The Making Of A Chopper Pilot

By Rick Blackmon

Captain Greg Michaels has always dreamed of going to the US Military Academy at West Point. He receives an appointment to West Point and graduates fifth in his class. He selects Air Cavalry as his branch and is assigned to the US Army Aviation School and becomes a qualified chopper pilot.

On his first tour in Afghanistan he flies support on Search and Rescue missions. He is awarded a Silver Star on one such mission for valor.

After his first tour, he is assigned as an instructor pilot at Fort Rucker but finds he prefers flying combat mission and volunteers for re-deployment.

On his second tour he flies the AH64D Longbow chopper. He and his copilot/gunner fly the Longbow in support for extraction missions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rick Blackmon
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301966097

Rick Blackmon

Susan lives in a small Texas town twenty-six miles northwest of Houston, with her husband of forty-eight years, two toy poodles and a cat. Susan currently has forty-six books listed on Amazon in her name and eight under other names. Most are in the western romance genre. Marriage of Convenience, the first of this series marked a departure of her comfort zone, and at age 80, she indicated some anxiety about this venture. “I wanted to try something different,” she said. “Only time, and you will tell whether this is successful or not. Susan

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The Making of A Chopper Pilot

By

Rick Blackmon

Smashwords Edition

Copyright Rick Blackmon 2013

All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 1

The summer after high school graduation

Greg Michaels, Jake Wilson, and Beth Chalmers had been friends since kindergarten. Today, they were in Greg’s kitchen having a snack when Greg’s mother walked into the room carrying a large envelope. This came for you today, Greg, she said.

Greg grabbed the envelope and ripped it open. The cover letter was a notification he had been accepted into the US Military Academy at West Point. He immediately grabbed his mother and said with a lot of emotion, I got it, Mom, I got it. I’m going to West Point. Unabashedly, he hugged Jake and Beth. They danced around the kitchen, with Greg waving the certificate of acceptance.

Beth was headed to Southern Methodist in the fall and Jake was going to the University of Texas at Arlington. Greg had assumed he’d probably attend UTA with Jake but this changed everything. Since he was a little boy he’d wanted to go to West Point. When he was a sophomore in high school, he began preparing for his dream by taking all of the advanced level classes offered. His mother helped him write their congressmen and senators asking for the pre-candidate questionnaire, and to be considered for their academy appointment.

Greg was valedictorian of the senior class at Bedford, Texas. While his academic record was outstanding, admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point is highly