Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Despite his natural ease with the light-weight weapon, the 34-year-old Kiowa Warrior pilot only received his M4 a few weeks before deploying here in early November. Traditionally, Army helicopter pilots fly into battle with an M9 9mm pistol secured in a shoulder holster.

Pilots of the 3rd Squadron, 17th U.S. Cavalry, however, abandoned that tradition recently when guerilla forces in Iraq began knocking helicopters out of the sky.

The 3rd Squadron, which is part of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), has been assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (SBCT) to provide aviation support to the Army’s first Stryker brigade during its yearlong deployment in Iraq. The brigade issued pilots M4s to carry alongside their M9s, so they would have more firepower if they get shot down over Iraq.

“I’ve never carried a rifle in the cockpit,” said McNamara who commands the Diamondbacks of C Troop, 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation. “I was a little like, ‘what’s that thing going to do for me?’” he said.

His view changed, though, after seeing how effective the compact carbine can be during training to fight with the M4 in close quarters as well as using it to shoot out of a helicopter from a hover position.

“I think it’s one of the best things that have come out,” he said.

Flying with more personal firepower is one of the ways the cavalry unit is preparing for the growing threat awaiting helicopter pilots in Iraq, where 39 soldiers died in aviation incidents in November, the deadliest month since combat operations were declared over May 1.

Helicopters are “the new target,” said CW2 Tad Stuart, a Kiowa pilot for C Troop, 3-17, the unit known as Crazy Horse. “They’re like ‘if somebody can do it, I can do it.’ The enemy is developing their skills.”

A coalition spokesman said that allowing added fire in the cockpit was a decision left to individual unit commanders rather than a theater-wide directive.

The Stryker brigade is slated to enter Iraq sometime in the next few weeks.

Most of 3-17’s aviation mission will involve scouting areas for enemy activity and relaying information back to the Stryker brigade, said Maj. Andy Kaufmann, operations officer for the cavalry squadron. The unit also will provide convoy security and logistics support as needed, Kaufmann said.

To prepare the pilots for this, unit leaders have been in constant contact with other aviation units operating in Iraq and have placed an emphasis on staying one step ahead of the enemy’s tactics.

“We are going to be impossible to predict,” McNamara said.

Despite McNamara’s positive outlook, he and other seasoned warriors in the unit know that they won’t be able to completely avoid dangerous flying conditions.

“What we have done mostly is train for the inevitable — somebody is going to get shot at,” McNamara said. “It’s going to happen. To believe that it’s not is naïve.”

He and other leaders also have spent time with younger soldiers to help them deal with the fear that comes with serving in a high-threat region like Iraq.

“We talk about it a lot, actually,” he said. “There is always the uncertainty that weighs heavy on their minds.”

Command Sgt. Major John Wayne Troxell also has done his share of reassuring soldiers of 3-17.

“When you talk to soldiers about fear, they feel better about it,” said Troxell, who parachuted into Panama during Operation Just Cause in 1989 with the 82nd Airborne Division. “That’s my job — to let my soldiers know it’s OK to be afraid and to help them channel that into adrenaline on the battlefield.”

In spite of that fear, Troxell said many of the cavalry unit’s soldiers welcome the chance to do something besides sit at home at the sacrifice of others.