"Red River 44"

The Red River forms the border between Texas and Oklahoma and
apparently gets its name from its color probably due to the sediment
in it. During the summer of 1874, the U. S. Army launched a campaign
to remove the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indian
tribes from the Southern Plains and enforce their relocation to
reservations in Indian Territory. The actions of 1874 were unlike any
prior attempts by the Army to pacify this area of the western
frontier. The Red River War led to the end of an entire way of life
for the Southern Plains tribes and brought about a new chapter in
Texas history. During the Red River War of 1874, as many as 20
engagements between the U.S. Army and the Southern Plains Indians may
have taken place across the Texas Panhandle region. The well-equipped
Army kept the Indians on the run until eventually they could not run
or fight any longer. The Red River War officially ended in June 1875
when Quanah Parker and his band of Quahadi Comanche entered Fort Sill
and surrendered. The Indians were defeated and would never again
freely roam the buffalo plains.
Given that Task Force 34 is made up of aviation National Guard units
from Texas and Oklahoma and that all US Army helicopters are named
after Indian names, it was only fitting that one of the Chinooks
making the flight into Iraq from Kuwait that night be given the call
sign "Red River 44".

I am writing this on Tuesday morning after a long three days of
working with these aviation soldiers to try to help them through their
tremendous loss as well as the traumatic experience that some of them
went through. Two days ago I conducted a critical event debriefing
with the 25 soldiers who were flying with Red River 44 in the three
other helicopters and as usual, this was a difficult experience. Over
the course of two tours in Iraq, I have had the unfortunate
opportunity to be the responding mental health professional to many
traumatic events and all these experiences as well as my mental health
training have led to my style in conducting these debriefings. I
usually start off by introducing myself and talking for a moment about
the debriefing process and what the participants can expect. Next, I
ask about the facts of the event and during this part, I usually hear
from almost everyone involved. This is the part where I heard the
story of the four Chinooks flying low and fast through the desert
night and the things they saw, heard, smelled, and experienced when
they watched one of these 98 foot long helicopters weighing as much as
50,000 pounds fully loaded with over 1000 gallons of fuel crash into
the ground at over 100 miles per hour. I heard "I watched it play out
like it was a movie with no sound" and "every light is intensified in
your night vision goggles so when we saw the flares go off and then
the fire ball of the helicopter crashing it almost blinded me." I
also heard from the Chinook crew that landed and walked through the
wreckage and heard all about the smells and other stimuli present.
Soon after the crash, a British fighter jet was on scene as well as a
British convoy was being diverted to the area and the remaining
helicopters were instructed to fly to Talil, their previously
scheduled fuel stop. Many other comments were made regarding the
crash details and the events leading up to it but these comments were
made under the assumption of confidentiality with a mental health
provider and I would never disclose any of that information. Suffice
it to say, the newspapers may have got it wrong but no surprise there.
Following about 90 minutes in a very hot little room with these 25
soldiers, we wrapped things up and went back to our CSC area. The
next day, yesterday, the flight surgeon called and asked me to come
back and do something with the remaining 40 or so soldiers from the
unit that were not directly involved in the crash. This was more or
less a grief group with some education thrown in about stress,
avoidance of things, and PTSD. Following this group, we went to the
memorial service for the 7 fallen soldiers. These are always hard and
this one was no exception. The traditional Army memorial of the
upside down M-4 rifle with the soldier's helmet, on the butt of the
rifle and the boots at the base with the soldier's dog tags hanging
from the M-4 was altered a bit to include their flight helmets
complete with their night vision goggles attached. All seven of these
were placed on the stage of a theatre here in Balad where the service
was to take place. The lights reflected eerily from the seven pairs
of night vision goggles giving the impression of green eyes staring
into the crowd. After each of the commanders gave their tribute, the
last roll call was preformed (where the name of the fallen soldier is
called out with no answer) and then the rifle shots are fired followed
by taps. The whole thing lasted about an hour and I returned home
very drained and feeling a little guilty that I was glad that it was
finally over. I know that there will be plenty more to do with the
aviators of Task Force 34 but it was a good to get some closure for
Red River 44. The memory of these heroes will not be forgotten.