FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR
CORPSMAN UP, I’M HIT... People who know me know that I have
been a helicopter pilot for over 20 years. Many also know that I am a U.S. Marine. People may NOT know that I wasn’t a pi- lot in the Marines. I was a poor slug of an enlisted guy relegated to earth-bound du- ties. My tools involved machine guns, not helicopters. With this issue of Rotorcraft Pro being dedicated to military topics, I thought I might share a funny story. There I was, on the grenade
range at Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, a.k.a. boot camp, a.k.a. hell. It was a 95-de- gree August day and I was doing squat-thrusts on the backside of the blast berm, covered in sweat and sand. I was wearing an OD green tee shirt, flack jacket, and a helmet. I was also waiting my turn to impress the Drill Instructors (DI’s) with my grenade-throwing arm. Immediately following the detonation
of a grenade thrown not-so-far down- range by another recruit, I suddenly felt a sharp burning pain in my back, just below the neck-line. At first I thought that I might have been bee-stung, and I instantly started jumping up and down and doing what looked like a cross between a Watusi tribal dance and the modern day Dougie. In the mean time, several DI’s were
none-to-happy with my commotion and were smartly heading my way to assuredly square me away. The pain was searing and no amount of wiggling or flailing was making it stop. With the pain increasing, no experience in this situation, and my mind racing, I figured I would take action and do what any television-educated kid would do . . . I hit the dirt screaming, “I’m hit, I’m hit.” In about three-seconds a couple very
large DI’s flipped me over like a rodeo calf and had me stripped down to bare skin. I fully expected that my life-threat- ening injury would elicit calls to the Corpsman (field medic) and shouts to ap- ply some sort of tourniquet to control bleeding. Instead, there was only silence, followed by laughter, followed by DI’s screaming for more push-ups and squat-
PUBLISHER Brig Bearden
brig@rotorcraftpro.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lyn Burks
lyn.burks@rotorcraftpro.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR / PHOTOGRAPHER Dana Maxfield
dana@rotorcraftpro.com
MANAGER, ONLINE ACCOUNTS Lynnette Burks
lynnette@rotorcraftpro.com COPY EDITOR
Rick Weatherford
rick@rotorcraftpro.com
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Pam Fulmer
pam@rotorcraftpro.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
thrusts. “Do push-ups? Can’t you see I have been hit by a grenade?” -- That’s what I said in my head. As it turns out, a small piece of hot shrapnel, about the size of a lemon seed, came over the blast berm and went down the back of my shirt while I was slightly bent over. Fortunately, I was to live another day.
Unfortunately, many of our men, women, and family members of the Armed Forces pay the ultimate price when troops come home injured or dead. As a Veteran Owned Business, we here at Rotorcraft Pro salute our readers, advertisers, and business part- ners who have served, or are currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Semper Fi, USMC 85-89!
Lyn Burks, Editor In Chief
MEMBER
Steve Goldsworthy Caterina Hessler Matt Johnson Randy Mains
Rotorcraft Pro®
Brad McNally Randy Rowles Scott Skola
is published twelve times a year and
mailed out on or around the 5th of the month being covered by Oak Mountain Media, LLC, P.O. Box 1505, Pelham, Alabama 35124. Rotorcraft Pro®
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CORPORATE OFFICERS Brig Bearden / COO Lyn Burks / CEO
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www.rotorcraftpro.com
2 March 2013
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