Helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan was Medevac Crew

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Copter that crashed was coming to aid of Afghan forces
By HEATH DRUZIN
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 20, 2012

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Four American soldiers rushing to give medical help to wounded Afghan security forces were aboard a Medevac helicopter that crashed Thursday night in Helmand province.

Three of the four crew members are confirmed dead, the status of fourth hasn't been released, a U.S. official told Stars and Stripes.

The UH-60L Blackhawk went down in Garmsir district around 9:40 p.m. while on a mission to pick up the wounded Afghans. The New York Times reported that four Afghan police officers had been killed in a suicide attack at a police checkpoint, and seven others were wounded, and that the American helicopter was flying to the scene to take the wounded officers to a nearby hospital.
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Helo with 4 troops aboard crashes in southwestern Afghanistan

Helo with 4 troops aboard crashes in southwestern Afghanistan
By Robert Burns -
The Associated Press

Posted : Thursday Apr 19, 2012
WASHINGTON — An American military helicopter has crashed in southwestern Afghanistan with four U.S. troops aboard, a U.S. defense official said Thursday.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the crash is under investigation, said it could not be ruled out that the Black Hawk helicopter was taken down by enemy fire, but early indications were that weather may have been a factor. read more here

Contractor settles allegations over Black Hawks

Contractor settles allegations over Black Hawks

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday May 26, 2010 16:51:37 EDT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A military contractor has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle allegations by federal authorities that it failed to test armor plated inserts used in Black Hawk helicopters.

U.S. Attorney for Connecticut David Fein announced Wednesday that Ceradyne Inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif., agreed to the settlement over the inserts it makes for Sikorsky Aircraft. The helicopters are used by the Army.
Contractor settles allegations over Black Hawks

Fourteen members of the Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade Medals of Valor from Germany

Soldiers become first to receive German honor

By Sean O’Sullivan - The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
Posted : Friday Apr 30, 2010 18:12:23 EDT

Fourteen members of the Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade on Thursday became the first non-Germans to receive Germany’s Gold Cross, one of that nation’s highest honors for valor.

The soldiers, based at U.S. Army Garrison-Ansbach, Germany, were honored for medevac flights they performed April 2 involving German troops who had been ambushed by some 200 Taliban fighters while on patrol north of the city of Kunduz, Afghanistan.

The firefight was still going on when the Black Hawk evacuation helicopters — two medical transport helicopters and one heavily armed “chase” helicopter — arrived, according to what Army Capt. Robert McDonough, who piloted one of the medical helicopters, told his father, Jack McDonough.

“The two Black Hawks did a combined seven landings into the middle of this battle. My son told me that he could see rounds hitting the blades of his helicopter and there were bullet holes in the Blackhawks,” Jack McDonough wrote in an e-mail message. “He said the incoming fire was so bad that at one point he banked the helicopter real hard to avoid the incoming rounds. He told me he saw the Taliban celebrating, thinking they had downed them.”

According to a letter sent to the McDonough family by Army Maj. Michael S. Hughes, the medevac team “performed heroically in the face of extreme adversity,” and their actions saved at least five German soldiers “and probably countless more.”
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Soldiers become first to receive German honor

Army: All 4 soldiers in helo crash died

Army: All 4 soldiers in helo crash died

By Kristen Wyatt - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 20, 2009 14:18:39 EDT

DENVER — Four soldiers died after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission on Colorado’s second-highest mountain, the Army’s Special Operations Command said Thursday.

The helicopter crashed Wednesday afternoon near the summit of 14,421-foot Mount Massive.

The Army initially said two were killed, one was injured and one was missing. The missing man was found dead late Wednesday, and the injured man died on the way to the hospital Wednesday, said Lt. Col. John Clearwater, a spokesman for the command at Fort Bragg, N.C.

All were male soldiers from Fort Campbell, Ky., he said. Their names haven’t been released.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/ap_helo_crash_082009/

Black Hawk crash in Colorado Mountain leaves two dead

2 dead in Black Hawk crash on Colo. mountain

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 19, 2009 21:35:54 EDT

LEADVILLE, Colo. — A military helicopter crashed Wednesday near the peak of Colorado's second-highest mountain, killing two people, injuring one and leaving the only other person aboard missing, authorities said.

The Black Hawk helicopter from Kentucky's Fort Campbell was carrying out training exercises when it struck near the top of 14,200-feet tall Mount Massive near Leadville, according to the Lake County Sheriff's office and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The injured person was flown to a Denver hospital, while rescue teams searched for the only other person aboard, said Sheriff spokesman Max Duarte. The condition of the injured person was not immediately known.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/ap_helo_crash_081909/

UPDATE to this story
Army: All 4 soldiers in helo crash died

Sgt. Charles Clayton Mitts laid to rest

Spring soldier who died in A and M crash laid to rest

— Kristi Mitts is overcome with emotion at the funeral of her husband, Charles Mitts, a crew chief, who was participating in a winter field training exercise at Texas A and M University when the Black Hawk helicopter in which he was riding crashed.Michael Paulsen : Chronicle

'True public servant' to be buried today in Houston
Former police officer, air marshal died in Black Hawk crash at Texas A&M
By RENEE C. LEE Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 22, 2009, 10:13AM
Sgt. Charles Clayton Mitts, a 17-year Texas Army National Guard veteran and Federal Air Marshal Service agent, was “a true public servant” who died doing what he loved the most — helping others, say his family and friends.

Services for the 42-year-old Spring resident are being held this morning, followed by burial in Houston National Cemetery.

Mitts, a crew chief, was participating in a winter field training exercise conducted by the Army ROTC unit at Texas A and M University when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in which he was riding crashed on campus on Jan. 12. He died two days later at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

“He was always wanting to help and teach people,” said his friend, Kirk Burns, a chief warrant officer in the Texas Army National Guard. “He loved teaching and passing on his experience and knowledge.”

FBI Special Agent Pat Villafranca, who worked with Mitts on a special counterterrorism task force for three years, described the decorated soldier as a delightful, energetic man who was dedicated to his job.

“He was a true public servant and took joy in public service,”
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Ohio National Guard deploy to Louisiana

1,500 Ohio guardsmen to deploy for cleanup

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 8:39:04 EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio National Guard is sending 1,500 troops to Louisiana to help with the cleanup following Hurricane Gustav.

Guard spokesman James Sims said the deployment could begin Thursday or Friday. Units from Columbus, Newark and Coshocton will be among those sending troops.

Last week, the Guard sent a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and five crew members from a battalion based in Akron at the request of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. The crew went to help the state prepare for Gustav, which hit the Gulf Coast on Monday. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_ohio_gustav_090208/

Also

Army, Air Force pounce into action on Gustav

By Kris Osborn - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 8:35:04 EDT

Army medium tactical trucks are hauling food, water and supplies to Gustav-damaged areas. Black Hawk and Kiowa Warrior helicopters are patrolling from the skies on search-and-rescue missions looking for victims. And Air Force planes have evacuated up to 16,000 residents — all as the U.S. military draws upon its home-stationed assets to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency respond to Hurricane Gustav, a Category 2 storm that rocked the Gulf coast of Louisiana on Monday.

The Army National Guard has been called upon by the governors of four states, sending more than 10,000 troops to Gustav-impacted areas. Deployments include 3,400 troops in Louisiana, up to 5,000 in Texas, and 3,000 in Alabama.

Overall, the National Guard has twice as much of the needed equipment to respond to hurricanes along the Gulf Coast compared with three years ago, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, said Maj. Gen. William Etter, the director of domestic operations for the National Guard Bureau, at a FEMA briefing Friday.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/defense_gustav_090208/

"Grateful" nation presents flag. What more do you want?

Linked from
The Sword & The Pen - http://theswordandthepen.blogspot.com/

Family's Sole Surviving Son Denied GI BenefitsFRESNO (AP) ― Army Spc. Jason Hubbard was forced to leave the combat zone after his two brothers died in the Iraq war, but once at home the soldier faced another battle: The military cut off his family's health care, stopped his G.I. educational subsidies and wanted him to repay his sign-up bonus.

It wasn't until Hubbard petitioned his local Congressman that he was able to restore some of his benefits.

Now that Congressman, Rep. Devin Nunes, plans to join three other lawmakers in introducing a bill Wednesday that would ensure basic benefits to all soldiers who are discharged under the sole survivor policy. The rule is a holdover from World War II meant to protect the rights of service people who have lost a family member to war.

"I felt as if in some ways I was being punished for leaving even though it was under these difficult circumstances," Hubbard told The Associated Press Tuesday. "The situation that happened to me is not a one-time thing. It's going to happen to other people, and to have a law in place is going to ease their tragedy in some way."

Hubbard, 33, and his youngest brother, Nathan, enlisted while they were still grieving for their brother, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard, who was 22 when he was killed in a 2004 bomb explosion in Ramadi.

At their request, the pair were assigned to the same unit, the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, and deployed to Iraq the next year.

In August, 21-year-old Cpl. Nathan died when his Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Kirkuk. Jason was part of the team assigned to remove his comrades' bodies from the wreckage.

Hubbard accompanied his little brother's body on a military aircraft to Kuwait, then on to California. He kept steady during Nathan's burial at Clovis Cemetery, standing in dress uniform between his younger brothers' graves as hundreds sobbed in the heat.

But Hubbard broke his silence when he found his wife, pregnant with their second child, had been cut off from the transitional health care the family needed to ease back to civilian life after he was discharged in October.
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http://cbs13.com/local/sole.survivor.benefits.2.700663.html

Two flags for this family and forced the other surviving son to return home. A "grateful" nation presented the flags to the family and then told the last son he owed them. Spc. Jason Hubbard was told he owed the government money, but apparently as you read the rest of this article, Jason was not alone.

Why? Why do they keep doing this? Wasn't it bad enough that so many were dishonorably discharged when they were carrying the wound of PTSD? They got away with it and would still be getting away with it if some intrepid reporters didn't step up and do some digging. To this day, we still don't know what has been done with the over 20,000 veterans this was done to in order to correct this injustice. We may never know how far reaching their suffering went. Did they families fall apart? Did they end up homeless? Did they end up committing suicide because they were betrayed by the same nation they vowed to defend with their lives? Why does any of this take the actions of reporters instead of the government just knowing they need to do the right thing for those who serve?

Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington