[BGB] just like the movies -

[michael.cartine at thomson.com]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A two-person Apache helicopter crew staged a
dramatic rescue Monday, ferrying two of their comrades out of a combat
zone south of Baghdad, military officials said Tuesday.

 

A U.S. Apache helicopter flies over Baghdad in April.

 

The four of them flew away in a two-person Apache, with two in the
cockpit and two others clinging to the outside of the chopper.

Here is the account from the military, which provided some video of the
rescue:

"Enemy machine-gun fire brought down a OH-58D Kiowa attack helicopter
piloted by two Task Force Marne soldiers in a location full of
insurgents. 

The two downed pilots, both of whom received minor injuries, jumped out
of the shot-down craft and threw themselves in a ditch of water to hide.


Two Army pilots in a AH-64 Apache helicopter -- braving insurgent fire
-- came to assist them.  Watch downed pilots scramble onto rescue
chopper >
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/03/iraq.pilots.rescued/index.htm
l#cnnSTCVideo#cnnSTCVideo> 

Don't miss

*                       'Most important law in Iraq' moves toward
passage
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/03/iraq.main.ap/index.html?iref=
newssearch>  

*                       Iran heaps scorn on U.S. claim of Hezbollah in
Iraq
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/03/iran.iraq.hezbollah/index.htm
l?iref=newssearch>  

*                       Hotline cut through red tape for wounded troops
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/03/warrior.hotline.ap/index
.html?iref=newssearch>  

Because the rescue helicopter only had room for two, one of the Apache
pilots gave up his seat in the chopper to one of the Kiowa pilots, and
that Apache pilot and the other Kiowa pilot situated themselves outside
the craft.

An Air Force Thunderbolt II destroyed the downed helicopter with two
500-pound laser-guided bombs after the pilots were evacuated from the
area," the military said.

 

Marne troops have been taking on militants south of Baghdad
<http://topics.cnn.com/topics/baghdad>  and in one of the areas termed
"Baghdad belts" southeast of the capital. 

The military did not specify exactly where the rescue took place or how
far the crew had to fly to reach safety

 

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