Veteran’s Corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

Warm greetings to all in this cold snap. As most of the world, our attention has been drawn to the California fires. From a leadership standpoint it looks like failure after failure on many levels. Number one goal of government is to “protect people and keep society safe.” No one is being served when hydrants have no water.
I’ve seen many military tactics, procedures and equipment used in the firefighting efforts; I thought I’d highlight a few.
Smokejumpers are brave souls that parachute from aircraft at low altitudes. Usually into areas with no roads or passes. They have over 100lbs of gear. There are 450 of them nationwide. Surprising their pay is quite low, Zip Recruiter has it at $23.54 hourly.
The internet is exploding with video of two yellow “Super Scooper” aircraft where they approach a body of water, touch the surface for a few seconds and then take off. They fly their cargo of 1,400 gallons of water over a fire, release and repeat. They can do these runs in sometimes under 6 minutes. There were two of these aircraft, one was grounded due to a drone strike. This aircraft are based off a WW2 US Seaplane the Consolidated PBY Catalina. It’s been regarded as the best seaplane ever produced, testament to it still flying closely to its original design.
Other aircraft are the CH-47 Chinook helicopter the double rotor beast has been outfitted with a 3,000 tank. It can hover over a body of freshwater and with its hose that hangs down fill itself up quickly. Another helicopter is the CH-54 Tarhe or Sky Crane resembling a flying Praying Mantis. The military manufactured 105; many are still flying in civilian versions. The Tarhe carries what looks like a shipping container. This is basically a large tank, it has a dip hose that hangs below and can fill in seconds. UH-60 Blackhawk and UH-1 Hueys have also been adapted to firefighting missions. These carry a bladder below which they can dip in fresh or saltwater. Anything with a pump or moving parts saltwater cannot be used for its highly corrosive nature.
One of the most adaptable airplanes is the C-130. The CA Air National Guard has a few C-130s that can be outfitted with a MAFF (Modular Airborne Fire Fighting system) and can be loaded into a C-130 and filled with 4,000 gallons of flames retardant or water.
In several videos you will see a small plane swoop in drop a small amount of material and speed off, only to be followed by very large aircraft dropping a massive amount of material. The small plane marking the target, this is known as Forward Air Control FAC. This was used with great affect in Vietnam. Fog, dense foliage, terrain and smoke make this military adapted technique in firefighting very effective.
Finally A2C2 is Army Airspace Command and Control. It’s the way aircraft are directed. Think of it as a sandwich with every topping having a designated place. Aircraft in congested airspace work in the same way. I have a great deal of experience with this. Altitudes, directions and times can be configured to apply the most assets. It’s fairly exhausting and busy work to keep the aircraft safe and on target.

Send your veteran-related items to me at 11btwk@gmail.com.