Posted on Aug 8, 2014
Who had their butt saved by a OH-58D when they were in Afghanistan or Iraq?
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In tribute to our Kiowa aviators, who flew more combat hours than any other airframe in theatre, please share your experiences with them.
Posted in these groups: 
Iraq
Close Air Support (CAS)
Iraq Close Air Support (CAS)
Edited 10 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 10
We had a LRS team in contact in 2003 in Mosul. I was on the QRF on the way to back them up. It was a 6 man team up against a truck load of guys. They were pretty much pinned down. While on the way there I here a voice on the net say "You guys better hurry up. I'm going to do what I can." (The 101st was in charge of the AO and always had birds in the air for gun fights. They would just go from fight to fight in the city.) We weren't too far away and we heard them coming. It was too dark to see them but you would the chop of the blades and the guns blazing. It was pretty bad ass. By the time we got there the bad guys ran away. Just having them in the air would scare the b-geezus out of them.
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1LT Scott Doyle I went there a few times. I was with the Corps LRS. We started out at a drilling compound, business, just north of the airfield. It was deemed undefendable. Basically, it was open game on us. We moved to D-Main by the C-MOC. I think that is what it was called. It was just down the hill from the palace. We kicked out teams all up North.
We also did a brief stint with 502nd on some compound right on the river. Did you ever go to the pool when you were in mosul?
We also did a brief stint with 502nd on some compound right on the river. Did you ever go to the pool when you were in mosul?
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It was the olympic pool in mosul. We used it for a minute until they tried to use it to attack some americans. 1LT Scott Doyle
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I Did!. We were clearing the road from Abu Ghraib to BIAP in April 2004 which had been shut down by a concentration of insurgents for a number of days. That stretch of road was littered with burned out tractor trailers, craters that a truck could fit into, and other choke points. At least one helicopter had been shot down in the previous days, killing a LTC. Our supply convoy took heavy fire on the way to BIAP, and we responded with 14 heavily armed vehicles to escort them back..... we traveled TO BIAP at 25 MPH hoping to draw fire and fix the enemy.... we took no fire at that speed though. Once we linked up with the convoy we traveled at 50 mph and took all kinds of fire. Fortunately we had some Kiowa support who did a GREAT job of suppressing the fires coming from 2 canal lines off the road (inaccessible from the highway.) while we engaged the line of sight threats. There were a number of choke points on the road, including a large crater with car sized pieces of asphalt littering the roadway, and a burning fuel tanker requiring us to slow down and pass it halfway into the ditch. There were heavy concentrations of fire in these areas and at least one bad guy with an RPG. The Kiowa's were a God-send. Intel advised there were an inordinate number of funerals in the surrounding area the following day. The following day we cleared the road more thoroughly with both mounted, dismounted, and K9 teams. The road stayed clear and open after that day.
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SSG Gerhard S.
VERY sad to see them go. On a brighter note, I'm happy to hear that some of the A-10's will remain in service, and I understand there'll be a wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Base here in Michigan.
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SFC Mark Merino
They fly over Davis Monthan every day. My wife said "what is that sound?" I said, "That's freedom, baby."
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