Hello All:
It's been a while since I've been here. My question is directed toward the present and formerly deployed military persons regarding a bare minimum kit. My cousin is an Apache pilot and has been an Army reservist for that past 18 years. He's being deployed to Iraq and I'd like to put together a good PSK for him prior to his departure. I'm sure there's at least a few that have been or are currently there. How about some Suggestions Fellas, Please? Thank You, Paul.

In Iraq for an Apache pilot...Hmmmmmmmmm.

They have a really good set of gear in their AIRSAVE vest and not a lot of room in the birds cockpit to expand their carry. There is a small bay in the bottom of the fuselage where you could stash something, but from all the crumpled Apaches I've seen, that compartment and everything in it goes bye-bye on impact.
The only things I can suggest for a chopper jock in Iraq would be to upgrade that M9 to something serious like a .40 or .45. That is difficult to do depending on the unit, some outfits will cut orders for personally owned weapons to be carried in theater, some wont. After that, ammo, ammo, and more ammo! And dont forget those two extra rounds for his gunner and himself, rather that, than getting your head cut off on the 6 oclock news. If they can squeeze a couple of SMG's out of somebody, that would help, like MP-5's or something else small, and once again, enough ammo to suppress the bad guys until SAR gets to you.
Those guys shouldn't be on the ground for too long, so long term survival is not the name of the game. Extrication, first aid, and a resolute willingness to immediately kill anyone who threatens you are at the top of the play list.
The only other thing might be some extra water, but you can't carry much in that little cockpit.
I think in Iraq the best advice is to not get shot down, failing that, DO NOT GET CAPTURED! The Iraqi civilians arent a real threat, and will probably help out as long as there aren't any real baddies in the area, but if you've just been shot down, there will be, and they dont want to interrogate you for technical information, they just enjoy hearing you scream for the camera!
A solid knowledge of who you can trust and who you cant, as well as a working knowledge of the language are just mandatory there. as well as the old bomber pilot addage, "if you gotta bail out, dont do it on top of the people you just bombed" <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />!

Good luck to him, I'll see him there and tell him to keep those rockets coming!

Mike

Doug's offering free consulting to service men and women deploying. See the info here


Stay Safe,

JimJr

Send him over to www.lightfighter.net Plenty of folks coming and going from deployments and lots of up to date info and contacts. He should be issued the basics, but having extra batteries for radio, GPS and strobe as well as extra mags would be a good idea. Good, working mags, that is.
Dave

Thank You for all the comments and suggestions fellas. Much appreciated.