Mike Durant

And I don't remember which SEAL team it was, but they were on the oil derrick with us.

So they boarded the ship, captured these guys, put them on the helicopters, brought them back.

Again, this is before I got there.

But it was the first night vision goggle engagement in history.

I will say this about that mission.

It was the hardest flying I think I've ever done because the sandstorms blow through there just like they do in the desert, but you're over the water.

And you can't see shit.

I mean, we would describe it as flying inside a ping pong ball.

I mean, imagine what you could see inside a ping pong ball.

Nothing, right?

And you're 30 feet over the water and flying 100 plus miles an hour, 110 knots usually is what we flew.

And, I mean, it was tough.

And then we're landing on this very tight oil platform.

It was not designed for helicopters.

And we're putting Little Birds, Blackhawks, the customers, us, sport people, all on this thing.

As I was coming up here, I was trying to think of what's the best way to describe this.

And the thing that came to mind, never thought of before, was Thunderdome.

I don't know if you remember Thunderdome.

the Mad Max movie where they're out over the water, that was kind of what it was like.

I mean, it's coming out of the water in the middle of the Persian Gulf, and we're putting all these assets on it and launching these missions from this place.