The Mission Goes On a story by SgtMac No shit, there I was somewhere over the Pacific, in the middle of night, heading for some thin strip of beach, on some remote island. My mission is to be the on site eyes and ears for the coming rescue force in two days. Because of the enemy forces, my BlackHawk helicopter and gun ships encountered, our extraction point is altered. There wasn't much room to fast rope in, jungle on one side and ocean on the other. Last check and I exit for that thin strip of beach. Surprise, I find Tony Snodgrass and myself up side down under four feet of ocean. At the last second, the BlackHawk swooped and was gone. We were left trying to save our equipment, and lives. We had a mission to do and we had encountered enemy forces. We were lucky; our equipment was waterproofed and still operational. I wish we were! Somehow we were able to evade the enemy and find our target. The American hostages looked okay, but were under constant guard. We were able to report vital information via SATCOM back to the commander in charge. With this information, a rescue plan was formed and the forces gathered. This was a large force of experts, including CCT, Delta, Rangers, C-130 and TF-160. The plan conducted under the cover of darkness was a two -fold operation. Send the Army teams in on helicopters to rescue the hostages. Some CCT would go in with them and set up ATC operations and prepare a runway for C-130 aircraft to come in and extract the hostages and U.S. Forces. Simple, shit was going great except we had one man down. Those darn Rangers in their excitement to get to the action pushed Mike Lampe right out of the helicopter at an extremely high altitude. Now, Mike didn't have a parachute and it just wasn't fair. He's the toughest SOB I know, but there were conflicting reports of his condition. Other than that, the operation was going off great, and the Delta teams had recovered the hostages. Shit was happening everywhere, but we were ahead of schedule. I met up with Tim Brown , who took over ATC operations from me and after days, I could finally relax. NOT! As we were ahead of schedule, we thought we had control of the situation - NOT! I can still see the silhouette of that damned C130 landing on top of that BlackHawk. Ten full minutes before any fixed winged aircraft are supposed to be in the area - SHIT HITS THE FAN! The operation was going so well, we were ahead of schedule. The Airborne Operations Commander decided to move the extraction up, but we were not notified. Due to a variety of incidents that didn't matter at the time we had a C-130 sitting on top of a BlackHawk. Somehow, I could see that C-130 flying off through the sparks of the disintegrating BlackHawk. I was on the SATCOM, and Tim was on the UHF, sorting this mess out. We had helicopters everywhere, one down and numerous C-130 aircraft minutes from landing. In seconds, we were able to maintain control of the situation and prevent an impending disaster. We also had an aircraft down in the middle of nowhere. Tim Brown had the ATC under control and I went to the accident site to coordinate medivac. The BlackHawk was fully loaded with Rangers, a team I had just worked with. I recognized my comrades through the noises of disaster. It was pandemonium, but through it all professionalism saved the night. The Army was tending to the wounded and Tim Brown maintained control of the airflow. Together the wounded were treated and evacuated in minutes. Numerous lives were saved. Needless to say, it was a long night, but our training served us well. The Rangers suffered severe injuries, but all lived to fight another day. We found Mike Lampe; he was a bit broken up, but alive. Now our only worry was the damaged C-130 that had Greg Capps and other CCT aboard. It had landed square on top of the BlackHawk rotors and had no landing gear. It was hours later that it finally made a safe landing on a foamed runway. We lost a lot that night, but all lives were saved. If it wasn't for the quick and professional way Tim Brown handled this emergency, the operation could have turned into a huge disaster. I wanted to put Tim in for the recognition he deserved, but due to the classification of the operation, he went unnoticed (except for those in the know). Over the years, Tim has proven to be a valuable asset to CCT. Finally, I'd like you all to understand there's more to this man than you'll ever know. Thank you Tim, for your dedication and unending servitude. I Love You, Man After months of hearings, it was determined the accident was a command problem and CCT had saved the night. Mike Lampe got to visit Hawaii, where they put him back together and made him even wiser, he won't get in front of a Ranger anymore. Today, this incident is almost forgotten, but not until Tim gets his recognition. HooYa! We were lucky this was only a training mission! ....................................................Mac
a story by SgtMac
No shit, there I was somewhere over the Pacific, in the middle of night, heading for some thin strip of beach, on some remote island. My mission is to be the on site eyes and ears for the coming rescue force in two days. Because of the enemy forces, my BlackHawk helicopter and gun ships encountered, our extraction point is altered.
There wasn't much room to fast rope in, jungle on one side and ocean on the other. Last check and I exit for that thin strip of beach. Surprise, I find Tony Snodgrass and myself up side down under four feet of ocean. At the last second, the BlackHawk swooped and was gone. We were left trying to save our equipment, and lives. We had a mission to do and we had encountered enemy forces. We were lucky; our equipment was waterproofed and still operational. I wish we were!
Somehow we were able to evade the enemy and find our target. The American hostages looked okay, but were under constant guard. We were able to report vital information via SATCOM back to the commander in charge. With this information, a rescue plan was formed and the forces gathered. This was a large force of experts, including CCT, Delta, Rangers, C-130 and TF-160. The plan conducted under the cover of darkness was a two -fold operation. Send the Army teams in on helicopters to rescue the hostages. Some CCT would go in with them and set up ATC operations and prepare a runway for C-130 aircraft to come in and extract the hostages and U.S. Forces.
Simple, shit was going great except we had one man down. Those darn Rangers in their excitement to get to the action pushed Mike Lampe right out of the helicopter at an extremely high altitude. Now, Mike didn't have a parachute and it just wasn't fair. He's the toughest SOB I know, but there were conflicting reports of his condition. Other than that, the operation was going off great, and the Delta teams had recovered the hostages.
Shit was happening everywhere, but we were ahead of schedule. I met up with Tim Brown , who took over ATC operations from me and after days, I could finally relax. NOT! As we were ahead of schedule, we thought we had control of the situation - NOT! I can still see the silhouette of that damned C130 landing on top of that BlackHawk.
Ten full minutes before any fixed winged aircraft are supposed to be in the area - SHIT HITS THE FAN! The operation was going so well, we were ahead of schedule. The Airborne Operations Commander decided to move the extraction up, but we were not notified. Due to a variety of incidents that didn't matter at the time we had a C-130 sitting on top of a BlackHawk. Somehow, I could see that C-130 flying off through the sparks of the disintegrating BlackHawk. I was on the SATCOM, and Tim was on the UHF, sorting this mess out. We had helicopters everywhere, one down and numerous C-130 aircraft minutes from landing.
In seconds, we were able to maintain control of the situation and prevent an impending disaster. We also had an aircraft down in the middle of nowhere. Tim Brown had the ATC under control and I went to the accident site to coordinate medivac. The BlackHawk was fully loaded with Rangers, a team I had just worked with. I recognized my comrades through the noises of disaster. It was pandemonium, but through it all professionalism saved the night. The Army was tending to the wounded and Tim Brown maintained control of the airflow. Together the wounded were treated and evacuated in minutes. Numerous lives were saved. Needless to say, it was a long night, but our training served us well. The Rangers suffered severe injuries, but all lived to fight another day.
We found Mike Lampe; he was a bit broken up, but alive. Now our only worry was the damaged C-130 that had Greg Capps and other CCT aboard. It had landed square on top of the BlackHawk rotors and had no landing gear. It was hours later that it finally made a safe landing on a foamed runway.
We lost a lot that night, but all lives were saved. If it wasn't for the quick and professional way Tim Brown handled this emergency, the operation could have turned into a huge disaster. I wanted to put Tim in for the recognition he deserved, but due to the classification of the operation, he went unnoticed (except for those in the know). Over the years, Tim has proven to be a valuable asset to CCT. Finally, I'd like you all to understand there's more to this man than you'll ever know. Thank you Tim, for your dedication and unending servitude. I Love You, Man
After months of hearings, it was determined the accident was a command problem and CCT had saved the night. Mike Lampe got to visit Hawaii, where they put him back together and made him even wiser, he won't get in front of a Ranger anymore. Today, this incident is almost forgotten, but not until Tim gets his recognition. HooYa! We were lucky this was only a training mission! ....................................................Mac