Apache pilot lives out life-long dream

TAJI, IRAQ

06.10.2005

Courtesy Story

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Story and photo by Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci
214th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- Standing next to an AH-64 Apache helicopter here, Seattle, Wash., native Warrant Officer Joseph Walker said all he ever wanted to do was be a military pilot.

Now the youngest Apache pilot in his battalion, the 22-year-old, assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment (Attack Helicopter), 3rd Infantry Division, said he never counted on how much fun his journey would be.

"I knew staying home I wasn't going to go anywhere in civilian life. I was on a fast track to being a house painter, not saying there is anything wrong with that, but it's not for me," he said.

So using a program called "high school to flight school" Walker joined the Army and went straight to basic training in Fort Sill, Okla., which he said was "cold " very, very cold." Graduation from basic training meant more training, this time at Fort Rucker, Ala., not as a private, but as a Warrant Officer Cadet.

He said being a cadet, commonly called a WOC, was an experience in discipline and attention to detail, where cadets were quickly overwhelmed with the tasks assigned by instructors.

"We figured it out one day. From the time we had to shower to get to formation, including making the bed, arranging the desk the way we were supposed to and all the things we had to get done, it was a 40-step process, and we had seven minutes to get it done," he said.

He said almost no one made it in the seven minutes for the first few weeks, but as graduation closed in, it was amazing to see the WOCs not only had completed the tasks, but they had time to spare.

"That was a great feeling. In the end everything they did was very strong on attention to detail, and once I got in the cockpit and started flying, it all made sense," he said.

Fulfilling his dream to fly helicopters in the Army turned to outright elation when he found out he was the only person in his class selected to train as an Apache pilot.

"I found out on a Friday I was going to fly Apaches, and yeah, it was party time," he said, a grin stretching across his face.
The enthusiasm and energy Walker brings to work every day is something the older pilots notice, and something they feed off of, said Chief Warrant Officer Jerry Frye, a veteran Apache pilot with 19 years in the Army, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Bn., 3rd Aviation Regt. (Attack Helicopter).

"I was assigned as an instructor-pilot at Fort Rucker, and we used to talk in the cadre about the kids coming through the class and say, "That guy was not even born when I graduated from high school,"" said the 41 year-old pilot.

"But I am glad to see we are still getting people like [Walker], people who are patriotic and who think coming in the Army to fly helicopters is a good way to spend part of their life. Their energy really keeps me going," the Wooster, Ohio, native said.

After graduating from flight school, Walker joined the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga., where he learned real fast about being an Apache pilot, he said. "I had only flown three or four [missions] at Stewart when we went to [the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.] and were right in the middle of missions."

Adding to the learning curve a new pilot normally has to adjust to, Walker said the Apache crews were also shifting their training, no longer concentrating on deep attacks against enemy formations but assisting ground troops with cordon and search operations and searching for improvised explosive devices.

"It was a really good experience because we were out in the field, and I mean the field!" he said. "We flew in bad weather and under a lot of stressful conditions. It gave me a really good idea of what I wanted to do as a [pilot]."

When the Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division began deploying, Walker said he was excited, and when he arrived in theater he was surprised by the sparseness of the area.

"We got to Udari Range in Kuwait and started flying, and I have never seen anything like it," he said. "You can fly for 50 kilometers and all you will see is a guy with a herd of goats.

I mean, it is amazing, and then you have to wonder, how do they get water and survive? It is so different from Seattle.

"Then when we flew [to Iraq], I was flying with a pilot who had been in the invasion, and he was showing me landmarks, you know, like, "Yeah, and that was where we blew up a bunch of tanks" and sure enough there were tanks with holes from Hellfires sitting there," he said.

By far, the most satisfying aspect of flying the Apache is the work he has done with ground troops, according to Walker.
That work with ground troops led to a big score for the Apache pilots recently when they helped ground troops take down a terrorist rocket launcher.

"We were in a two-ship formation, I was in one helicopter and [Walker] was in another, and we were providing security for ground troops after an IED exploded," Frye said.

"We happened to look over and saw something about 150 meters from where the IED was, but were not sure what it was, so we flew around it and got a [grid coordinate], and let the ground guys know where it was. They got to it and it was a rocket launcher with a rocket in the tube," Frye said.

"We suspect [the terrorists] were going to use it against the troops who were just hit by the IED, but didn't because we were there," he said.

Walker said nights like that are worth the long hours and hard work, especially when he meets the ground troops he supports.

"We will be in the dining facility and the guys will come up and say "Were you flying last night? Thanks so much." It is a great feeling," he said.

Walker said the good feelings are also felt from the Iraqi people. "I would say 95 percent of the people we fly over wave and follow us, and they are thankful we are here, because they know with us in the air, the bad guys won't do anything. That's what we are here for."

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• Date Taken: 06.10.2005
• Date Posted: 06.10.2005 09:47
• Story ID: 2102
• Location: TAJI, IQ