On November 12, 2004, a Blackhawk helicopter from the 1/106th CAB was shot down in one of the first aerial ambushes in Iraq. The right side pilot was hit by an RPG and lost her legs and had a severely damaged arm. The two crew chiefs were both wounded. The left side crew chief was wounded when a round came up through the floor of the aircraft and penetrated his seat and hitting his buttock. The AK-47 round did not penetrate his pelvis but it did crack it. The right side crew chief lost a portion of the bone in his lower leg.
The only one not to be wounded in the initial flurry of explosions and small arms fire was the left seat pilot in command, Dan Milburn. In the disarray that followed the initial explosion, his mind switched over to the training and years of experience that instinctively told his muscles what to do. Blackhawks without hydraulics are very hard to control, and he was losing hydraulic pressure fast. In a miraculous feat the warrant officer guided the falling rock out of the kill zone and landed the aircraft upright. Without communications, he was unable to initiate a call for help, so he reflexively got out of the aircraft and began helping everyone else out. His crew wounded, his aircraft destroyed he did not lose composure in the midst of the emergency. His personal courage and the ability to act despite fear saved the lives of his crew.
Personal courage is displayed in many ways and in many circumstances. Stories of courage while facing extreme personal danger are motivating examples of the inner strength we all hope to have. The hope is solidified when we face the stress and do the right thing despite the fear.
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.”
“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.”
Lord, I want to throw off any entanglements, fix my eyes on Jesus, and run with perseverance. Please strengthen and perfect my faith in the weeks, months, and years to come.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2)