TIKRIT, Iraq - After months of training, American and Iraqi Special Forces, and American CH-47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache crews all participated in a recent mission here to capture high-value targets in northern Iraq as part of Operation Santa Monica.

The Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division's air assault went off seamlessly, according to pilots, who say that any mission involving a Chinook is especially risky given the number of people on the aircraft.

The air assault began at 5 p.m, April 6. The Chinook pilots, after leaving their final brief, turned around and updated their crew chiefs, who were busy preflighting the bird.

Less than 10 percent of the brigade's aircraft are Chinooks, which is the only helicopter trhat can provide massive combat power. It has 30 troops to a Black Hawk's 10. So with few birds and a lot of requests, air assaults are pretty routine for the pilots of the 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Locke, one of the CH-47 pilots who participated in the mission.

At 7:30 p.m., pilots received the word and lifted into the air, test-firing their weapons at a nearby range before heading to Forward Operating Base Warrior to refuel with the aid of fuelers equipped with night-vision goggles.

Night is a Chinook's best friend, according to pilots.

If insurgents hit a Chinook it would be catastrophic, so to minimize the risk to pilots and passengers alike, "we use every available asset. Number one, we use the cloak of darkness. Number two, we do extensive route planning to ensure we avoid any areas where (the enemy) may have an advantage," said Locke. "We also use escorts to defend us from attacks. We have the Longbows who stay with us for these deep infiltrations, or any scout-weapons teams that might be there. So we have quite a few factors working in our favor."

Flying in darkness requires the use of NVGs, which in turn requires a highly trained and skilled pilot. According to Locke, pilots' depth perceptions are off with the goggles, and they have no peripheral vision so their apparent rate of closure and ground speed are in error.

Just before 11 p.m., the Chinooks arrived at remote FOB Gabe to find U.S. Special Forces Soldiers and Iraqi Special Operation Forces soldiers waiting in the darkness.

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