The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. 45 years of service and heading straight to the shredder.

Some of the 'cost-saving' decisions for our military include retiring multiple airframes to include the Air Force's A-10 and the Army's only dedicated aerial scout platform, the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. For the last year, I have seen at least 3 Squadrons head into the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB. It is painful to watch, when you have spent your career in the field with these helicopters and know first hand what they bring to the fight. The OH-58 (A & C series) platform has been serving our country for over 45 years. The armed version, the OH-58D, was rushed into service for operations in Desert Shield/Storm. Over the decades, the DoD has been hell bent on replacing her and has spent billions researching other options and creating the short lived replacement, the Commanche. No matter what they came up with, there was never found to be a suitable replacement. If you ever got desert dust on your boots, you saw them fly overhead providing security. If you ever left the wire, you felt relieved seeing them overhead. But if you were ever in contact and called in the birds, you knew the enemy was about to get their butt handed to them. Rain or shine, day or night, the Kiowas were inbound.
Yesterday, the latest group of OH-58D's flew in from Fort Drum. But they are no longer heading into the boneyard. These aircraft are heading for the shredders. No museum displays, no veteran organizations, not to be transferred to the police/forestry services/BLM for $1 like they did for UH-1and AH-1, just straight to the shredders. This is no way for such an iconic part of Army aviation history to end. Please spread the word to your Congressmen, veteran's groups, air museums, PAO's, and let them know what is happening. These aircraft weren't brought here on the backs of low boy trailers. They were flown in from across the country. Let's find them a more suitable ending to their careers.