During the day and night of 3-4 October I watched hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and thousands of rounds of small arms tracers rip the sky around my team and the other helicopters in the vicinity. One particular engagement stood out in my mind as an exceptional illustration of teamwork.

We were chalk two in a flight of two helicopters providing close air support to the pinned down ground element. Chalk 1 was inbound to the target when a RPG was launched at him from approximately 700 meters to my front. The pilot of the other aircraft - at approximately 1000 feet above ground level (AGL) - saw the gunner and conducted a target handoff by sparkling him with laser. Chalk two immediately turned his min-guns on the target but had a gun failure. Thinking quickly, he fired a rocket and destroyed the target. This entire episode lasted a matter of 3-5 seconds. Quick thinking and immediate reaction enabled them to effectively destroy a significant threat to both the ground and air elements.

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