A Cold War Sailor: A Military Memoir
by JOHN J COYNE
English | 2023 | ISBN: 1960397559 | 331 Pages | ePUB | 4.3 MB
"I looked up from the instrument panel in my Huey helicopter to see the main rotor blade strike a tree.
The next sensation was one of falling, hitting the side of the hill in the Talladega National Forest in rural Alabama, followed by a sudden stop. Well, dying was not as bad as I thought it would be! Now, if someone would only turn off that jet engine screeching in the background. Wait a minute, I am not dead, but if that engine keeps running, it could explode, and the whole helicopter would go up in flames. Great, survived the crash but died in the fire.
Welcome to the world of Naval Aviation."
"Cold War Sailor" takes you on one Navy Pilot's journey from the end of the Vietnam War to the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism. The U.S. Navy trained me to be a Naval Aviator, taught me to think outside the narrow confines of my education and upbringing, and allowed me to explore the world. Service in the Navy expanded my horizons both personally and professionally. In return, I gave the U.S. Navy thirty years of my life and got the better end of the deal.
I was a part of the expanding missions and capabilities of the Navy Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) helicopter community with deployments to the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, and the Western Pacific. As one of the first Joint Staff Officers in the Navy, I spent eleven years in positions of increasing responsibility in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), culminating as the Military Assistant to the Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.
I commanded Helicopter Anti-Squadron Light THREE SEVEN during DESERT STORM in the Persian Gulf, and Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy during operation DELIBERATE FORCE in Kosovo, and deployed to Bosnia Hercegovina for NATO's first out of area operation with the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR) Headquarters as the Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff.
An unusual military memoir that gives the reader a view into the expansion and initial combat operations of NATO. It also provides background on the development and deployment of the initial Navy Joint Staff Officer's in response to the Goldwater-Nichols Act.
I cannot remember the specific incident, but I will remember the moment forever.
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