This is Rieck heading in to drop off the M-4s after a mission. For those of you who don't know, M-4s are the rifles slung across his back. They are a shorter version of the M-16. All the pilot's are issued one and we carry them with us on missions - something to give us a little more reach than our pistols in case we end up on the ground somewhere we aren't supposed to be.
Friday, April 11, 2008
This is Rieck heading in to drop off the M-4s after a mission. For those of you who don't know, M-4s are the rifles slung across his back. They are a shorter version of the M-16. All the pilot's are issued one and we carry them with us on missions - something to give us a little more reach than our pistols in case we end up on the ground somewhere we aren't supposed to be.
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2 comments:
In reference to "carry them on missions". Are these weapons actually on your body when you fly? How is this possible? Or does "carry them with us" mean accessable in the ship within reach as in "We're going down; grab your weapon" which for the pilots would be an impossibility I would think as you would be occupied with going down. Do some members of the crew (more than others) have an additional assignment...protect another in case of landing in enemy accessable places?
A big reason for us carrying these is the result of what happened in Afghanistan when a Chinook was shot down during Operation Anaconda (a very good book that I think you gave me talks all about it "Not a Good Day To Die" by Sean Naylor) . So now all our aircraft have been changed to included mounts in the cockpit so if we have to escape out the side doors we can grab them on the way out. The crewmembers in the back have the machine guns they man during the whole flight and they can be removed and used on the ground.
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