AMST 11

by | Jan 7, 2025 | I Am Lame | 54 comments

Note: Prior pieces in this series can be found at AMST 1AMST 2AMST 3AMST 4AMST 5AMST 6, AMST 7, AMST 8, AMST 9, AMST 10]

I. An Alpha, Omega, and Alpha…

Ron “Wiggy” Walkerwicz’s death on February 16, 1996 (AMST 10), cast a pall over the deployment for me. That’s somewhat unfair because our deployment had ended some 5 months before – in September 1995 – but because that’s how I knew him, in my mind that deployment always has an asterisk on it. Rather than being a bad conclusion to 1995, however, Wiggy’s death was a harbinger of a terrible stretch of death that continued through 1996 and beyond for me.

The memorial service was about a week later, call it February 23, 1996 – a Friday. His not-quite widow was there and most of the discussion by the pilots’ wives centered around the unfairness that Wiggy’s fiancée would likely get nothing from the military because they weren’t married yet. People were discussing how to chip in and do something to support her. His best friend, another Harrier pilot from our deployment, gave the best eulogy I’ve ever seen – and, unfortunately, as this series illustrates – I’ve been to enough of them to have a pretty good sample from which to judge.

The following week I was back in my office where I worked as the squadron’s Quality Assurance Officer. Our task in Q/A was to act as the inspectors – and adjudicators – for whether maintenance was done correctly and to the tolerances required for high-performance aircraft. We were the final word in Maintenance certifying each aircraft “Safe for Flight.”I was a relatively junior Captain, but all of the senior mechanics on both the AH-1W and the UH-1N worked for me. (What this really means is that I worked for all of the senior mechanics and got to learn from them). In return for them keeping me out of trouble, my job was to make sure that all of the other BS admin stuff that peacetime armies run on – fitness reports, leave papers, awards, etc. – was all done and didn’t interfere with them doing their jobs.

Cobra over Albania, if I recall correctly. Note the essentiality of the tail-rotor.

Friday, March 1, 1996, started like any other normal day. By then, I had applied for the Marine Corps’ funded law education program (FLEP) and consequently, I had become what was affectionately known in Maintenance as “the test bitch.”1 That meant my mornings were spent looking at what maintenance had been completed by the night crew and seeing which birds needed to get tested to support the day’s flight schedule. There were no tactical or training flights in my future, so my days were spent out on the ‘line.

I got called in from the flightline to come to Maintenance Control and the tone made it clear something was wrong. I got back into the hangar and someone told me that a Cobra had gone down in Georgia while on a flight back from the Bell plant in Texas. It wasn’t one of our aircraft, but we were being asked to support the mishap investigation by sending a couple of my folks to assist. Fine – get the paperwork done. Then I asked if anyone knew who was flying and there was a pause – “Squire” Edwards, a pilot in our sister squadron, HML/A-167…

My next door neighbor.

II. “Ding-dong! Grim Reaper.”

AI Prompt: Black govt sedan pulling up in front of military base housing

Okay, that’s not technically true, Squire, Sally, and his kids didn’t live right next to us in base housing – they were across the street. Our driveways faced each other such that if I backed out of mine and angled to the left I would back up into his driveway.

One of the great things about military life is base housing. It’s like living in a sitcom from the 1960s, like the Andy Griffith Show or Leave it to Beaver. Everyone knows each other: Why, there’s Mister Nelson and Old Man Witherspoon having lemonade on the porch! Except our military version was There’s the Group Commander going for a run in his green silkies while Stinky Prowse is hosting a water balloon fight for all the neighborhood kids! It was its own form of heaven… right up until the government sedan starts pulling up to people’s houses.

I can’t say that Squire and I were close in a deep, meaningful way, but over time, living across the street from each other, both with the exact same job, rank, roughly same age, kids the same age, etc… We would have those occasional “neighbor” conversations, where you see each other across the roof of your car going to work in the morning or coming home late afternoon, but because of all we shared in common, they were somehow more meaningful… to me anyway. I just liked the guy; I liked having him as a neighbor. If my kids kicked a ball into his yard, for example, I didn’t have to worry about my girls going to get it or whether Squire would be tweaked about it. Sometimes we would take their trashcans in if they were gone and they would do the same for us.2

That Friday afternoon when I drove down Longstaff Street into base housing, I could see his little boy sitting out on the stoop, waiting for his dad to come home and I felt sick. I could feel my stomach drop and my eyes tearing. I wasn’t sure if his wife had already been notified or not. Was his boy in denial or did he still genuinely believe his Dad was coming home from that trip? I trudged into my own house in silence, carrying a burden I did not want. I knew I couldn’t say anything to my own wife, either, not until I was certain that the “notification” was already done. I didn’t want the wives’ network to start a phone-tree of gossip when I didn’t really have answers to what had happened.

For the next few days, Squire’s little boy sat out on the stoop waiting for his dad – even after I was certain Sally had been notified. I did everything possible not to look as I drove in and out of housing each day. There has never been anything in the Universe that surpasses that boy’s earnest anticipation of his Father’s return.

III. Broken Yokes, Families, and Lawsuits

When I went into work the following weak the broken yoke and tail rotor assembly from Squire’s aircraft was in my office. One of my Staff NCOs had recovered it from the wreckage and now it was getting a more detailed analysis. Early indications were that somewhere over Georgia the aircraft had “lost” its tail-rotor, coming apart in the sky catastrophically – and instantly.

I could spend years writing about the tragedy of Squire Edwards’ death, its impact on HML/A-167, and on his family, but unfortunately none of my words are sufficient to change anything. Sally Edwards sued over the crash and lost in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

On March 1, 1996, Captain Edwards was killed when the Bell AH-1W helicopter that he flew as a Marine Corps pilot (the “Edwards Helicopter”) crashed near Columbus, Georgia. The crash was caused by the failure in flight of the craft’s “tail rotor yoke” (the “Yoke”). Mrs. Edwards filed this wrongful death action against Bell in the Northern District of West Virginia in February of 1998, asserting multiple theories of liability. Significantly, the parties agree that the Yoke failed from metal fatigue, resulting from an unduly low level of “compressive residual stresses” (“CRS”), which caused the Yoke to separate from the Edwards Helicopter. Although Bell designed and built its tail rotor yokes for a 2200-flight-hour service life, the Yoke failed after only 728 flight hours. In the Joint Pretrial Order, Mrs. Edwards asserted that “[t]he material fact at issue in the litigation is what caused the low level of CRS that enabled fatigue to set in and destroy the strength of the [Yoke] on [the Edwards Helicopter].”

Prior to trial, however, Bell was able to exclude evidence of prior yoke failures and modifications applicable to two models of its helicopters: the Bell 214ST and the AH-1W. “Bell moved to exclude from evidence all references to a modification that Bell had made in the design of the tail rotor yokes of its helicopters.” This modification resulted from a Bell study conducted following the 1987 crash of the 214ST. In 1992, after the conclusion of the study, the Bell Helicopter’s Safety Board noted that two types of Bell helicopters, the 214ST and the AH-1W – which used the same tail rotor yoke – “were vulnerable to CRS loss from unwitnessed static bending loads, possibly resulting from improper tie-down procedures for the tail rotor assembly. The Safety Board recommended to Bell’s engineering department that it redesign the tail rotor’s flapping stop on the 214ST helicopter…”

The Safety Board’s recommendation for installation of a YFS was limited to the Bell model 214ST helicopter. The Safety Board did not recommend installation of a YFS on Bell’s model AH-1W[.]

Sally Edwards and her children received nothing beyond whatever SGLI (serviceman’s group life insurance) or other life insurance Squire had, plus a modest death gratuity. I didn’t know it at the time, but I would become all-too-familiar with death benefits for Marines in the coming months and years.

It was supposed to be a “milk run” – pick up a refurbished bird from the Bell factory in Texas and enjoy the “new car smell” the whole flight home. So I raise a glass for Captain Robert Francis “Squire” Edwards – a Good man who loved his wife and two sons and was a damn good neighbor…

To Squire.

1 Because there was a chance I would get picked up for the program and eventually be leaving aviation, the squadron was not going to waste “tactical hops” – further training – on me. No hard feelings; just an immutable fact of life in a gun squadron.

2 In another of Wordsworth’s “unrember’d acts of kindness,” my next-door neighbor “Kid” Maney mowed my lawn every week for 6 months while I was on deployment, so that my wife never had to do it while I was gone. Bagged it and put it out for collection every week, too.

About The Author

Ozymandias

Ozymandias

Born poor, but raised well. Marine, helo pilot, judge advocate, lawyer, tech startup guy... wannabe writer. Lucky in love, laughing 'til the end.

54 Comments

  1. Timeloose

    The boy waiting for his dad is rough. Being in charge of safety and quality can be a hard role to hold.

    “Significantly, the parties agree that the Yoke failed from metal fatigue, resulting from an unduly low level of “compressive residual stresses” (“CRS”), which caused the Yoke to separate from the Edwards Helicopter.”

    Low level of compressive residual stress sounds like a bad weld? Too much tension from the weld not offset by some other treatment?

    • Ozymandias

      There is the suggestion that the way we tie down the tail rotor to keep it from slapping around in the wind caused adverse stresses that accelerate the yoke failures.

  2. Timeloose

    On a related but not direct question, is your photo AI generated? That black coupe is cool as hell looking, but I can’t identify it.

      • Timeloose

        Thanks, my reading comprehension is not what it used to be.

    • Fourscore

      Looks like an Imperial, as in Chrysler. Top of the line Chrysler product

      • Sensei

        In a weird sorta two/four door form.

        AI makes for some strange art. It’s going to combine designs.

      • Timeloose

        Looks like a Plymouth Fury and a AMC rebel had a baby

  3. DEG

    For the next few days, Squire’s little boy sat out on the stoop waiting for his dad – even after I was certain Sally had been notified.

    That is the saddest part.

  4. rhywun

    Yikes. Rough stuff.

    Pardon my ignorance, but you can fly a helicopter from Texas to Georgia? – that far??

      • Rat on a train

        They don’t list a separate ferry range like for the AH-64 (1,178 miles).

      • Ozymandias

        That’s interesting, Rat. I wonder if that’s in a different/unusual configuration because that seems like a lot of range for a helicopter.

      • Sensei

        Google says…

        The AH-64A could also be fitted with four 772-liter (204 US gallon) external tanks for ferry flights, giving the machine a range of 1,850 kilometers (1,150 MI / 1,000 NMI), impressive for a helicopter.

        https://www.airvectors.net/avah64.html

      • Ozymandias

        Ahh. That makes sense. I seem to recall that we had a large (and small) drop tank that we used pretty regularly for more range on the boat. I think one was 77 gal and the other 66?? I can’t remember quite, but we used the large one to give us extra range if there wasn’t a big need for the ammo point that the drop tank takes up. It would add an extra .5 hour or so, depending upon what you were doing.

        So I suppose if we went rack to rack with 4 tanks we could make it another 2 hours, but that is a really long time to be in the seat. Better off to just use 1 tank, stop at every 2.5 and get gas, grab a burger and a soda, and crack out 2 or 3 legs for a full day of flying.

    • Frosty

      Not without a stop for fuel, but turbine engine helicopters run on the same jet fuel that commercial airliners and private jets use. Available at nearly every local airport in the US.

    • Ozymandias

      As noted above, cross-countries are about 300 mile legs a pop in a helicopter. But you can get in a couple or three per day and cover some ground.

  5. kinnath

    Thank you for these write ups.

  6. dbleagle

    Interesting Oz. That touch about the boy not giving up hope was touching. That is the part of military life most people don’t understand. Even without a war 3-4 members of the military die almost every day.

  7. UnCivilServant

    Sorry about randomly going back to the lunchtime article. Thanks to all the discussion, I mulled through the possibilities, and think I came up with an idea.

    What if the Narrator was Prince Gustaf von Hackenhof?

    I’m not surprised if nobody remembers him, he only appears as a background character in Banker of Stirnberg, which was a few years ago. But he fits the revised narrator (less dumbass more antisocial bookworm).

    A – He’s socially awkward and talks foreign politics with a girl he’s infatuated with, when she leaves he withdraws to solitude.

    B – His father is canonically dead, meaning he would likely be a ward of his grandfather, who is quite busy being Emperor. The family had a number of properties, and the auditor wearing the Imperial Phoenix would fit right in.

    C – It’s extra important as the Future Herzog Altschaft and a candidate for Emperor to learn social norms, expectations, and responsibilities.

    D – With his difficulties at Arx Anade, he would need those lessons hammered into him quickly. So getting sent on a task, potentially of a military nature, would me a rational next step to get him to learn some of these lessons. (and possibly repair the bridges with the men at arms he’d snubbed)

    E – The scale of this task could be of any scale that fits the narrative not yet detailed. And of course things always go wrong.

    • R C Dean

      Now you’re talking.

    • Not Adahn

      Honestly, if it was known earlier that this was some sort of test to show he was ready to take over, then the mistake of treating it as a frugality test rather than a leadership one would be perfectly cromulent.

  8. Ownbestenemy

    Massie will be fine. I know Kentucky ends up the but of jokes for redneck yokles but they have returned him to office reliably.

    Massie is the new Paul. Which is unfortune.

  9. Evan from Evansville

    This was remarkably powerful. And well done, thanks. I love this series, though this one hurt. Having, needing to stay quiet and see that kid those nights would’ve been nasty, seemingly cruel, psychological dagger strikes. Reminds me of something I brought up to a female friend:

    Women have been, and are, people who live on a different tier than men. Often subjugated. This gets proper attention. Women were pirate booty, with war survivors raped and more. May be a severely broken human, but you’re still alive? The worst similarities with men over time are more glossed over. -’Pick up a weapon and charge the enemy. You don’t get a weapon, cuz we don’t have enough. Pick up his when *he* dies. If ya turn around, *we’ll* kill you.’ ← May be a severely broken human, but you’re still alive? This didn’t end too long ago in the West, but those in the Ukraine? Hrm. (Lower caste: Women are expendable wombs; men, expendable soldiers/ labor.)

    I don’t think you’re ‘broken,’ but it’s hard for me to imagine that brand of distress, let alone for kids, widows and wives. That people choose to continue shows we are very different people. We should all be grateful for that.

    Hear, here – To Squire.

    • Plinker762

      Mourning that he was president?

      • Sean

        I could support that.

    • cavalier973

      Carter made several dumb decisions, and he made some that were not so dumb. He wasn’t the worst President ever; he just inherited a lot of nonsense from the bad decisions of previous Presidents (and Congresses), and very few people can make lemonade out of those rotten lemons.

      I’d rate him above Obama (a genuinely malicious man) and below Nixon.

      His true legacy, I guess, is his post-Presidency charity work, of which I know very little.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, Sean, Stinky, Roat, and Ted’S.!

      • Gender Traitor

        Good morning, U! How are you today?

      • UnCivilServant

        Lousy. Found out at midnight that my grandmother (last remaining grandparent) is on her deathbed. Spent another hour figuring out how to get down to see her in time. Currently that means a twelve hour drive this friday. I’m debating whether to do a twelve hour drive back sunday or break it into two stages sunday and monday, and if so, where to overnight.

        I do have a delivery arriving friday which might be pilfered while I’m gone depending on where the delivery driver puts it, but it’s just a DVD, so that won’t be that big a deal if it does.

        I’m still waiting on approval for the time off, but I don’t expect that part to be an issue given the circumstances and the fact that I’ll only be missing a rate setting meeting that I’m not really needed for. (How much we charge client agencies per fax for 2025. It’s just going over numbers collected over 2024).

        Of course since I did the hotel reservation and other planning after midnight, I’m short on sleep, but I made it to the office.

        I’m still miserable.

      • Gender Traitor

        Oh no! I’m so sorry! I hope you can go and have a visit with her. Please keep us posted!

      • UnCivilServant

        I’ll try.

        Right now I have the town she’s in but need to get the exact address from my dad, who’s planning on making his shorter drive thursday currently.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Still charging people with new shit on account of a minor riot four years later? Fuck off you scrunts. It’d be nice if some of the federal prosecutors pursuing this foolishness ended up in prison for this nonsense, won’t happen but it’d be nice.

      • Rat on a train

        Epstein Island would be a good place to lay low.

    • Ted S.

      I remember how everyone praised the Wisconsin insurrection of 2011.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I don’t remember that one. Did it involve cheese and/or beer in some way?

      • rhywun

        Wisconsin was the first state in the United States to provide collective bargaining rights to public employees in 1959.

        A proud landmark in the national slide into bankruptcy and decrepitude.

      • juris imprudent

        The People were speaking to power. It’s like you don’t understand the difference.

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