Bigger Fish To Catch

BIGGER FISH TO CATCH

They say that when one door closes and another opens.  Problem is, I always have to hunt in the dark for that other door.

So, I looked up the Time Magazine Correspondent in Cologne by the name of Barrett Seaman, called him up and told him that if he would show up at the Press Center the first Monday of the first week during the REFORGER exercise, I would get him into the front seat of a AH-1Q Cobra.

He got all enthusiastic and told me he was looking forward to it!

(Boy, was I talking through my butt!)

So, I went down stairs, knocked on my boss's door and heard LTC Lethcoe invite me in.

"Sir, is there any way we can possibly go to the Press Center on Monday the first week of the exercise?"

"Do you need to go over to the Press Center?"

"Not really. Barrett Seaman the Time Magazine Correspondent up in Cologne and I got to talking and he mentioned that he'd love to take a ride in one of our Cobras."

I was fully expecting the wrath of god.  Instead, I got,  "Wow, that's awesome! I'll do my best to make that happen!"

It was a more of a why didn't I think of that tone. And then, there was a time on April 27th when my wife went into labor and first daughter was on her way and he called me and told me he was trying to get me to Wurzburg from Heidelberg via OH-58.

I ended up riding in the back of a 5 ton truck and got there after my first child was born.

But he did try as the weather was pretty nasty for flying that day.

Tuesday, we showed up at the Press Center and I was totally surprised at what I saw. It was a buzz with typewriters pounding out content, the place was two stories high, filled with a mix of tobacco products including pipes, cigars, cigarettes and writers and photographers none of whom I knew.

There was a bit of ruckus behind me and I turned around to see Hillery Brown of ABC News -- she I recognized.  I introduced myself and asked if I could be of service.

"I;m here to cover the WACS."

Well, we don't exactly call them that these days, I thought. "We have some working with us and I can get you a chopper in here tomorrow."

"Sounds great."

"Only one thing, we need you to cover our Cobras,"

"We're not here to cover the Cobras."

"Well, then, you can choose to take your chances and, perhaps, cover the WACS while they are out in the field training with us or you can get picked up tomorrow, do your story on the women in the field and cover the fact that its the first time in the History of Army Aviation that a battalion of AH-1Q TOW Cobras assigned, trained and deployed in Germany has become the first of its kind formidable and lethal anti-tank weapons system."

"Pick us up a 9am."

And we did. Not only did she get her story on the women in combat, but our battalion was on TV the next night. Aviation tank killers was beginning to be accepted as a reality.