easier and almost as cheap... so why not. Still waiting for word from Spike's Tactical regarding my engravings. I know that they received it last week so hopefully it won't be much longer. Also thinking about changing up my plans for the upper receiver a little since I've now got some time to kill. The LMT upper is a superb setup and not one I'll feel slighted about if that's what I go with... but I'm also considering a custom setup using a Noveske 10.5" barrel. Noveske's stuff uses polygonal rifling and they say accuracy out of them is amazing for even such a short bore length. Decisions, decisions.

The last time I checked, I was carrying a Glock 19 ... but thankfully it's not a DA/SA gun. We just need to stick to the parameters of each topic as defined by the Original Poster. That's all.

Permission to delete all of the striker-fired recommendations from this thread?

So many striker-fired recommendations in a thread where the OP asked for SA/DA guns only... 1. SIG P220 Carry 2. HK 45C Those are the only two I'd consider.

I'm thinking very seriously that my wife and I will just sit out the month of August 2008 but if anyone else wants to organize a meet for middle TN in August, please feel free to do so. We're just losing a lot of ground on getting remodeling done around our house and need to re-focus on that for a while. Owl Hollow continues to be a very good spot to meet and shoot but perhaps another venue would be a nice trade-up this time? Also we learned today that people don't prefer eating at fast food joints for these things. We were the only ones who showed up at Burger King. I'd suggest moving back to a sit-down pizza place or something similar. So, if someone wants to take the reins and organize a meet & shoot for August I will support you in any way that I can from here.

Thanks to those who showed up today. We had (and still have) a list a mile long of chores to do around the house so we just couldn't stay very long. I'm thinking very seriously that my wife and I will just sit out the month of August 2008 but if anyone else wants to organize a meet for middle TN in August, please feel free to do so. We're just losing a lot of ground on getting remodeling done around our house and need to re-focus on that for a while.

You won't build just one. Trust me. EBRD (Evil Black Rifle Disease) is just like herpes. It comes back, and back, and back, and back. Just ask my ex wife.

WOOHOO!!! Now you can finally walk the dog w/o fearing for your life.

Maybe.

I am thankful for Wal-Mart every time my wife and I shop at Publix and Target. Wal-Mart keeps those other two stores primarily English-Speaking only.

As long as it wasn't me, I'll help you make fun of that person.

Unfortunately while not high in fat, I did just check the caloric content of Jack Daniels and some sources list it at: "1 shot/nip, 30ml contains 65 calories. 1 double shot/jigger, 60ml contains 130 calories" So I must respectfully insist that you retract your statement. Children don't need to be drinking Jack Daniels anyway.

I will say this: Force on Force training is a real eye opener. It's amazing how fast a person can be right on top of you with a knife or just beating your head in with a ball bat or piece of pipe. The amount of time you will have to react in a random incident of violence is able to be measured in fractions of seconds. Once you see it for yourself, you realize that the idea you'll somehow have time to draw and ward off evil with the sight of your firearm is complete and utter crap. God forbid it happen to any of us, but if it does, most of us will barely have time to draw our own firearms and begin defending ourselves. That's why it is imperative to remain vigilant and try to avoid the fight to begin with.

If you are able to defuse the situation by drawing upon the attacker and they wisely choose to halt their aggression toward you... then by all means don't pull the trigger on them. HOWEVER: Statistically speaking most self defense encounters happen at conversation distance. If you produce your firearm at arm's length from your attacker and just hope that the guy's going to suddenly give up the fight and walk away from you, you're probably going end up getting hurt or worse. I stand by my assertion that when you clear leather, you better be committed to pulling the trigger. If there is enough distance between you and the assailant that you have ample time to produce your firearm and "threaten them off" with the mere sight of it, you probably had other options at your disposal. Like running the other direction, really really fast. There is no pat answer to this. But I think far too many of us (and again I'm guilty in the past) tend to base our mental scenarios on what we've seen on TV or in the movies. Those are scripted events! A bad guy surrenders at the sight of a gun because a screenplay author said so. In real life, if someone is beating the hell out of you are approaching you at break-neck speed with a knife in their hand, they probably won't even notice your gun aimed at them until it's too late for them. Adrenaline and/or rage will absolutely give human beings tunnel vision. I'm glad we're having this conversation because it is good mental exercise to examine all of the angles and possible outcomes.

Rock the casbah! Actually all EBRs are cool.

I'm so tactical my wife had to get a carry permit just so that I could ride in the car with her.

The classes taught at the YMCA (Coolsprings only!) and the Jewish CC are $80 per month with a 1yr contract or $100 per month w/o contract. Please check and confirm with their web site as I'm just going off the top of my head here.

Thanks for sharing this! I wish we had more info like this being posted here, so I'm pretty pumped to see someone sharing it.

None of the states in the top 10 should be very proud of themselves. Kentucky would score higher but you've gotta have jobs to buy groceries.

Link: http://www.midsouthkravmaga.com/frame_nashville.htm Classes are being offered at the Coolsprings YMCA and at the Jewish Community Center in the Bellevue / Bellmeade area. I am in no way affiliated with this group but I am considering joining as a student very soon. I first heard about Krav Maga several years ago and have been hoping that someone would start offering it in Nashville ever since. This is a very effective, very simple and very potent form of what I would consider "structured street fighting" techniques. One of the best things about it in my opinion is that it also teaches you how to deal with weapon retention and how to wrestle a weapon away from an attacker. As an additional bonus... if I do end up taking this, it will be a great opportunity for anyone here who hates my guts to show up and try to kick my ass in a controlled setting. Be warned that I hate losing and will be trying equally hard to kick your ass in the process. Seriously though, I wanted to pass this information along. It's a great way to invest into your own self-defense abilities and gives you an additional tool to use rather than just having to rely on a gun.

Everyone hates an armchair quarterback so I'm going to try to avoid being one... but this is why it's also good to invest in other forms of personal preparedness. Like a martial art, or at least enough "street fighting" pointers to know how to buy yourself the few seconds of time it takes to draw your weapon and begin delivering fire. The more I learn and the more my eyes are opened to just how frickin EVIL some people in this world are and how quickly and badly they will hurt you with little warning and no provocation, the more I'm realizing that it is essential to develop a warrior's mindset if you are going to go armed. And what I mean by "warrior mindset" is that you are willing to invest the time, energy and resources (money, equipment, etc.) into preparing yourself to deal with the worst that this world has to offer in a means that positions you to come out on top. HunterH and I were just discussing this last night and both of us have come to realize that hand to hand training is an important and often overlooked aspect of personal protection. He's got a huge leg up on me there as he already has several years worth of martial arts training to his name, and I'm just now investigating getting started. But anyway... I digress somewhat. Back to the subject at hand: That's why I said this guy really needed for his wife to be carrying also. Between the two of them, once the S really started to HTF, she might have been able to access her own firearm and start delivering shots into the bad guys even if he couldn't access his own. And as others observed, once a few of the bad guys started going to the ground with sucking chest wounds, the others probably would have fled the scene. Honestly I hope I never have to find out just what I'd do in this situation. But I do use these news stories to analyze my own preparedness and make plans to fix the areas where I see vulnerabilities. Hopefully we all do.

If you're in East TN I would check with the fine folks at Austin's Tennessee Firearms School (link here) and inquire about their offerings for a defensive pistol class. TGO Member "Phantom6" is the owner and I have heard nothing but good things from those who have taken some of his classes. He's located near Oak Ridge. If you are willing to travel to middle Tennessee, I have had personal experience with Critical Incident Strategies (link here) and cannot say enough good things about the instructors or the defensive pistol class. Both of these groups may have other recommendations for you based on proximity to where you live. I've watched the NRA basics class being taught before and I don't think it will really compare to the sort of nitty gritty information that you're going to get from either of these two schools. The NRA class looked like a nice primer for someone who was completely new to handguns. A good defensive pistol class will be at least one tier above that in terms of the drills they have you perform, the training you receive and the amount of eye opening information you get.