Squadron steadily punished Iraq's war assets
Marine Corps News
Release Date: 5/29/2003
Story by Pfc. Macario P. Mora Jr.
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (May 29, 2003) -- They were the first Camp Pendleton aircraft squadron sent home from the war - but not before leaving scores of enemy tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery pieces blackened and useless.
But that's not the only proof they were there. They brought home plenty of battle scars - namely chinks in 26 of their 27 aircraft left by enemy ordnance, mostly small-arms fire.
Thank God the Iraqis couldn't deliver a lethal blow, utility helicopter and helicopter gunship pilots from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 267 said inside a squadron hangar ready room seven days after returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"We had small-arms fire, (antiaircraft fire) and (rocket-propelled grenades)," said 1st Lt. Brian Grant, an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot and a native of Naples, Fla. "I don't think we had any RPG hits, but we were definitely fired upon. You were either lucky or you weren't. It was inaccurate fire for the most part, but there was a lot of it."
The squadron, which left Camp Pendleton Jan. 17 under the Unit Deployment Program, was diverted from Okinawa to Operation Iraqi Freedom and arrived in the Persian Gulf region on Feb. 24.
About three weeks later, they were fighting a war - close to nonstop.
"We would go out 12 to 16 hours at a time and come back, get our eight hours sleep and cycle back out," Grant said. "It was real tough on the aircraft, but the maintainers, crew chiefs and plane captains kept all of the birds up for us. It was a really high operation tempo for two weeks. We were supporting operations in Al Basrah, An Nasiriyah, up towards Al-Kut ... then we supported the Brits as well."
"We got stuck in sandstorms a couple times," said 1st Lt. Mike Bersky, a native of River Forrest, Ill., and a UH-1N Huey pilot. "The problem is you couldn't see."
"We were flying in conditions that we normally wouldn't," said Grant.
The Hueys lived up to their "utility" designation, doing everything from taking out Iraqi gunners holed up in buildings to whisking upper-level commanders to and fro, Bersky said.
"The Hueys did a lot of visual reconnaissance, they did armed escorting, they did escorts for the (medical evacuation) birds and they did VIP transports," he said.
HMLA-267 pilots were in every major firefight of the war, Grant said.
"Basically from day one we'd go out and get our missions and support the ground troops," said Grant. "We'd support the column movements moving north and east, and whenever they took contacts, we'd take out their threats. We took out T-55 tanks, armored personnel carriers, bunkers, D-30 artillery pieces and antiaircraft guns.
"Basically the columns would take fire from buildings. Everything in the news was pretty accurate about the settings. We saw a lot of surrendering troops, a lot of people waving white flags. It was tough because we would take an area and then, as we moved forward, the Iraqis would come back and take it. We hit pockets of friendlies, then pockets of enemy and then pockets of friendlies all in one line as we went north."
The rules of engagement were well-defined, Grant emphasized.
"When columns would take fire ... we would get cleared and we were able to engage," Grant said. "It is important to stress that there was minimal collateral damage.
"They were long days - really long days," Grant said. "It was exciting, very exciting, and it was fun to finally get to do everything you trained to do and to do it well."
"The Huey side of the war was a lot different ... from the Cobra pilots, because we were traveling with Regimental Combat Teams," Bersky said. "We had four Hueys constantly with them.
"I didn't fly for the first few days of the war, because of the way they were cycling the Huey pilots out. I think it was day four when I left. ... we were in support of RCT-5."
He offered a highlight.
"We took off and headed north and ended up in An Nasiriyah. ... There were two main bridges in the eastern side of An Nasiriyah; the southern bridge was in the process of getting ambushed. They sent two tanks up there to help them out. The tanks were stuck. So we were to provide security for the tanks. The majority of the city was to the western side. The forward air controller started taking fire from the western side of the city. So they called us in to prosecute the targets."
But the Hueys had trouble finding their objective.
"(The controller) was trying to talk us in, but there was a lot of chaos down below," Bersky said. "They weren't using tracers. He couldn't guide us in. So we started flying patterns from east to west on the eastern side of the road. We were trying to figure out where they were taking fire."
Then they saw an amphibious assault vehicle lying on its side.
"An RPG had hit it and there were guys pulling guys out of the (amtrack). There was a berm on the eastern side of the road, and all the Marines hid behind the berm and pointed west.
"We started focusing on the buildings to the western side, and one by one, we started picking off muzzle flashes from certain rooms, and our crew chiefs just unloaded."
But reloading was never a problem, Grant said.
"The maintenance crews did a wonderful job," he said. "It was like pulling into a gas station. We'd fill out a dream sheet - 'I want three Hellfires, four TOWs and 400 rounds of 20mm,' and they'd just pop it all on. Then they would fill you with gas and send you on your way. We did that four times a day."
And there were plenty of cheerleaders exhorting them onward.
"For the most part, civilians seemed ecstatic to see us," said Grant. "They didn't bother us at all. They would wave at us, and mothers would hold up their babies at us. They would even run after us with flags.
"The elders of the city were walking the leaders of the infantry squads up and down the streets, and they led them to buildings they thought the Iraqi military was in and unlocked the gates for them," Grant said.
In other towns, the Iraqi military was nowhere to be found. They were bribed to leave so coalition forces wouldnÕt attack, Grant said.
"People were getting paid off - officials, generals, everything," said Bersky. "They didn't want the military in their town, because they didn't want to get shot at. So they would just let us come through their town unopposed and let us get on with the mission."
The Huey and Cobra pilots enjoyed a friendly rivalry and complemented each other on several collaborative missions.
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