CW3 (R) Eric Leach

CW3 (R) Eric Leach sat down with me for Heroes I Know.

Kiowa Warrior. Best helicopter in the world in his opinion. I first saw those birds on Prime Chance in the Gulf. Low. Hellfires. He said it was like NASCAR. Eighty knots. Twenty feet above the trees.

Underpowered on paper. He flew it in Hawaii at fourteen thousand feet. Afghanistan at ten thousand. Twenty feet above the rock. Treat her right and she treats you right. Hellfires. Fifty cal. 2.75 rockets. Everything but a live ATAS.

Born Dearborn, Michigan. Harrisburg. Then South Florida with his grandparents after the split. They raised him about fifteen years. He left at seventeen and joined.

Kid in Florida waving at a helicopter. It was a sheriff looking for somebody. The police showed up. Gulf War. He was 82nd. On the ground. The 101st did the big air assault. He looked up. Those dudes are not carrying rucksacks. Eight years later he put a packet in.

Craziest run. Squadron commander Colonel John Lynch. Two-ship. Skirted the Korengal. North of the Pech. Almost dusk. Heading back to Jalalabad. A flash. Then another. RPGs. He keyed the mic. RPG. RPG. RPG. ISAF said do not engage. Return to base. Lynch looked at him. Hell with that. They stayed until satcom ordered them home. They did not want a colonel shot out of the sky.

Back at the TOC the FSO did the voice. RPG RPG RPG. It had gone out over the whole fire support net in Afghanistan. Lynch laughed and walked into his office. Even the intense days have humor.

We were black hats together. Rookie 55. Squirrel Boy. Tommy Lorello made the name tag because he shaved his own head. He stuck it behind a plaque on the way out to the tower platform. A message to the hats who had served and the ones who would.

He chose his boys and his wife over another twenty. What we did mattered. If you did not wear the uniform live a life worthy of the sacrifice. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.