Free Republic

<p>The Army’s top civilian official has called for an urgent plan to equip Army helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan with the most advanced defensive systems available, according to a memo obtained by a senator. Five days after a surface-to-air missile brought down a CH-47D Chinook transport and left 16 dead, the Army’s acting secretary, Les Brownlee wrote, “Like other force protection measures, this is URGENT!”</p>

CHIPPEWA TWP. - Not even a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace" could drown out the guttural sobs of Dawn Marie DeFelice on Saturday as she sat in front of the caskets bearing her brother and her mother. In a funeral service filled with tears and a touch of laughter, family and friends said their farewells to Mary Ellen Bucklew, 57, of Darlington Township and her only son, Ernie, who was killed in Iraq on Nov. 2 while trying to return home to mourn his mother. "This is not a hopeless end, but an endless hope," said the Rev. Jay Hurley of...

Attack Highlights a Constant Threat Faced by Aircraft in Iraq By ERIC SCHMITTPublished: November 3, 2003  ASHINGTON, Nov. 2 — It is not yet known at what altitude or speed the Chinook hit on Sunday in Iraq was flying, but guerrillas are known to have launched missiles at American planes two or three times a week, and ground fire at helicopters even more often.Until Sunday, when 16 American soldiers were killed and even more were wounded in the downed helicopter, defensive tactics and devices had helped United States aircraft largely escape disaster.But the scope of the threat facing American...

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. - An Army sergeant killed in a missile attack as he was returning home for his mother's funeral was buried along with her Saturday. More than 200 family members and friends gathered at a school auditorium about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh for a double funeral for Sgt. Ernest Bucklew and his mother. Mary Ellen Bucklew, 57, of Darlington Township, died Oct. 31 of an aneurism as she drove home from work. Her 33-year-old son was on emergency leave two days later when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter he was in was shot down near Fallujah, Iraq. Sixteen...

<p>LANDSTUHL, Germany — Sgt. Christopher Nelson admitted feeling a little edgy as the CH-47 Chinook (search) lifted off toward the Baghdad airport and home leave. Then, he heard "a loud boom," closed his eyes and prayed.</p> <p>The next thing he knew, Nelson, 27, of Orange, Texas, was lying on the ground, surrounded by pieces of the U.S. helicopter.</p>

(Landstuhl, Germany-AP, Nov. 5, 2003 9:46 AM) _ Recovering from wounds suffered when their helicopter was shot down in Iraq, two U.S. soldiers said Wednesday they expect to be needed on the front line again. Army sergeants Christopher Nelson of Orange, Texas, and Raymond Littlefield of Ephrata, Wash. were among 26 soldiers treated in Germany after their Chinook chopper was shot down Sunday, apparently with anti-aircraft missiles. Fifteen others died. The soldiers, both 27, said they were on edge as the giant helicopter carried them toward Baghdad airport and home leave, but could remember little of the attack. Witnesses said...

DENNIS CONRAD Associated Press WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is trying to figure out whether the helicopter shot down in Iraq was equipped with anti-missile defenses required by the Army, officials said Wednesday. Sen. Dick Durbin complained that some National Guard helicopters in Iraq have been operating without it and questioned whether the Chinook shot down over the weekend was properly protected. Durbin wrote a letter urging Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to investigate whether the helicopter had a fully operational system to divert missiles and asked him to ensure that all helicopters in Iraq have the equipment. Durbin, an Illinois...

By DENNIS CONRAD Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP)--The Army National Guard helicopter that was shot down in Iraq by shoulder-fired missiles was equipped with a standard package of defensive systems, including a missile alert system and flares designed to decoy a missile, a U.S. officer said Wednesday. Army Col. William Darley, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said in an e-mail exchange from Baghdad that the CH-47D Chinook helicopter had the ALQ-156 defensive system, including a flare dispenser, that is standard equipment on all Chinooks--whether active duty or National Guard. Pentagon officials had said Tuesday that they were looking into...

<p>The news has not been good from Iraq of late. The recent Ramadan bombings and Sunday's tragic downing of a Chinook helicopter is further evidence that remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime and Islamist radicals are still an effective guerilla force. Yet we mustn't let the steady drip, drip, drip of bad news from Iraq keep us from fulfilling the obligations we have assumed there.</p>

<p>Leaflets seen in mosques in this tense Sunni Muslim region warned of new attacks using "modern and advanced methods" only days before insurgents brought down a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter, killing 16 and wounding 20 others.</p> <p>The Sunday missile attack on the helicopter, carrying dozens of soldiers on their way home for leave, was the deadliest single strike against U.S. forces since the war began March 20.</p>

Holding up an American soldier's multi-coloured shorts that he had taken from the wreckage of the helicopter, the dancing Iraqi could scarcely contain his jubilation."Tonight we will have a double feast," shouted Mohammed Saleh, an unshaven, well-built man in his 40s, as he hopped from foot to foot in front of 100 joyous villagers."The first feast will be when we will break our fast for Ramadan. The second will be in praise of those who struck down our American enemies," he told the crowd.Behind them, among the fields and palm trees, lay the twisted, blackened debris of the Chinook along...

20 injured, no further info

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Experts expect another sizable return of fall chinook salmon in the Columbia River, good news for commercial fishers and sport anglers. Fishing began Sept. 5. More than 595,000 fall chinook are expected to reach the mouth of the Columbia, the fifth largest forecast since 1948. The expected run features 258,400 upriver chinook from the Hanford Reach, as well as 116,900 lower-river hatchery fish, 101,900 Bonneville hatchery fish and 86,600 mid-Columbia chinook. Fall chinook counts at Bonneville Dam spiked last week from several hundred to several thousand daily, indicating the season will peak soon. About 429,000 coho...