Afghanistan: The Greatest Mission of My Life

One of the things I miss most about the Marine Corps is sitting around the smoke pit with my fellow warriors, reminiscing about our recent engagements, near-death experiences, and "No Sh!t there I was..." stories.

This video is going to take you back to the Spring of 2011 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It's the tail end of my first deployment as an AH-1W Cobra pilot. It's a typical 130 degree day, we've already completed a few routine missions and I had just lit a fresh cigar in the smoke pit.

And then...we hear it: "TIC, TIC, TIC!!!"

You'll be riding shotgun on the greatest mission of my life, and you'll experience the event that made becoming an attack pilot worth all the hard work up to that point, and completely changed the way I handled the rest of my career as a Marine officer.

You'll get to experience the shot of pure adrenaline of the Troops In Contact (TIC) horn going off that we lived on for 7 months at a time. You'll see the organized chaos of an entire squadron prepping and launching a section of skids, armed to the teeth, to go do battle with our enemy. You'll experience the heroism of the Medivac aircraft who risked their lives daily and willingly to get to injured Marines and Soldiers, and ensure they had a fighting chance to live by getting them to a higher level care facility. And, finally, you'll hear how the greatest Marine I ever knew completely changed an objective area and saved an entire platoon with just a few words (and a whole lot of hot lead!)

Alright, ladies and gents, let's kick the tires and light the fires! We're "Cleared Hot" for a good time!