On Friday, I had a zoom meeting with my dad, who had served in the Army for eight years, and I asked him to tell me his most interesting story from his time in the service. He recalled the following story to me about his first time in a BlackHawk helicopter, which had only been in service for about three years.
āIt was 1988, and I was going up before the review board to move up to the next rank. I was stationed in Taegu, South Korea, and the review board in Seoul. I had been preparing for a couple months for this; studying current events, military history, weapons, vehicles, enemies & allies, you name it we had to know it. This Sergeant and I went down to the train station, and we took a two hour train ride from Taegu to Seoul. We get up there, and we head towards the hospital because I was in the medical field and the review board was being held in one of the hospitalās conference rooms. The Sergeant had said he had some meetings to go to, so he left for those meetings, while I had to wait for my turn before the board. When it was my turn, I went in and sat before the six or seven people on the review board, and I answered their questions to the best of my ability. When I got done, it was lunch time, so if I remember correctly, I just grabbed some lunch from the mess hall. I then met up with my Sergeant, and he said that he had more meetings to do; he said I could catch the next train back or see if there was a medevac flight going down south. I went over to the helipad because I really did NOT want to take the train back. I was in full dress uniform with all my medals and stripes, so I really did not want to ride back for two hours like that in public. The people in South Korea didnāt take too kindly to us walking around in our uniforms or us being there in general. After walking over to the medevac helipad, they told me a flight was coming in to drop someone off, and that if I wanted to wait then they could take me down south. They said there was about an hour wait for the flight, so I went over to the PX to walk around and kill time (itās like the military version of Walmart). I walked back and they said the flight would take off in about ten minutes. I walked out to the flight line, and I thought I would be taking a Huey, which are the old military helicopters. I looked out, and there was this massive BlackHawk sitting on the helipad. Those things were brand new, like they have only been in service maybe one or two years, so I was like, āThis is cool!ā It had a big medical red cross on it. When I got on, the co-pilot was already there, and he got me buckled in and gave me a headset. All of a sudden the door opens, and the other pilot gets in; he buckled and put on his headset, and then he asked, āWhatās your name soldier?ā I said, āSpecialist Roberts, sir.ā And he goes, āIām Colonelā¦ (I donāt remember his name), and Iām not the original pilot, but I need to get some flight time in so Iāll be flying this mission.’ When youāre a pilot, you have to have certain hours of flight time per month, per year. Most full bird Colonels donāt fly anymore (itās usually captains, majors, or lieutenants). He asked if I was scared or if this was my first time in a Blackhawk, and I was like, ‘Yes, yes, yes; Iāve never been in a helicopter before.’ He goes, ‘It’ll be about an hour flight.’ We take off, and itās like a roller coaster, where the BlackHawk lifts up then points its nose to the ground ass up while taking off before leveling out. So weāre flying above Seoul, and you can see all of the stacked buildings. The Colonel then goes, ‘Have you ever seen the mountains?’ and I go, ‘No, I havenāt,’ So he takes us in that direction and weāre just cruising along. When we get to the mountains, he goes, ‘Do you want to see something cool?’ And I said ‘sure.’ He asks, ‘Do you want to see some Buddhist temples?’ and I was like, ‘Sure, are they here in the mountains?’ He goes, ‘Well the best way to see the temples is sideways.’ I said, ‘Sir, what do you mean sideways?!’ And he goes, ‘Iām going to flip the bird sideways, and youāll be looking down on top of the temples.’ Iām thinking to myself holy shit what have I gotten myself into. The doorās going to fly open and Iām going to fall out. Iām not keen on flying in the first place and now this Colonel wants to kill me by turning this thing sideways. Weāre doing about 60 mph in this helicopter, and he wants to flip it sideways. My fingers were white from gripping my seat straps, while he flipped it so that we could look down through the window of the BlackHawkās door to the temples below. We rode like that for about 15 minutes just going sideways through the mountains, and I could see the temples and people so clearly. The smoke from the temples rose up to meet us, and it was otherworldly. The temples were all carved into the side of the mountains and were spaced pretty close to each other. I could see the monks that stood outside the temples to greet other people. I could see all the trails they took or that interconnected each village. Seeing all of the rice fields and houses made out of tin sheets, straw, mud, or whatever they could find up there. It was the coolest thing I ever saw. Compared to driving up or riding the train, that view was the best way to see the country.ā
Another fun service memory from my father was when he attended the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea while stationed there; he was featured by our local school systemās TV channel!
Remember to be extra thankful this month to our veterans and shout out to our UMB Veterans Center for supporting our veterans seeking an education!!!