I'm sure most of my readers have heard of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), commonly known as the 160th SOAR. They fly in support of all Army Special Forces, and sometimes help out Navy and Marines SF as well. They're a very specialized outfit with one heck of a reputation among "those that know".
Lindsey Chrismon flew with the 160th, and was the first female pilot of the AH-6 "Little Bird". First used during the Vietnam War (during which it was christened the LOACH, for "Light Observation Helicopter"), the 160th is today the only unit still flying them (in a greatly updated version, of course). Capt. Chrismon also flew the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. In the video below, she tells her story. It's filled with interesting details and bits and pieces of information. It's an hour and a half long, but I suggest it's worth taking the time to watch it, even in segments as and when you can manage it.
Grateful thanks to Capt. Chrismon for her service, and for a very interesting narrative.
Peter
8 comments:
Cool story, but women don’t belong in the military.
Sorry, but that ship sailed decades ago... I agree that women should not serve in combat, due to the massive distraction factor and what may happen to them if captured, but as for serving in general? That's settled.
I can't think of any sex based advantage for a particular sex flying a helicopter. If she was shot down she better hope her SERE training wasn't DEI'd.
I remember my brother telling me back in the 80's when he was taught how to fly helicopters at Ft Rucker that one of his (civilian) instructors was female and flew in Vietnam. However, back then, she was a he.
She might be a decent Nightstalker pilot, but I seriously doubt she'd legitimately pass the course to become one of their ground-grunts. Sounds like 5 weeks of Hell.
While I commend this “first woman” (ain’t bragging if ya can do it), but I am really tired of this “being first” thing like it’s beyond special that affords extra attention and accolade. The people I know never think of anything they do as “the first”…seems self-congratulatory and…odd.
I agree that no women should be in the military, tired of seeing them being carried along and mostly trouble.
And she still can't do a simple male PRT, never once in her entire Army career, and she only got her slot in that unit to begin with by denying it to any number of better-qualified male applicants, and deliberately dipping into the substandard pool. That's always glossed over in these sorts of stories. It's like bragging that you got a retard qualified to drive the Indy 500. It's not something they should admit, let alone be proud of, even if it worked.
She's only lucky in her career DEI didn't become DIE for her passengers.
Any job that can be done by women in the Army is a job that should be reclassified as a civilian support position. That would not include SpecOps helo pilots. Ever.
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