Mike Durant

No, actually, I'm ahead of myself.

We did not have Hellfire, and we did not have 30 for Desert Storm.

But the Rockets and Mini were good to go.

We're ready.

We fielded.

Cliff and I took the first check rides as brand new DAP pilots for the unit.

We took them on the same night.

Because again, this is brand new capability.

We got to somehow validate that we can do this for the customers.

So first night, we got Little Bird pilots in the front seat with us.

There's a lot going on in the cockpit.

So I'm now basically single pilot, gunnery, customers on the ground, flight of two, night vision goggle, with a little bird guy who doesn't know shit about a Blackhawk in the other seat.

It all goes okay.

But when we get back to the debrief, and they're both Little Bird gun SIPs, standardization instructor pilots, like the head instructors, they said, this is not safe.

I mean, we're not value-add in the cockpit.

So let's put another Blackhawk guy in the front seat.

We'll sit in the jump seat.

So second night, it's a two-night check ride.

They're in the jump seat.

And I'm just telling this story because it goes back to my statement about the difference between still walking and talking and being on a wall.