Fort Rucker Flight School Graduation Speech 19 May 2005 “Each Generation Produces Its Own Heroes” Note: The following speech was given by LTG Curran at a basic flight school graduation at Ft. Rucker, Alabama on 19 May 2005. Thank you very much for that kind introduction. I’ve spent 5 of my 31 years of service here at Fort Rucker and it is always a pleasure to return to the home of Army Aviation. You know, being the commander here at Rucker certainly had its privileges – it was probably the last time I could get on a helicopter without the pilot looking at me like I was some pain-in-the-neck VIP needing a ride somewhere! Congratulations to each of you on your graduation from basic flight school. Whether you are Active Component or National Guard, officer or warrant, you will remember this course and the friends you have made here for the rest of your lives. I know I do. Let me discuss with you a little bit about the type of people who choose to become Army Aviators and a little bit about what the future holds for Army Aviation. By pinning on your wings today, you are joining a select group that has served our Army and our Nation with distinction not only since the establishment of the Army Aviation School in 1953, but in fact back to the Army Air Corps and before then to the very beginning of manned flight. Here is a brief example of the type of fellowship you have joined. It is from the Medal of Honor citation for MAJ Patrick Brady for his actions in Vietnam on 6 January 1968. While commanding a UH-1H ambulance helicopter, MAJ Brady volunteered to rescue wounded men from a site in enemy territory which was reported to be heavily defended and blanketed by fog. To reach the site, he descended through the heavy fog and smoke and hovered slowly along a valley trail, turning his ship sideward to blow away the fog with the backwash from his rotor blades. Despite the unchallenged, close-range enemy fire, he found the dangerously small site, where he successfully landed and evacuated 2 badly wounded South Vietnamese soldiers. He was then called to another area completely covered by dense fog where American casualties lay only 50 meters from the enemy. Two aircraft had already been shot down while others had made unsuccessful attempts to reach this site. With unmatched
skill and extraordinary courage, MAJ Brady made 4 flights to this embattled landing zone and successfully rescued all the wounded. On his third mission of the day MAJ Brady once again landed at a site surrounded by the enemy. The friendly ground force, pinned down by enemy fire, had been unable to reach and secure the landing zone. Although his aircraft had been badly damaged and his controls partially shot away during his initial entry, he returned minutes later and rescued the remaining injured. Shortly thereafter, MAJ Brady secured a replacement aircraft and landed in an enemy minefield where a platoon of American soldiers was trapped. A mine detonated near his helicopter, wounding 2 crewmembers and damaging his ship. In spite of this, he managed to fly 6 severely injured patients to medical aid. Throughout that day MAJ Brady used 3 helicopters to evacuate a total of 51 seriously wounded men, many of whom would have perished without prompt medical treatment. His exploits are but one example of the proud history of Army Aviation and the contribution that Army Aviation has made to our Army and our Nation. That contribution continues to this very day. Army senior leaders, led by our Chief of Staff, GEN Schoomaker, have taken a number of proactive steps to ensure Army Aviation’s combat effectiveness. Although it sounds counter-intuitive, the first step in that progress was the cancellation of the Comanche program in early 2004. Why cancel the best helicopter ever produced by the Army? Very simply, it was a matter of priorities. The Army could either procure 121 Comanches for roughly $15 billion over several years or we could totally reset Army Aviation to support Soldiers in battle today. In the resource-constrained world that we live in, we could not do both. The decision was to support Soldiers in contact with the enemy today, right now in Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world. We’re going to use that same $15 billion dollars to reset and revitalize Army Aviation. Here are some examples of what we’re doing: o o o o o o o Accelerating the fielding of aircraft survivability equipment Acquiring the Apache Block III Developing a new reconnaissance aircraft Fielding new Blackhawks and Chinooks and new fixed wing cargo aircraft Investing in new munitions and fly-by-wire capabilities Working with our Sister Services on the Joint Multi-Role Helicopter Program Resourcing Army UAV requirements
The Army will be able to purchase nearly 800 new aircraft as a result of the Comanche cancellation. Part of my job is to balance current requirements with future capabilities. The pace and scope of operations today balanced against the need to develop and field new equipment and technology. It never is and never will be an easy call but in this case, it was the correct decision. Change is about more than just equipment. We are also changing how the Army organizes itself for battle while we are at War. In just 14 months, the Army went from the drawing board to the battlefield with the 3rd Infantry Division and the fielding of new modular Brigade Combat Teams. It is a decisive break from a Cold War, division-centric force to a brigade-based, fullspectrum force responsive to the needs of Joint Force Commanders in the new strategic environment. For Army Aviation, this means the fielding of new, multifunctional Aviation Brigades. For the first time, attack, lift, reconnaissance, and medical evacuation assets will all be in the same brigade. For the commanders of Brigade Combat Teams, these new multifunctional aviation brigades will be one-stop shopping for their Army Aviation requirements. They will be more tailorable, deployable, and sustainable than the formations they are replacing. These standardized formations will be more Joint interoperable and for the first time, our Reserve Component brigades will have the same organizational designs as our Active Component units. This means that when the 1st of the 151st from the South Carolina National Guard comes home from its deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom, their aviation brigade will be reorganized and reset to the same organizational design as an Active Component unit. The same goes for the 1st of the 104th from Annville, Pennsylvania and Delta 113 from Nevada and Oregon. Our Guard units are right there in this fight, contributing every day and I salute them for their service. While organizational designs and equipment will change and evolve over time, what is ever constant is the quality of our people. Soldiers are the centerpiece of everything we do. Here is another brief anecdote about the people you will find in Army Aviation today, Soldiers who are living the Warrior Ethos. For CPT Ryan Welch and CWO Justin Taylor, the night of 16 October 2004 was just a regular mission flying reconnaissance in their Apache Longbow around southern Baghdad. Then a distorted cry for help came across the emergency radio. They
recognized the call sign; recognized the area; and a few minutes later, were en route to bringing home two Kiowa Warrior pilots who had gone down. When they arrived in the area of the crash site, they began trying to contact the pilots on the ground. While the two were flying over crash site trying to get a better look at the ground, an excited call came up. "You just flew over our position.” They landed their Apache approximately 100 meters from the crash site. Armed with his 9 mm pistol and an M4 Carbine rifle, CPT Welch set out in the darkness to collect the downed pilots. Turns out that one of the downed pilots couldn't walk. CPT Welch assisted the two wounded men over the treacherous 100 meters to his waiting Apache. Now they had a different problem. Four personnel to get out and only two seats in the Apache. How did they solve this problem? Self-extraction. This is a maneuver the pilots had been told about in flight school -- a maneuver considered dangerous enough that no practical application was given, just the verbal "here's how you do it." So that’s what they did. First, CPT Welch and one of the Kiowa pilots, CWO Chad Beck, helped the other Kiowa pilot, CWO Greg Crow, into the Apache. They then wrapped a nylon strap through the handholds and connected the strap to the carabiner that every pilot has on their flight suit. They literally tied themselves to the outside of the Apache – that is self-extraction. As an aviator myself, self-extraction is one of those things you’re briefed on and you hope like hell you never have to do. There are obvious reasons we don’t practice that maneuver, not the least of which is that it potentially leaves only one pilot flying the Apache, which is definitely a two-person aircraft. Once he was secured, CPT Welch assumed a defensive position with his M-4 and gave CWO Taylor the thumbs-up sign. Chief Taylor lifted off for a 20 kilometer flight at 90 miles an hour to nearest forward operating base hospital, where they handed off the Kiowa pilots to the medics for treatment. These remarkable pilots succeeded in their mission because of their training, their courage, their commitment to duty. They are outstanding examples of the Warrior Ethos that simply says: o o o o I will always place the mission first I will never accept defeat I will never quit I will never leave a fallen comrade
For their actions that night, CPT Welch and CWO Taylor were both awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The point of the two stories, one from 1968 and the other from 2004, is to illustrate the caliber of Soldiers we have in our particular business. Over 36 years, the quality of Army Aviators remains at the highest level. Each generation produces its own heroes. By earning your wings today, you are the inheritors of the tradition of excellence established by such aviators as MAJ Brady and continued by CPT Welch, CWO Taylor and many others serving at this very moment. I have full faith and confidence that each of you will carry out your duties in the same manner as those who came before you. The nation applauds you for your service during a time a war, as I definitely do. Congratulations again on earning you wings and thank you for allowing me to share this day with you. God bless you and good luck!