It was almost assured that about once a year you would end up at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) for a field training exercise. Training like this was important because if you were stationed at a post for any period of time, you become very familiar with the terrain and local features that it was like playing hide and seek in your own backyard. You knew where all the good hiding spots were and that took away from the fun. In the army, having to move units from and to unfamiliar places was a big part of the job and you needed someplace unfamiliar for that. Hence JRTC.
You also got training in deployment. When you deployed to a remote area, you had to take what you needed with you. This was another skill you only learned by doing it. You got to test how well your equipment worked, or how well it didn't work. You practiced unit movement, whether by convoy, train or as Chinooks go, SELF-MOVEMENT BY AIR. Let's face it, if you couldn't take it to the field in a Chinook, you couldn't take it to the field.
JRTC usually meant that about half the company (8 Chinooks) were sent to JRTC. There were some items that went by convoy, Maintenance vehicles, parts trailers, Mobile Kitchen Trailer (MKT) and the like, but the majority of what left Ft. Campbell flew in a Chinook. For this turn at JRTC, our unit was not based on Ft. Chaffee, but at a Army National Guard Base in Little Rock. Our landing area was on the 1000 meter rifle range (Obviously closed.) Missions were flown from Little Rock to JRTC and back for the most part, so we had a lot of equipment stored at that field site.
We had a night NVG mission that included an insertion of a company of Infantry. This required us to basically offload just about all our personal equipment so we could load the grunts. It was inconvenient, but it was part of the job. The personnel cargo capacity of a Chinook is 33 passengers in the seats. Under true combat conditions, we could forget about the seats, have the solders sit on their rucksacks on the floor in rows of five and we could get about 88 on board in that manner. Hence the passenger capacity running joke of Chinooks: "Max capacity 33, do not exceed 88.)
So there we were, a flight of four CH-47Ds, picking up 100+ infantry in some Pickup Zone (PZ) somewhere and we hauled them to our destination, Arrowhead Drop Zone (DZ). Arrowhead was designated a drop zone as it was a multi-purpose area. You could use it as a Landing Zone (LZ) for helicopters, a Drop Zone for paratroopers, a Drop Zone for air cargo via parachute or you could have tactical landing by Air Force aircraft on the unimproved gravel runway. The problem with a multi-use zone like that is you don't always get all the information about what was going on there, especially if more than one branch of the military was involved.
Everything was going great, until we were on short final to our landing area on the north side of the DZ and about 500 meters north of the gravel runway that ran east and west. This is when a C-130 landed and shook us up a bit. Like a Chinook, when a C-130 landed on a gravel runway, they stirred up a lot of dust from reverse thrust like we did with our rotors. As dust and dirt flew while he came to a stop, the dust and dirt was causing a gigantic shower of sparks off the propellers, effectively shutting down our goggles while we were trying to land. That made for an exciting few moments, but we managed to land safely. There was much ado over the radio about who was running the DZ and notifications of friendly aircraft and the like, but no major repercussions.
This is also where I got the ever present "Mission Change" and I was told to land at an LZ on Ft. Chaffee and rendezvous with other Chinooks from my unit as they'd had a bird scratched from a mission for maintenance reasons and needed another aircraft. Well damn, our sleeping gear was in Little Rock. Grrrrr. The flight was uneventful and we landed just after midnight behind the last aircraft in the LZ. It was springtime 1992 and it wasn't too hot, but it got cool at night. I ended up sleeping on a bench seat inside the Chinook wearing my PT uniform (Grey Sweats) and wrapped up in a poncho liner (Lightly insulated blanket for all intents and purposes.) Mostly I was cold.
Somewhere in that endless cold sleep, I remember rolling over and feeling a small tweak in my back. I didn't think much of it aside from it annoyed me and I went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, I needed to find out what the operations order was since I'd gotten little intelligence the night before with the mission change. I walked about 500 yards to the next bird and talked to CW2 Schroder (He was our Operations guy) and got what details he had then I headed back to my aircraft intent on breakfast. That turned into one of the longest walks of my life.
I'd gotten roughly half the way back, walking over mildly rough terrain, when I started having pain in my lower back. The more I walked, the more it hurt. I got about 100 more steps and I had to stop for the pain. I found bending over and squatting helped the pain, so I squatted and waited for it to abate. Then I got up and started walking again. I repeated this several times, over increasingly shorter distances the last 300 meters to the aircraft. (10 to 15 stops). I had a major problem.
I got back to the aircraft and the crew was trying to help me out. We found, I'm not sure how, that if I laid down on a ruck sack, face down, with my left knee pulled to my chest, the pain abated for the most part. And there I was in a field site, no medics, no pain meds and of course, no way could I fly. My co-pilot communicated this to operations and they said they would get me out, but it would be a while. It was all damn day!.
Some time after noon (Yes, I did eat lunch face down over a ruck sack) they determined that the aircraft was going to be used on the mission and I was moved over to the wood line on a cot (Still face down with my knee to my chest.) The mission departed and it was me and one extra crew member that had been left behind to help me. Finally, around 6 PM a Chinook returned to take us back to Little Rock. Now I had to find some way to sit up in a seat with a seat-belt on, this didn't bode well at all.
I managed to get over to the aircraft, (I think I had help) and managed to climb up the step and into the aircraft. It was packed, and there were 5 people riding and 5 seats. I managed to get around and into one of the seats, head spinning from the pain. No it was get the seat belt on. I managed to snap the buckle and then I jerked to tighten the strap and that movement caused my back to pop! First a wave of pain, then some relief. I wasn't out of pain, but it was bearable now anyway.
We flew back to Little Rock and I was reunited with my aircraft and my sleeping bag and other equipment and officially grounded by the Flight Surgeon (Big surprise there.) But at least I got some pain medications and that helped. The next day, we returned to Ft. Campbell.
Since I was grounded, I was replaced by another pilot and I rode in the jump-seat between the pilots for the return flight. They used me as a navigator as neither of them had made the flight from Little Rock to Campbell and I was known for my navigation. We got back in the afternoon and after getting all required equipment (weapon and Goggles and such) turned in and accounted for, we were released. I called my wife to come and get me and she greeted me with all three sons which was nice as they could carry my equipment while I staggered to the van.
We got home, and for the only time I can remember while I was in the military, my wife took my boots off for me. She helped me out of my flight suit and I just laid on the living room floor in my skivvies and tried to do a hip roll to ease the pain in my back. My wife was sitting close entertaining our four year old and they were horsing around and she fell over and landed on my leg while I was stretching my back. CRRRAACCKKK!! and I howled in pain. My wife quickly checked on me and asked if I was in pain and I said yes, but it hurt so good. She'd managed to realign what I'd thrown out and I was pretty much pain free.
I ended up grounded for a couple months while I was evaluated and did physical therapy. I ended up with a P3 profile (Permanent Grade 3. A P3 profile meant I was 100% deployable but that I had limitations for physical training) and modified exercise program, but otherwise I was okay and went back to flight status.
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