Hug Your Loved Ones Tonight.

I am proud to be an Army wife.  Most of the time I love the lifestyle, I love the experiences military life affords us, I love the camaraderie and I love the traditions. The military lifestyle is not for everyone because, well it's hard. It takes a lot of hard work to keep a marriage together when you spend months apart, but somehow that time apart makes you appreciate and love your spouse all the more.  It reminds you to not take things for granted. I've grown to love the Army life, there are definitely more ups than downs, but those down times are heart wrenching and incredibly difficult.  Today is one of those times.

I've been exhausted and going to bed pretty early but I heard Mike's cell phone start ringing off the hook at about 10 last night. Before I knew it he was coming upstairs to don his ACUs and head back to the hangar-- there was a possibility that two aircraft went down. "Precautionary landing?" I asked Mike. He didn't know. We've had incidents like this before, where a pilot over torques something or other in the engine and has to make a precautionary landing and everything ended up find, with the exception of the aircraft. I wish that was the case this time.

Sometime around 2100 last night two Kiowa helicopters collided in mid-air and all four pilots were killed. You just never expect these things to happen during routine flights. Before Mike could even walk out of the house he was getting phone calls from soldiers saying that the crash was on the local news.  Ridiculous! That means it was on the news before the families were even notified. Could you imagine watching the 10 o'clock news before bed and seeing that on the screen, knowing your spouse was on night maneuvers?  It makes me sick to think about. Those poor, poor families.Each death of a soldier is a tragedy but there's something especially unsettling about a deaths that happen in garrison. I know they don't report the "specifics" but seriously....there's only one Kiowa unit here at JBLM and there are normally only a small amount of aircraft out at a time. It's not hard for families to put two and two together. Such a tragedy for all involved, especially right before Christmas.

Mike got home around 1 in the morning and looked totally deflated. I had to do my best to keep calm because I started cramping as soon as I started to cry. I know this is going to stir up lots of old memories from when we lost four pilots in January 2009 during the last deployment to Iraq.  Mike was in QC (Quality Control) at that time too so he had to assist in the investigation of the crash. It was then that he shut down on me for about four months. I guess picking up pieces of your friends from pieces of aircraft will do that to you though.  I can't begin to imagine what he's feeling right now. Ft. Rucker is sending in a team to lead the investigation so I'm hoping he won't be so intimately involved in this investigation, not a luxury one is afforded when deployed.  He keeps saying he's okay but I know better. I know he is putting on a strong front for all the young troopers at the hangar. I just found out that one of the pilots was also an IVFer and they very recently found out they're expecting. Way.too.close.to.home. Another was a newlywed and one had just adopted a special needs child. It's going to be a long week.

So please, dear readers, say a prayer for the families of the pilots and all the soldiers and friends who are mourning this great loss and hug your loved ones a little closer tonight. Rest in peace, aviators.


"The story of Fiddler's Green was published in 1923, in Cavalry Journal.^[6] According to this article, it was inspired by a story told by Captain "Sammy" Pearson at a campfire in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming. It is still used by modern cavalry units to memorialize the deceased." (Wikipedia)

The Cavalrymen's Poem: Fiddler's Green
Halfway down the trail to Hell,
In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers' Green.
Marching past, straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen.
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.
Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene.
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.
And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.