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New member, Cav guy


Ed Rooney
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Hello from Annapolis, Maryland, USA.

 

I would not call myself a collector, but as a kid, I lived and breathed WWII history, especially the A.V.G. and loved crawling around the militaria shops. There was a great one next to Lee Airport near Annapolis, and I always wanted to spend time in there after flying with my father. I was on flight status in the Army Guard as an Aeroscout Observer (OH-58 left-seater).

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Welcome to the Forum.There are a lot of history lovers here.. Please educate me a bit on what an Aeroscout Observer is.

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Welcome to the Forum.There are a lot of history lovers here.. Please educate me a bit on what an Aeroscout Observer is.

 

It was MOS 93B in the Army, from about 1985 to the late 90's.

 

The school was an abbreviated flight school at Ft Rucker, AL, which provided about 65 hours of flight instruction. The flying bit was mostly navigation and some hands-on. It was essentially the OH-58 Basic Combat Skills and Night/Night Vision Goggle portions of the scout track of Army flight school. Graduates would then go to a Cav Squadron or Attack Helicopter Battalion, where they would fly missions in the left seat (co-pilot seat) of a scout helicopter. Graduates were not considered pilots, but were required to maintain minimums and hands-on flying proficiency, among other tasks. The reality of it was that quite often the pilot would start the engine, then say "you have the controls". We would pick up, hover taxi, take off, fly, land, etc. It was in their best interest to have a competent flyer who could get them to safety if they were injured in combat. It was not unusual for an experienced observer to be more competent than many of the junior officers who did not yet have pilot-in-command orders.

 

Graduates were awarded the Army Aviation Badge, which was then known as the Army Aircraft Crewman badge. I was around just long enough to get the little star on my wings and about 600 hours, plus another 400 as a Huey crew chief.

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Hi, and Welcome! Super cool, thanks for sharing! It is a dream of mine one time to get to ride in a chopper! How amazingly cool! -grin-

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The Rooster

Welcome to the forum Ed. I used to see those Loach choppers! I was a National Guard Grunt.

Flew in Hueys quite a number of times. Doors open nape of the earh stuff mostly.......and a couple time Chinooks.

But i used to see those little observers buzzing around. A guy from our platoon got to go on a ride in one.

He said it was like being on a rollercoaster. I beieve it too because I saw they way they flew around.

Not like the hueys. I never got to ride in one though.

Awesome little chopper! Pretty cool that you got so much air time and got to actually fly it!

Crew chief I bet wa awesome too!

So you were an enlisted observer? Thats too cool for school. I bet it was fun!

I was a ssg infantry squad ldr Army Guard.81-98

Welcome aboard!

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welcome to the forum, glad to see an aviation guy. Where did you do your huey school. I went to huey school in 89 at fort rucker, 58 delta in 94 at fort Eustice, blackhawks in 97 at Fort Eustice and Alse. I got 15 years as a crewchief, Thanks for your service.

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Fort Rucker. Charlie Company in 87-88, then went across the courtyard to Alpha Company and the observer school in 90-91, during Desert Shield/Storm. Everyone at Rucker stayed over Christmas Exodus and continued training. It ended a few days before we graduated.

 

 

welcome to the forum,  glad to see an aviation guy.   Where did you do your huey school.   I went to huey school in 89 at fort rucker, 58 delta in 94 at fort Eustice, blackhawks in 97 at Fort Eustice and Alse.    I got 15 years as a crewchief,    Thanks for your service. 

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Good to hear from you. We used to take Infantry, Cav and Artillery soldiers up all the time, and they loved it. NOE was the best. I would jump in the back when we would to take Air Force fixed wing pilots up, and NOE scared the hell out of them. Nap of the earth in a scooter or loach is a different experience from anything fixed wing, and even larger helicopters. It's something scout guys take pride in.

 

 

Welcome to the forum Ed. I used to see those Loach choppers! I was a National Guard Grunt.

Flew in Hueys quite a number of times. Doors open nape of the earh stuff mostly.......and a couple time Chinooks.

But i used to see those little observers buzzing around. A guy from our platoon got to go on a ride in one.

He said it was like being on a rollercoaster. I beieve it too because I saw they way they flew around.

Not like the hueys. I never got to ride in one though.

Awesome little chopper! Pretty cool that you got so much air time and got to actually fly it!

Crew chief I bet wa awesome too!

So you were an enlisted observer? Thats too cool for school. I bet it was fun!

I was a ssg infantry squad ldr Army Guard.81-98

Welcome aboard!

 

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Welcome. Hope you saved your flt suits, badges, maybe even got away with your flight helmet? I was with the 1/17th Cav, 82nd Airborne in the late 70's, we were at that time the only Airborne, Air Cav unit, sometime later ( 1980s) the unit dropped the Airborne jump qualification Requirement. I jumped from Huey's, Chinooks, C141s, C130s, and Caribous. It was the best part of my life, flying and jumping.

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Yeah, a few things here and there. I still have my green class A jacket, blues that I wore twice, ribbons/badges, some BDUs, jungle boots, and all of the patches I pulled from my helmet bag after it got ruined in the garage. Today I found my old Wings knee board with my Ft Rucker night checkride mission plan, a Jeppeson e6b and a list of all the FM freq’s from the ops area.

 

 

 

 

Welcome. Hope you saved your flt suits, badges, maybe even got away with your flight helmet? I was with the 1/17th Cav, 82nd Airborne in the late 70's, we were at that time the only Airborne, Air Cav unit, sometime later ( 1980s) the unit dropped the Airborne jump qualification Requirement. I jumped from Huey's, Chinooks, C141s, C130s, and Caribous. It was the best part of my life, flying and jumping.

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Welcome Ed. Sounds like you had a few adventures during the time you served. Like you , I have served in the NG and then went active duty and retired from the ARMY in 1998 and have been here in Maryland since 1993 ... Look forward to chatting some time ... Did you do any time in iraw / Afghanistan 2001 and on ??

 

Tracy

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No, I finished up in early 2002, so I did not deploy. They didn’t go until 2007, and I think they were “ground only” by that time.

 

Welcome Ed. Sounds like you had a few adventures during the time you served. Like you , I have served in the NG and then went active duty and retired from the ARMY in 1998 and have been here in Maryland since 1993 ... Look forward to chatting some time ...  Did you do any time in iraw / Afghanistan 2001 and on ??   

 

Tracy

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  • 3 weeks later...

No, I finished up in early 2002, so I did not deploy. They didn’t go until 2007, and I think they were “ground only” by that time.

 

Ed,

Again welcome to the site. If you have any questions regarding any type of collectible / memorabilia , I am sure some one here on the site can assist.

 

Tracy

US ARMY Ret

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