The Day Casmo Got Shot by Insurgents Over Iraq
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ม.ค. 2023
- Veteran U.S. Army helicopter pilot Brian "Casmo" Harris join Ward to talk about his 22 years as a Kiowa and Apache pilot with a focus on the day he was hit by an insurgent's bullet while patrolling over Iraq.
Check out Casmo's TH-cam channel here: / @casmotv
And check out Casmo's podcast here: thelowlevelhellpodcast.com/
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As always I am left with the impression that Ward is one of the best interviewers I've encountered in any medium. Knows when to let the guest narrate and then works in the intelligent questions to nudge them into first class insightful responses... Loved the DCS cockpit FAM piece!
Agree completely. Ward, and a few other TH-camrs easily put large media outlets to shame.
Another great installment. You need to make history again and have a Coast Guard aviator on the show!
Good call.
Good idea, but you guys need to keep in mind that CG Aviators are "Naval Aviators" - same training / pipeline. But hearing how they operate (both helo and fixed wing environments) would be a different viewpoint.
@@scottcooper4391 Thank you, Scott. I will certainly keep that in mind.
@@WardCarroll Love your content and this was another awesome video. I apologize for reaching out here about a non-video associated topic.
I’ve ordered two shirts via teespring via your store (one several months ago and another about a month ago) and I haven’t received either. I’ve attempted to contact teespring on multiple occasions but have yet to reach them. I wasn’t sure where else to drop a note. I understand this isn’t your issue but I just don’t know where/who else to contact. Thank you sir, thank you for your service, and thanks for all the great content!
Would love to see more DCS sometime!
@@scottcooper4391 No sir, they are called "Coast Guard Aviators" but they DO go to the same training and wear the same wings of gold. As to their name though, no, they go by exactly what I stated - Coast Guard Aviator.
Any notification that Mr. W Carroll has uploaded, is a good thing !
I went through some of the same processes that Casmo did, but about 22 years earlier. I went through OCS, branched Infantry, went through the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Airborne School, Jump School, and Ranger School. My initial assignment was as a rifle platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne. After about 2 years there, I went to flight school. Primary was in the TH-55 (Hughes 269). After that came "contact" on the UH-1 Huey, then Instrument phase, using the Huey. At some point, you requested whether you wanted to go "Scout" track or "Huey" track. It was my impression that you had to qualify for the Scout track, and if you didn't, you got Huey track whether you wanted it or not. (Maybe that's just a golden memory.) After finishing your track, you rejoined your classmates in the other track and pinned on your wings. Once out of Scout track you either went on to post-graduate transition course on the AH-1 Cobra or you went straight to the field as an OH-58 pilot. Almost nobody called the OH-58A or C a "Kiowa" ("KY-eh-weh.). It was a "Scout." (Similarly, few people called the UH-1 an Iroquois or the old OH-6 a Cayuse.) (Only when the OH-58D came along later did the name "Kiowa"--pronounced "KY-eh-wah"--really come into use.) I did not get selected for the AH-1 course, so I went to my initial aviation assignment (again, at Fort Bragg), A Troop, 1-17 (Air) Cav (same unit as Casmo, apparently), as an Aeroscout section leader. This was in the day of when Aviation battalions and Air Cavalry squadrons were the size of what are now brigades. An air cavalry troop was commanded by a major. It had an Aeroscout Platoon (10 OH-58s commanded by a captain), an Aeroweapons Platoon (9 Cobras commanded by a captain), and an Aerorifle Platoon (6 UH-60 Blackhawks commanded by a captain plus section of infantry--about the size of rifle platoon in an infantry company). There were 3 air cav troops in the squadron. There were also 3 UH-60s in the maintenance section of the headquarters troop. The squadron was commanded by a lieutenant colonel, but, as I said, it was as big as a modern divisional aviation brigade commanded by a full colonel. There was another aviation unit in the division, the 82nd Aviation Battalion. It had 2 or 3 companies of Blackhawks (30 per company, I think), plus an attack helicopter company with 21 AH-1s and 12 OH-58s. It was about the same size as the air cavalry squadron and it was also commanded by a lieutenant colonel. Our combat experience in that assignment was in Grenada. Later, after companies/troops were upgraded to battalions/squadrons, they were commanded by Lt. Cols. The companies/troops--about the size of the old platoons--were commanded by captains, I flew Apaches in the 6th Cavalry Brigade (Air Combat), effectively III Corps' aviation brigade, at Fort Hood, TX, and in the 229th Aviation Group (again at Fort Bragg), a subordinate element of the 18th Aviation Brigade, assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps. Our Apaches in both those units were A-models, with instrument panels that were a mix of digital and analog equipment. The D-model is light-years ahead in its instrument display and in its self-defense-warning capabilities.
Sound like Casmo's experience flying Kiowa Warriors in Iraq was one where air troops operated far from squadron HQ. That's certainly not according to doctrine, as those troops have no organic maintenance or any Class III/V capability. Sometimes doctrine does not survive contact.
I heard it twice. Bless your lil phonetic heart!
Isn't Airborne school jump school? Or did I miss a course when I did Airborne training?
Bla blabla blablabla....
I had a friend in the Coast Guard that was a Petty Officer, and he did the Green to Gold program sometime in 2005ish. I think he ended up as a Warrant Officer in an OH-58. Lost touch with him after I left facebook, so Im not sure what happened to him after that. Probably forced early retirement unless he was able to transition.
@@davidlauten1529 Lol damn you beat me to it, I immediately noticed that. Maybe he meant HALO school, joking of course!!!
Casmo is a really one of my favorite guys in the "DCS world". As a fan of the KIOWA since my childhood I love all his insides and his videos and podcasts about army helicopter aviation.
Loved the interview!
Outstanding! Learned some things about the Army, the Kiowa, and the Apache. Thank you Ward and Casmo.
I have the distinction of having the prototype Apache hover over my house, my uncle was the test pilot. He also had been test pilot on the Blackhawk. Both very cool and capable helicopters. God bless Cammander. Rob
Man I'm glad all the people you have on here are on our side!
Great interview, Ward. Casmo thanks for your Army service, something new for us on this channel.
Casmo is an awesome DCS coach.
Loved hearing from your guest. My son was 1/505 82nd Airborne, based at FOB Summerall in Bayji during that time. He lost one of his best friends and teammates - Chris Mason, in that deployment.
Great episode... This was an interesting look into the Helicopters!!! Cosmo was an interesting guest as well, quite an experienced person, at what he presented here... Great hosting of your first ARMY guest Ward...👍
Finally a fellow Army guy and a Cav guy at that!! Great choice Ward. Awesome dude to represent us.
Mako06 1/60TH SOAR. Medic.
Fantastic episode. Casmo is such an engaging interview it always gives me goose bumps listening to him tell his story. Love the cockpit fam section too. Keep it up!
G'day Mooch and Casmo - I subscribe to both channels, so this was a Sunday treat. I spent some time in Mogadishu in the early 90's - I loved watching the Kiowas sitting over the city. You could line them up with the side of a building, and they would sit absolutely still in the air. It's was the first time I'd ever seen a helicopter sit in a single position not moving the way they did, and not hearing them unless you were almost under the aircraft! Fantastic stuff - thanks both!
@Ward Carroll, at approx 14:30 mark, I remember those days well; my NC Army NG unit went from being part of the 30th Infantry Brigade (Heavy) to become the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team. This made it easier to deploy a unit with all its organic support elements, artillery aviation, etc. Great video, brings back a lot of memories at Ft. Bragg & nearby Camp Mackall.
Thanks, Ward, nice walk around
Great episode. Have always been fascinated by Apache’s and helicopters in general. Really cool to hear an actual Apache pilot talk about it.
Excellent interview...very enjoyable!! Thanks much Commander.
Thank you for this episode Ward & thank you Brian for sharing your journey. Awesome stuff! And thank you both for your service!
Thanks for watching!
Great show, Ward. Being a Navy vet (enlisted) myself means that I had very little knowledge or interest in Army organization. Your show gave me a deeper appreciation of my Army vet friends' experiences in unit organization and cohesion as compared to my aircraft carrier career that now seems sheltered and privileged compared to Casmo's chaotic career.
Great interview Ward! I just subbed Casmo. Semper Fidelis
Ward, thank you for having Casmo as a guest. Our oldest son was a commissioned officer and flew the Kiowa. It is great hearing the stories of the pilots from the different branches.
My final unit was 25th Infantry Division(Light) 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Aviation Brigade, 2nd Aviation Battalion, Delta Company, Shops Platoon, Powertrain Squad. Squadrons are the same as Battalions but are cavalry units, and an artillery battalion is called a battery. I worked on the OH-58C/D, AH-64A/D, CH-47D, UH-1H/V, and the E/UH-60A/L/Q. Also couldn't help but notice that Casmo left out one of the biggest parts of an aviation brigade or battalion and that is the maintenance activity. Back when I was in it was till called AVIM and AVUM and Depot levels. AVUM is unit level stuff where a lot of stuff is remove and replace. AVIM is a little more in depth where some of the stuff was working on the stuff that removed at the AVUM level, and we had more specialized tools for taking stuff apart inspecting it and putting it back together. The biggest Depot level was CCAD, the Corpus Christi Army Depot, and they take gearboxes apart and rebuild them and highly specialized.
For Field Artillery they have battalions the next subordinate formation is battery. Just like you said the Cav units have squadrons and the equivalent is battalion. And in squadrons the next lower subordinate formation is the troop.
I was in Iraq during the surge in the same timeframe he was. We ended up being authorized 7 different combat patches because we fell under so many different command structures.
Finally some love for rotary wing guys.
Wow, not one word of inter service rivalry banter! Great interview and great guy too.
Loved the picture of the newer M113 with the mortar. Reminds of an experience of a co-worker who was assigned the design of the mortar mount within the vehicle. He did a great job of calculating the size of the beam supporting the base plate. Then the design was field tested. Oooooops!!! A very bent beam. I expect the solution was to pre bend the beam. Memories of 60 years ago.
This ain't a wrecked used car, it's Certified Pre-Bent!
Just a great and most informative interview. Enjoyed it very much.
This one was very cool Ward. Thanks
Great interview video.
Another awesome program Ward.
GREAT video, Ward & Casmo...👍
Excellent interview, Ward. So interesting to about how the different branches of the service or organized. There was some great new information here. With my brother being a civilian helicopter pilot and instructor, I found this most interesting. Having tried my hand at some basic rotor wing flying under his tutelage, I can say it is definitely challenging to say the least. He found it humorous, I found it frustrating but fun!
Another quality episode. Thank you, Mooch!
I can't get enough of guys like Casmo and Ward. I have also been following Mover, Hasard Lee, Max Afterburner, Schoolio64 (another air to mud hound) and so many others. Even the crew chiefs of F-16s like Bogey Dope. It is just fascinating.
Ward i love your videos buddy big time!!! just wish they were longer.. keep them coming please!!!
Excellent interview
Great guest. Great interview. Always interesting to see how the various services train our warriors, and his insights to his contribution s are noteworthy. Will have to check out his channel
Another reason why I am subscribed to your channel Mr. Carrol.
Thanks for your service. I live right beside Plank Rd and get to see the helicopters coming and going. It just makes you think God Bless America to yourself every time one flys by. Living beside Bragg is a great place for patriotic folks. Lots of great Army folks in my neighborhood. Great to see that you have a rotor head Ward. Much love man🤙
Ward , great rotorcraft guest. It’d be really great insight with this guest, having been a Kiowa & Apache pilot to get his take on the military’s FARA competition. What is both your takes on Kiowa and also Apache replacements in the works and where you guys see rotorcraft reconnaissance and attack platform’s in 5-10-30 years…
Great interview as always Ward. I am very familiar with Marine Corps and Navy aviation assets and their organizational structure. Very interesting to learn the organizational structure of Army aviation. You did you usual outstanding job of asking pertinent questions and leading the interview and subject material where it needs to go. Thank you for another great interview.
Heck of a Christmas present Casmo! A new birthday! Super glad you made it home.
Great video. Keep up the great work. 👍
Love your work Ward.
How about a Falklands war episode? It is an interesting conflict that was fought only 40 years ago. 8000 miles from England, logistically challenging for with 2 dozen or so carrier based harriers up against a numerically superior enemy. The book 'Harrier 809' is worth reading.
Another great segment, Mooch! I learned a vast new amount from Casmo's interview about US Army aviation. I was a Marine (fixed wing) combat aviator (Vietnam A-6), did time with the Naval Air Training Command as an A-4 instructor, went through. two years of AFROTC before switching to PLC and the USMC, attended Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training as a Marine, and flew Phantoms in the Air National Guard for fourteen years, so I was really familiar with those three services. But with the exception of my year at the Naval War College as an Air Guardsman, I had virtually no interaction with the Army. Casmo's thoroughgoing exposition on Army branches and force structure plus helicopter training, combat employment, AH-64 weapons systems, and rotor aerodynamics was more than fascinating to me. Well done and Bravo Zulu! 🐻
Thank you.
great interview ! wow what a nice christmas present .
Great interview
Entertaining video for sure, thanks sir!
My dad was a WW2 WO. Got "busted down" to Lt. by a field promotion he didn't really want but was warned to not reject. WO's were so respected, new Lt's had to earn their respect. Casmo earned respect no matter how you slice it.
Great video as always
Excellent interview.
Love seeing the US Army helicopter community so well represented!
Great video, I love these. Casmo has some great youtube videos on the Apache I use to TRY and get better flying it. Sub both these guys folks.
I went to GMC in Milledgeville , GA
Great presentation. Again. Thank you. 🇺🇸⚓️
So Wise , Thank You .
ty sir, this guy was excellent
Great video! Thanks!
You bet!
Casmo, Thanks for your service over there. I'm an Army vet from the period 83-92 so I was a civilian by time you served but it's great to see Ward pick not only an Army aviator, but a CAVALRY TROOPER as well!
I was enlisted, AH-1S crew chief and was in Cavalry units all during the 80's: 2/10 Cav at Ft Ord, CA and then 4/7 Cav and 5/17 Cav in Korea with the 2nd I.D. When I left Korea in 89 we still did not have Apaches. Cav was still Cobras and Kiowas, with our ground and armor at Camp Garry Owen.
Thanks for the quick run down of the systems and cockpits. I finished up my service as an instructor for powertrain and rotor systems at Ft. Eustis,VA and was always interested in which path the Army would take when replacing the Cobra. I remember in 89 or 90 we had some civilian contractors put a mock up of a Comanche in our training hangar to have trainees do some simulated maintenance tasks and get a baseline for maintenance times with it. They weren't there long though because that was about the time the decided on the Apache.
Sorry to ramble on but I do have one question: As a guy who flew both OH-58 and AH-64, what's your take on the feel of the controls in the 58 ( physical push pull tubes and linkage in the collective and cyclic) versus the Apache (fly by wire... Or effectively holding sticks that merely sent electrical signals to control the hydraulic servos in those control systems)? I have always wanted to ask a pilot who has flown both. Was it strange transitioning over? I always guessed that you would lose some of the "feel" or feedback that you get flying an older bird where your cyclic system is one continuous group of physically connected components. Thanks in advance if you made it this far into my comment and if you care to respond.
And remember: If you ain't Cav, you ain't 💩
Well the Apache is still mechanically linked. It’s only fly by wire in a back up mode. So no it felt the same roughly speaking.
@@CasmoTV Thank you got educating me on that...I may have been thinking of the Blackhawk flight control system. It just always worried me.I remember when the Blackhawk was first out in the field, they had some unexplained crashes and the monthly safety of flight periodical called flight fax later revealed that an unshielded or rather improperly shielded transducer in the elevator system was getting RFI noise within 100 feet of high voltage wires and causing it to bottom out, effectively lifting the tail straight up and causing a nosedive. Turned out to be a dishonest subcontractor trying to save money but I never forgot when I read that and realized the crew effectively had no way to recover. I know it's one of those one in a million things but still.
Good to know the gunship has a physically linked primary system. Thanks for reading my ramblings. And the response sir.
Your interview videos drive me nuts. I see the title and topic and I think, that's going to be interesting and skip by it. But it keeps coming up in my recommends, and I finally have time to hit play on it. Boom - another great interview and video. I'm left wanting more stories from the guest.
Great job, yet again. I guess your titles aren't click baity - since they don't force me to watch it when I first see it. Double-edge sword - they aren't bait, but at the same time don't draw me in right away.
I will not doubt the next and will watch the first time I see it in my feed.
interesting insight, enjoyed the perspective.
Thanks for showing a little USA love from a former Army CWO2 who did RVN as a Chinook driver but retired as a 30 year USN Captain. Cheers, JL
Excellent vid AGAIN !
Ward Carroll’s, content always gets a big thumbs up 👍🏻 from me!
Much appreciated!
Thank you "WARD" the way you ask questions for guest speakers to hear their short History. Then the scary war story of close calls in combat. My. Humble opinion is the Helicopter Pilot has to do more in the cockpit than a fighter jet. More closer to ground, more chance of getting Hit by enemy combatants. The Attack Helicopter is such an asset for close air support for ground troops in the hot zones.
Ward, it sounds like you were attached to 101st ABN (ASSLT) for the AFG surge, and was I as an AH-64 pilot (also attached) advising Afghan Army and Border Police. I spent October 2010 through January 2010 near (not at) FOB Salerno, (Khowst), then, the rest of the tour at Orgun-E in Paktika. You are a terrific interviewer!
Great interview, Casmo is a solid dude!
I was a P-3C aircrewman. My friend was a PRAN. He wasn't aware that enlisted guys could fly in the Navy as a Naval Aircrewman. So my friend applied for NACCS in Pensacola, gets it, then gets sent to a helo squadron. After riding in the back of a helo for sometime he figured "If these officers learned to fly this thing - so can I." So he gets out of the Navy & transfers into the Army for their helicopter program. I asked him how long it took to become a warrant officer and if I remember right he said 8 weeks (in which I almost spit out my beer). After learning the basics of being a helo pilot he got sent into the Blackhawk pipeline. He flew in Iraq, crashed once with soldiers on board & injured his back (after taking fire). Retires as a Blackhawk pilot. Gets a civilian job as a medivac pilot which he said was cake. Says he sits in a mini house/trailer for a shift watching TV, playing Xbox, sleeping & just waiting to get a call. He does that for years then decides he wants to fly fixed wing. He learned that and is now an American Airlines pilot.
Not bad considering when he was an E-3 in the Navy that he had some family issues going on so while on deployment in Puerto Rico he flooded the 2nd story showers/bathroom in the BEQ & got in really bad trouble as you can imagine. I'm so proud of my friend & ex-shipmate. He went from an E-3 Parachute Rigger/Survival Equipment maintenance guy to Blackhawk pilot to American Airlines pilot.
Your buddy would have spent those 8 weeks in WOCS before going on to flight school. But he wouldn't have graduated as a WO1 until he completed flight school, which takes about 6 months. He certainly had an interesting career path!
@@RANDALLBRIGGS Thanks for the info! Being enlisted myself I had no idea how long WOCS was. All of my friends from VP-10 that knew him are so proud of him (especially after his shaky start in our squadron :-) and yes, very interesting career!
Great episode 👍
Great show
Being former Army really appreciated his perspective. I was a maintainer on the OH-58A/C models at Ft Hood and Wiesbaden Germany.
Very interesting! Thanks boys!
I was 1st Cav Artillery and we deployed without any of our Paladins and became a mechanized infantry unit. The Kiowas were life savers when we were in Mosul.
Good stuff, I love helicopters. I started playing "Gunship," heli sim back in the day and nerded out from there.
Excellent episode, both AF & Army have represented high on the grading scale ⚖️ 😀👍
Another great episode. I liked the tour of the Apache.
Glad to hear it!
Awesome video!
Fascinating Guest !
Casmo as a guy on the ground in Tel Afar 04/05 including Operation Restoring Rights I want to thank all of you guys for your CAS. A lot of us are still here because of scouts weapons teams. Brave Rifles!
Thank You, found this very interesting, Aye!
- Ward, thanks for having an awesome guest like Casmo on!
- Casmo thanks for a great DCS AH-64 tour and especially thank you for your service! Always wanted to fly the Apache - now with VR I can fly vicariously as a pilot keyboard warrior! LOL Thanks guys!
Thanks for this great interview about the Apache guy Cosmo. It would be great to have him back on to talk more about what he thinks about what’s going on in Ukraine and maybe possible situation that we might need to fight if we have to go there
Back in the 90s, I was a lead mechanical design engineer on the Allison Model 250 program. I was heavily involved in the design and development of the Model 250-C30R/3 engine used in the OH58D. we had specific requirements for performance which required the ability to hover at 4000 ft on a 95F day while laden with armament and six Special Operators. By the way, the Bell 407 was a derivative of the OH58D and 206. The rotor system for the 407 was developed for the Kiowa Warrior, not the other way around.
It sounds to me like you were using the helicopter in a similar way to our design requirement.
Happy New Year award! Great podcast! I pray all’s well with you and your family!
Btw, maybe you’d get a Marine Aviator on your podcast and tell us what it’s like to operate the F-35B. Also, it’s been said that the Marine Corps is also going to be replacing their F-18 Legacy Hornets with F-35C version as well!
Semper Fi
10:15 I love this question! As I've always been curious how other branches are kind of organized
Good stuff. Glad for the perspective of rotary air power. Also appreciate the candor pertaining to leadership operational standards ... i.e. gallons burned??
I've watched a lot of Casmo's DCS videos and never knew he was wounded in combat. That was almost a shoot down that he experienced, very thankfully he escaped that day. I served in Iraq in an Army aviation unit as well, though not as a pilot or crewmember ('05 and '08) we had several shoot downs and whenever the insurgents got to the crash site first... well let's say the outcome wasn't good.
Well done, Ward! So good to see you interviewing Casmo! You might want to learn to fight with the Apache in DCS, just for completeness. 😂
Awesome to see Casmo!
Interesting video thanks
Enjoy the Navy stuff, also enjoyed the Army stuff, thanks for all of it.
Thank You - my son flys a AH-64 and never talks about it. After your interview, I now have more of an understanding of the AH-64, and what he does. Again thank you
Really cool video!
Very interesting to see the complexities of the helicopter world.
Very nice video 👍 I only thought you could fly the Apache from the back. Now I know😉
Thanks for Tour de Apache :)
Great interview. It amazed me how you can't get into flight school as an Officer so you drop to NCO, then able to come back up to the original rank. Kudos for thinking outside the box. Loved this episode. Thanks.
He didn't drop to an NCO rank, he dropped to Warrant Officer rank which is in between enlisted and commissioned officer.
@Mike Baggott from research, I see you are right. I'm in the UK, I just assumed the rank would be the same, but it appears not. Thanks for the correction. Appreciate it.
@@mikebaggott7802 but I'm still amazed that he had to reduce his rank to expedite his career.
Thank you for your service Casmo
Another great video Ward. Would you consider doing an episode on Operation Earnest Will?
Back then (1987) I was on USS Thach (FFG 43) ...rest her soul. We had embarked a detachment of Army AH-6 and MH-6 "Little Bird" helicopters. It was an interesting experience and mix of capability. Maybe some of the subscribers would be interested in learning more?
Thanks for your great work.
DISBO! Good evening sir, former Thach crewmember SM2 Lance Schoenbaum here. I also remember that very exciting deployment to the Persian Gulf. I did 20 years and retired in 2004 as an SMC. Interesting I now live near Fort Campbell Kentucky and have met some guys who were on our ships back in Earnest Will days. Hope you are well sir, Lance
@@lanceschoenbaum1358 Dude. I remember you. I remember you were so squared away all the time. I did 30 and retired as an O6. I went to her decommissioning ceremony and I saw a few familiar faces there. They let me go see the old disbursing office. It was....creepy. Now she's on the sea floor off the coast of Hawaii. I'm sure you've seen the videos. She definitely died with her boots on. Fair winds shipmate.