"Anybody Else Would Have Done It"

This just about covers the "Spur Ride" story...I know these guys are sick of giving interviews, but they deserve every bit of attention they have gotten. GREAT JOB!

From the Multi National Forces Iraq website

Air Cav pilots complete daring rescue
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
By Sgt. 1st Class Rick Emert
1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs


Apache pilots from the 1st 'Attack' Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, stand next to one of the AH-64D Apaches they used to evacuate two downed helicopter pilots in Baghdad July 2. The pilots are (left to right): Chief Warrant Officer 3 Allan Davison, Tumwater, Wash.; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Micah Johnson, Del Rio, Texas; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Seung Choi, Fairfax, Va.; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Troy Moseley, Montgomery, Ala.

CAMP TAJI — The AH-64D Apache is an imposing, lethal weapon that rarely leaves terrorist activity unpunished. But, for a couple of 3rd Infantry Division pilots who were forced to land in Baghdad recently, an Apache from 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division that landed near their downed helicopter was a beacon in what – moments before – had been a flurry of enemy small arms fire.

The two-seat Apache would become their ride out of the hot zone.

The daring rescue on July 2 involved a “spur ride,” a rarely used but established rescue procedure in which Soldiers are strapped onto the wings of the Apache and taken to safety.

“There’s a handful of people who have done (a combat spur ride),” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Allan Davison, an Apache pilot from 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment.

Davison was pilot in command of the lead Apache. He and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Micah Johnson landed near where the downed pilots had taken cover from small arms fire and loaded the pilots on their aircraft. Their wingman aircraft, with pilot-in-command Chief Warrant Officer 3 Troy Moseley and copilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Seung Choi, provided security from the air. All four Apache pilots are from Company A, 1st “Attack” Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment...

...The Apache pilots said finding the two downed pilots alive was the greatest reward for their actions that day.

“We’ve seen a lot of aircraft shoot-downs,” Johnson said. “Everyone that we’ve all probably seen, it’s resulted in burning aircraft and black smoke and usually catastrophic loss of life. If not loss of life, then there have been serious injuries.

“As soon as the first 58 landed, those (pilots) were already gone. It was kind of a shock to us, and it kicked us off to say, ‘Hey, we have got to find these guys, if they are out here.’ Just to see those two alive, it was amazing. It was great. When we got to BIAP, (the pilot who rode on the left wing) got off. He said he was glad that we showed up – appreciative like I would be if someone came up if I was down on the ground.”

They insist that their actions on July 2 were not extraordinary.

“Anybody else would have done it,” Davison said. “We just happened to be there.”

For the entire story go HERE