| I arrived in country in July of 1990. Monsoon season was in full swing. It rained constantly and we had a lot of problems with flooding. Rain gear was a waste of time, it seemed you'd get just as wet with it on as without it. I couldn't count the number of sandbags we filled. We didn't see any blue sky or sunshine until September. I've got a lot of photos from this tour with Black Node. I'll place some of them here. We were the most unique Signal Platoon in Charlie Company, 122nd Sig, 2nd ID, and the entire Signal Corps. Black Node was a special platoon, and I will go to my grave with pride at having served with such a fine collection of soldiers, and fond memories of the times (both good and bad) we shared together in the R.O.K. |
| I remember how we'd spend hours preparing for deployment, only to wait for hours for the birds to come in. After everything was prepared, we rested and slept wherever we could find a spot on the PZ because we knew we were in for a very long day. Eventually someone would hear the birds coming in, and everything came to life. I'll never forget that distinct sound of the UH-60A Blackhawk and the adrenalin rush as we sprang into action. |
| Black Node - Airmobile C Company 122d Signal Battalion Camp Casey, Korea July 1990 - December 1991 |
| Ground guides were very important. The ground guide was the eyes for the pilot to hopefully make sure the pilot didn't get too low and knock the hell out of the guy that was trying to hookup or damage the equipment. Not all pilots seemed to pay much attention to the ground guide though, but at least we never had any injuries during hookup, although I remember a number of close calls. |
| Often we would have a soldier stand behind the ground guide just to keep the ground guide from being blown over. On Baegun-San (Paegun-San) Mountain during Team Spirit, we did have one soldier get blown off the side of the hill because of the ice and snow and the high winds from the bird. The photo to the right is of an NCO who nearly got blown off the hill during Team Spirit '91. |
| And who from Black Node will ever forget all the dust, debris, and shit that got blown around from those birds! Even wearing goggles, earplugs, bandanas, and rags or anything else, to try to cover as much and as completely as we could, you'd still wind up with dirt in the crack of your ass, in your ears, and places that had no business getting dirt. |
| Hooking up was a blast... sometimes literally! Remember the static electricity that would jolt your ass if you didn't tap the hook first? More than a few of us learned that lesson the hard way! Both of these photos are from Team Spirit '91. |
| Here I am hooking up a blivot during a refueling mission on Baegun-San Mountain, during Team Spirit '91. Damned that was a cold mountain, even without the bird there! |
| While hooking up was a blast, it wasn't nearly as much fun as when we could get the pilot to take us on a "hell run" or "combat run" or whatever else we used to call it... flying nap of the earth in an ass-hauling UH-60A was the shit! (These photos were taken from Hill 441) |
| We did have our excitement during Team Spirit that year. Remember LT Jordan's "Operation Raging Turtle"? We were under threat of "attack" from OPFOR, and I offered a three-day pass to any member of the VHF Section that took a prisoner. Well the attacks never came, but we managed to find some excitement at the expense of a few other folks. |
| Remember when PFC Henry was climbing the hill and somehow managed to break his leg or ankle or something? He got medevac'd out and spent the remainder of Team Spirit in the rear. |
One thing that I will never forget is that day this Kiowa crashed next to the dismount guard. I was in the tent with some of the guys eating lunch or something. Four men came out on the Kiowa to do a little recon and had landed on the helipad. When they took off, from inside the tent, we heard the little bird climbing into the air, then all of a sudden we heard it making the strangest sound. I looked at SGT Ward and said something along the lines of "What the fuck?! That sounded like auto-rotate!" and we all ran out of the GP Medium to see what was going on. The Kiowa hit the ground not 10 feet from the dismount guard, and then rolled over onto its side on the side of the hill. SGT Baldwin was the first one down there, and he climbed up on top of the Kiowa and helped to pull the four men out of the bird. I remember hearing the fuel pump going, and either SFC Campbell or LT Jordan told us all to get away from it because it would blow. SGT Baldwin ignored the "command" and those of us who initially began to run back up the hill, turned around and we formed a human chain help get those men out of the Kiowa, up the hill and into the tent. It is amazing to me that all four men on that Kiowa were able to walk away from it. The damage was pretty extensive. It laid there for quite a few weeks before a crew came out to take it away, and we had to add that crash site to our guard responsibilities. Black Node helped the recovery crew rig up the Kiowa and hook it up to the Blackhawk. |
| SFC Campbell and some soldiers on Hill 441 Below: Hill 441 as seen on GoogleEarth |
| 122d Signal Battalion Area on Camp Casey (GoogleEarth Image) |
| Map of TDC |
