Father and son Apache pilots spend holidays together in Iraq

Photo By Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Matson | 6) LT conducts pre-flight inspections -- Lt. Anthony Marston, 1st Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, conducts pre-flight inspections on an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter. Marston, an attack helicopter pilot, is deployed to Iraq with his father, Chief Warrant Officer Phillip Marston, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. Both are Apache pilots.  

TIKRIT, IRAQ

12.01.2005

Story by Staff Sgt. Ryan Matson 

101st Combat Aviation Brigade

2nd Lt. Elizabeth Casebeer and Sgt. Ryan Matson
101st Combat Aviation Brigade

TIKRIT, Iraq -- It all started with a Pink Panther flight jacket.

That's one of the things 1st Lt. Anthony Marston, 1st Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, sometimes wore when he was a child. That's because his father, Chief Warrant Officer Phillip Marston, was an attack pilot. In fact, all these years later, Chief Marston is still flying attack helicopters. And now, so is Anthony.

Anthony has followed his father's footsteps into the Army, through flight school, to the same division and aviation brigade, and now, the two have caught up with each other at Forward Operating Base Speicher, Iraq. In fact, it seems like the senior Marston just can't get away from his son.

It was over 23 years ago that Chief Marston, then an infantry Soldier shivering from a cold day on the range, looked up and saw an Army UH1, a Cobra attack helicopter, and a scout helicopter fly overhead.

"I thought to myself, "Those guys will be going to the warm areas here shortly, so there must be a better way,"" he said.

On that day, Chief Marston decided he would fly. After 5 years as an infantryman he left Fort Carson, Colo., and became a warrant officer. He graduated from flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala., in 1982.

Chief Marston began his aviation career as a Cobra pilot. At the time, that was the Army's attack helicopter.

"Part of getting the Cobra was luck of the draw. You can volunteer for the aircraft you want to fly, but it is based on terms of slots available as to whether you'll get it or not," Chief Marston said. "What I liked about the Cobra was somebody said to me, "Wouldn't you like to be in an aircraft that, if it were shot at, you could shoot back and protect yourself?" That made a lot of sense to me, and once I started flying it, I realized it was a lot of fun, too."

After a stint as an instructor pilot back at Fort Rucker, Chief Marston picked up his qualification to fly the Army's new attack aircraft, the Apache, which he has flown since 1987. He has flown both the Alpha and Delta Longbow model of the aircraft at locations around the world, including during the first Gulf War.

Back then, the idea of being deployed to Iraq with his son, both as Apache pilots, seemed like it may be something of a stretch.

"I knew he was over here for Operation Desert Storm, but I didn't exactly know what all that entailed," Anthony said, who was in elementary school at the time. "We can relate with each other on a whole different level now."

Even though his father is a career warrant officer, Anthony did not even decide to join the Army until he was in high school.

"It's not like he sat me down at the dinner table and made me read the Dash Ten [the AH-64D Longbow Apache handbook]," the young Marston said with a laugh.

Something Chief Marston and his wife, Donna, wanted to ensure was that their son would receive a good education. He decided he could pursue both his Army career and academic goals by becoming a commissioned officer.

Perhaps Anthony's tougher decision was deciding where he would get his commission from. He carefully weighed the pros and cons of the Reserve Officers" Training Corps and The United States Military Academy at West Point and ultimately decided on West Point. Anthony said he chose it "for its great lineage and the great officers it has produced over the years."

"Everything was all-encompassing. I matured a lot there and decided who I am, and what kind of person I am. I also made lifelong friends," he said.

Then the time came for Anthony to fill out his "wish list" " the area, or branch, of the military he would like to base his career on.

"When [Anthony] first went up to West Point and he was talking about what he wanted to do when he graduated, he was always talking infantry, and things like that, and I said, "Okay, Okay, no problem,"" Chief Marston recalled. "I told him it's a hard lifestyle, but if that's what you want to do, it's a worthy one. Somewhere along the line, I must have come to influence him, because he said he wanted to try aviation and see how it worked. I'm thinking that growing up around it, it's kind of like your hometown -- you don't think of it until you leave it and do other things."

After his son earned his commission from West Point in 2003, he graduated flight school in 2004. He has since grown to share the same passion for flying attack helicopters that his father has held throughout the years.

Anthony decided to fly Apaches because of what they can do. Unlike most other helicopters, Apaches are equipped with guns, rockets and missiles that intimidate the enemy and provide protection for its crew.

"Flying Apaches is a thrill," Anthony said. "There's nothing like going fast and low over a local area."

Now that the two are together in Iraq, Chief Marston is not only a father, but a mentor as a senior aviator, as well.

"Even growing up, when I would help him with his homework, he"d ask me things and I"d show him how to do the basics step-by-step," Chief Marston said. "I"d tell him, "If you can do the basics, then the complex problems are just broken down into those." Flying is like that. If you can fly the helicopter and break it down into the essentials, then when you go into a complex mission, things are less difficult."

"He's always there for me," Anthony said. "He is a great role model for Soldiers and an overall great guy. People who work with him are always telling me stories of what he has done for them."

The two remain professional, yet still show a good sense of humor. "I call him "Mr. Marston," and all the pilots keep telling me to call him "Dad,"" Anthony said, who refuses to do so in order to keep professional around other Soldiers.

Most of the time, Chief Marston calls his son "L.T.," the nickname often given to lieutenants. "When I'm a little upset with him, I just call him "Lieutenant,"" he said.

Though it may not be in ideal conditions, the Marston family has managed to remain together, stateside or at war. In fact, Anthony's wife, Aricel is a battalion chemical officer serving at another installation in Iraq. Meanwhile, back at Fort Campbell, Donna is waiting patiently for her two aviators to return home.

"I'm sure she worries about us," Chief Marston said. "But she deals with it and doesn't "Oh-me, oh-my," it."

And she will have to endure plenty of pilot talk when they get back.

"I think she kind of gets a kick out of it," Chief Marston said. "I mean, normally when you're at home talking with relatives, you don't use your Army slang, your Army jargon, but we get home and we'll be talking about stuff like that and she'll just shake her head and walk off."

• Date Taken: 12.01.2005
• Date Posted: 12.01.2005 14:00
• Story ID: 3925
• Location: TIKRIT, IQ