Camp Holloway Discussion Forum Archive 02 - 05/07/01 to 02/28/03

Flare Stand-By

I hated flare stand-by. We got that about every third week. I remember loading those big bombs into the ship just knowing something would go wrong. These flares were about four foot long and maybe five or six inches in diameter. We would have about thirty of these things loaded at one time. There was a pull pin on one end and a wire lanyard. To drop the flare you first hooked the lanyard to your D-ring and secured it to one of the tie down rings on the floor. Then you pulled the pin and threw this thing out the right cargo door. Never the left because if the lanyard hung up it might hit the tail rotor. These things weighed around forty pounds or so and were very hard to handle because of the smooth surface of the tube. The primary bird would fly if called or if we went to 75% alert. Both birds would fly at 100% alert. You would rotate flying every two hours. Flying around Holloway in the middle of the night was the most boring duty you could find. The one thing I do remember is that the outline of the camp was similiar to the shape of Texas. I was never on duty when we did get hit but some of the guys said that were it was quite the show to see. The mortars or rockets hitting and they would be throwing these flares out the door. Thank God we were young. If I had to do half that kind of stuff now I would probablly have a heart attack.

Messages In This Thread

Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By
Re: Flare Stand-By