Military Officer - August 2006 - (Page 12)

yourviews “Pork-barrel politics has gone on for years and will continue until we … stop our own congressmen.“ — Lt. Col. Charles A. Hall, USA-Ret. following statement by Igor Sikorsky himself: “The helicopter can do what no eagle can. Indeed, it can perform as no other thing on earth — ﬁsh, ﬂesh, fowl, or mechanical. No eagle can hover. No bird can ﬂy backward. No ship can swim sideways. No plane can rise vertically from a standing start. But, to be quite humble about it, the helicopter can’t do much that a mosquito can’t do.” Brig. Gen. J.C. Gatlin Jr., USAF-Ret. Colorado Springs, Colo. Budget Rebuttals The article about helicopters caught my eye because I was a MASH pilot for the 8076 MASH in 1951 and 1952. I am a little disappointed the H-13 Bell chopper didn’t get more publicity, because it really was the very beginning of the helicopter era, and the guys that ﬂew them earned their pay every day of the week. Maj. H.E. Ziegler, USA-Ret. Colorado Springs, Colo. Even More Choppers The cover story, “Choppers,” in the June issue of Military Ofﬁcer was, for the most part, an interesting walk through history, but the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, one of the most successful helicopter programs in history, is neither pictured nor mentioned! More than 1,100 [Chinooks] have been built, and the end of production is not in sight. It was ﬁrst deployed in 1962 — 44 years ago! Sixteen countries have employed the helicopter, logging more than 4 million ﬂight hours. Currently, the Chinook is a primary asset in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan it is the helicopter of choice for the “high, hot” missions. In Pakistan it routinely ﬂew across the Himalayas (elevation 8,000 to 11,000 feet) to perform humanitarian missions. It is credited with saving thousands of lives. Capt. Frank Duke, USAR-Ret. Stuart, Fla. 12 MILITARY OFFICER AUGUST 2006 Robert Dorr’s article on helicopters brought back memories of my spring semester in 1943 as a plebe at [the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.]. We were required in our English class to write a research paper, and I chose the future of the helicopter as my subject. Igor Sikorsky came to the academy and gave a lecture to our class that spring, and after the lecture I went backstage where he kindly gave me an interview as part of my research. In the draft of my paper (which my dutiful wife has retained all these years since our marriage in 1945, when I graduated), there is the Does [James H. Miller, “Your Views,” June 2006] really believe that charging us more for health care will reduce the budget deﬁcit? Pork-barrel politics has gone on for years and will continue until we have the guts to stop our own congressmen. … Many retired personnel and retired personnel organizations … spent years and millions of dollars convincing the federal government that, yes, our recruiters lied to us when they told us we would have free health care for life. … I agree that we should reduce the federal deﬁcit, but not on the backs of those who have sacriﬁced in previous wars. Lt. Col. Charles A. Hall, USA-Ret. Yelm, Wash. Miller states, “We should all share the costs of putting constraint into the budget process.” I don’t see much evidence of this constraint when Congress could spend $200 million on a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, use homeland security funds to purchase 19 airconditioned garbage trucks for Newark, N.J., and attach funds for

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - August 2006

Military Officer - August 2006 Contents From the Editor President’s Page Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Chapter Activities Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Changing of the Guard Four-Star Rating Long Term Care Kryptogram Pages of History Information Exchange MOAA Scholarship Donors Member Books Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - August 2006

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