Funny how the mind works, I was going from job to job tonight ( I own a Janitorial Business) between jobs I stopped at the video store, upon returning to my truck I was shocked to see an Apache hovering overhead, now don't judge me, but the first thing that came to mind was to grab the binoculars to see if it was armed (which it wasn't)at least as far as I could tell, I don't think there is a way to tell if the chain gun is loaded or not at least not from the distance it was hovering at (aprox 500-1000 feet) then the mind went into overdrive, thinking, why is this guy up there, did he just get his permit and not know what to do next, did he take it for a test drive and want to show it to his DW before he bought it, maybe an ex postal worker. I don't know, all I know was I was thinking what am I going to do if things go south, I mean you never know right? Terrorists,police state,martial law etc. Thankfully he only hovered over the city for about 20 min then left.

I believe that we will be seeing more, stranger, sights soon.

Is it unusual to see military helicopters hovering above towns or cities?

Over my city it is and esp that low. Not that I thought that it was unusual just how the mind works sometimes. I wouldn't have been as surprised if it had been some sort of a transport helo.

Having hovered more than once in a military chopper, for one very important reason, I've gotta wonder, was there a "nudist" camp nearby? I have quite a few bootleg hours hovering, so that the pilot could get his look too...

Generally, yes, especially gunships, unless you are next to a military base. Big difference I suppose between the US and most of Europe- we've got space.

Don't worry Shadow- I spent several years living about three miles off the runway that had B-52s launching from it. I learned probably a little too young what the implications of white missiles are- I can't see a military aircraft without checking the pylons for that reason.

As for what he was doing... Check flight, probably.

Reminds me of the day of the US raid on Lybia

I was watching TV with Dad, and they were reporting from the UK on how the US was doing a show of force with their F-111s

I was watching the ordinance guys loading the F-111s in the background, and the takeoff footage, and I turned to Dad and said "show of force? Bull - those are LIVE GBUs - notice they aren't BLUE. We're bombing Lybia tonight, probably as we speak" - 30 minutes later, the President came on TV and announced the raid..

That was my first thought too.

Checking out ex-girlfriend/boyfriend's house, nude sunbathing, honeys "hanging out" at the apartment swimming pool/hot tub, scaring the hell outta some who tailgated him on the way to work... (the possiblities are endless).

Oh the fun one can have with military hardware.

Martial law? the US armed forces can't successfully occupy a country of 23 million Iraqis. How are they going to keep 300 million americans in line? This stuff about a 'new order' is fantasy.
simon