by Oliver North
He continued making gun runs, and on one of them two bullets struck the windscreen only inches from his face. The bullet holes in his windscreen reinforced his feeling he wouldn’t survive the day, but in a strange way they also doubled his resolve not to go down without making his death very costly for the enemy. A second time he landed and re-armed his Bird, then shot skyward to continue the fight. There were a pair of F-16 fighter jets overhead, but they were having trouble distinguishing the friendly from enemy forces at high altitude.
F-16's over Iraq
David Cooper didn’t have that problem. The enemy forces were the ones still trying to blow him out of the air.
A few more runs at the enemy trucks and his rocket pods were empty and this time he was almost out of fuel as well. Again he landed next to the broken Little Bird inside the perimeter of operators who were ferociously pouring fire on the two dozen insurgents in the house. While one group of operators transferred some minigun ammo over to his chopper, he and some others used a Leatherman tool to remove the downed chopper’s auxiliary fuel tank and install it on his craft. Cooper knew what they were doing likely broke several dozen U.S. Army flight regulations and might even be insane to boot. But he also concluded they might even be able to hold the enemy off long enough for the QRF to arrive. And, if he could do that, he and his copilot might just survive long enough to get chewed out by their superiors.
He took off once more and was overjoyed to see two more AH-6s come buzzing out of the distance. They joined up in the air and the trio of Night Stalkers turned on the remaining gun trucks and shredded them with their rockets and miniguns. They watched as the remaining two trucks still working turned and hightailed it away from the battlefield.
As they ran, one of the F-16s above got them in his sights and the pilot, Air Force Major Troy Gilbert, rolled in for a strafing run. His 20-mm Vulcan cannon obliterated one of the trucks. Gilbert tried a high-speed maneuver to get the second truck, but was too low and unable to pull out. The F-16 clipped the ground and disappeared in a ball of flame. Major Gilbert was the only American killed in action during the operation.
His ammunition, fuel, and emotions completely spent, CW5 David Cooper piloted his trusty AH-6 back to base, concluding nearly four hours of intense air-to-ground combat.
CW5 Cooper is one of the most highly decorated soldiers alive and still serving in today’s Army. Yet, his disarming, self-deprecating humor and trademark humility give no hint of the highly classified and dangerous operations that have resulted in his receiving the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars, three meritorious service medals, seven air medals, including three for valor, and an Army Commendation medal for valor. For his actions on that day in November 2006 over Talil, Iraq, Cooper was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor. When the medal was pinned on his chest, he was the only recipient in the war on terror not given the award posthumously. CW5 David Cooper was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in early 2010.
At the ceremony Lt General Robert W. Wagner called him “a true hero in every sense of the word.” But if you talk to Cooper, he says, “I just happened to be the guy there that day. Any one of the Night Stalkers that’s in this formation would have done the same thing I did.”
CW5 Cooper at Awards Ceremony
CW5 David Cooper, U.S. Army
CW5 David Cooper distinguished himself through conspicuous gallantry in action while serving as an AH-6 Flight Lead Pilot, operating against an enemy force northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. On 27 November 2006, CW5 Cooper launched his AH-6 as part of a daytime Helicopter Assault Force (HAF) in order to kill or capture an Iraqi-based foreign fighter facilitator. During the flight CW5 Cooper’s AH-6 wingman sustained significant damage by enemy fire and crash landed. ‘The remainder of the HAF landed in a defensive perimeter around the badly damaged aircraft. Although both pilots were without significant injury, the aircraft could no longer be flown and the Air Mission Commander made the decision to secure the site and await a Downed Aircraft Recovery Team (DART).
Approximately forty minutes after landing, several enemy trucks with heavy weapons moved into position and began engaging the ground force and aircraft with anti-aircraft machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire. The entire ground force was out-gunned and outnumbered. Without hesitation and while receiving direct enemy fire, CW5 Cooper and his copilot moved to their aircraft and took off to provide much-needed suppression on the enemy forces. Coming under intense enemy fire, CW5 Cooper began to engage the enemy. He made multiple passes, initially destroying several gun trucks and killing at least ten enemy personnel. At this point all enemy weapon systems and personnel were clearly aiming at him, yet he continued to fly multiple gun runs straight into the heavy machine gunfire of the enemy and placed devastating fires upon them.
Out of ammunition and low on fuel, CW5 Cooper landed back at the ground force location and immediately began re-arming his helicopter with rockets and ammunition, and transferring fuel from his wingman’s downed aircraft. He then took off again and began to engage enemy vehicles and personnel. As he continued with his engagements, he repeatedly found that some of the rockets removed from the downed AH-6 malfunctioned and did not launch. Very much aware of the possibility that unstable rockets could detonate in his launcher, he continued to engage the enemy and destroyed several more gun trucks and killed nearly ten more personnel.
As a result of CW5 Cooper’s devastating fire and aggressive actions, the enemy completely broke contact and began to flee the area. His performance of duty assured the survival of this embattled element and is in keeping with the finest traditions of the Special Operations community. His actions displayed the highest levels of valor and gallantry in combat and reflect great credit upon himself, this Command, and the United States Army.
AH-6M & MH-6M LITTLE BIRD FACT SHEET
The AH-6M Little Bird is a highly modified version of the McDonnell Douglas 530 series commercial helicopter. The light attack aircraft has a single turbine engine and dual flight control. It is primarily employed in close air support of ground troops, target destruction raids, and armed escort of other aircraft. The AH-6M is normally flown by two pilots.
The Little Bird variants can be deployed on any Air Force transport aircraft. Both can be prepared for, transported, and reconfigured for flight in a minimal amount of time.
AH-6M Mission Equipment
• Communications equipment capable of secure operations including UHF and VHF modes. SATCOM is installed on some aircraft and available as an option on all aircraft.
• Forward Looking Infrared, or FLIR, is a controllable, infrared surveillance system that provides a TV video-type infrared image of terrain features and ground or airborne objects of interest. The FLIR is a passive system and detects long wavelength radiant IR energy emitted, naturally or artificially, by any object in daylight or darkness.
AH-6M Weapons Systems
• The AH-6M is capable of mounting a variety of weapons systems, including both M-134 miniguns and rocket pods.
MH-6M Little Bird
The MH-6M Little Bird is a single-engine light utility helicopter that has been modified to externally transport several combat troops and their equipment. It is capable of conducting infiltrations, exfiltrations, and combat assaults over a wide variety of terrain and environmental conditions. The MH-6M is also used for reconnaissance missions.
MH-6M Mission Equipment
• External Personnel System mounted on each side of the aircraft.
• Rapid configuration for fast rope and short tactical airborne operations.
• Systems to assist the crew in identifying enemy positions.
Two U.S. Army (USA) AH-6J Little Bird helicopters take off for a mission at a forward deployed location in southern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
OPERATION CHROMIUM
SAMARRA, IRAQ
The “surge,” ordered by President George W. Bush, in late 2006, changed everything about the campaign in Iraq. By the time Operation Chromium was launched in September 2007, combat in the Land Between the Rivers had all but disappeared from America’s televisions and dropped off the front pages of our newspapers.
In the months since General David Petraeus took command and thirty thousand more U.S. troops were being dispatched to Iraq, Sheikh Sattar—the chief instigator of the Sunni “Awakening”—was killed—but the movement he helped start was still alive. Average Iraqis in al Anbar province were cooperating with coalition forces. Ramadi, the provincial capital was no longer the most violent place on the planet. The streets once full of improvised explosive devices were being cleaned up. At home, Republicans took a drubbing in the previous November’s Congressional elections but the “experts” were no longer saying Iraq was descending into an abyss of sectarian conflict.
“The Awakening” in Iraq in 2007 gave rise to “neighborhood watch” programs around the country and began to turn the tide of the war.
The masters of the mainstream media who once contended that the campaign in Iraq was “lost” now ignored it. Nobody much recalled the Associated Press, in a piece headlined “Many U.S. Troops in Iraq Oppose Escalation,” baldly declaring we were “embroiled in civil warfare between majority Shiite Muslims and Sunni Arabs that no number of American troops can stop.” America’s newspapers and television screens once full of stories about U.S. and Iraqi casualties and vicious condemnation of “Bush’s War” disregarded the success of the surge.
When the first reinforcements arrived in February 2007 U.S. casualties spiked and the potentates of the press proclaimed the additional troops were “too little, too late.” Radical Islamic Web sites agreed and predicted the toll of dead and wounded would force the Americans to abandon Iraq just as they quit Vietnam, Beirut, and Somalia. Osama bin Laden declared the “American infidels” were being “driven from Mesopotamia.”
The “surge” in combat power—and trainers—has changed everything. Why? Because the additional commitment was the assurance the Iraqi people were looking for. They didn’t want to commit to a lost cause but the “surge” meant the U.S. wasn’t going to abandon them. They were emboldened to rise up and kick out the criminal elements trying to destroy the new Iraqi government.
Many of those tasked to train and mentor the fledgling Iraqi army were American Special Forces. After all, training foreign militaries is a key mission for which Green Berets are specially trained. Special Forces soldiers usually live alongside their Iraqi army counterparts, providing an example of leadership that goes beyond simple classroom and field instruction. In September 2007 when the time came for one Iraqi unit to mount an important mission to capture or kill a high-ranking insurgent leader, three Green Berets found themselves required to go far “above and beyond” when it came to setting the example for the green Iraqi soldiers in their charge.
The objective was simple: capture or kill the brutal leader of a kidnapping ring with ties to the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a terrorist group devoted to the overthrow of the democratically elected Iraqi government. By September 2007, many of the sectarian militias and insurgent groups had been pushed out of central Baghdad and into havens outside the capital. Samarra, a historic city on the Tigris River, eighty miles north of Baghdad became the refuge for a particularly vicious insurgent faction.
ODA 083, a Special Forces A-team from 10th group, out of Fort Carson, Colorado, had been mentoring an Iraqi Special Operations unit for several months when they received orders to capture an insurgent kingpin named Abu Obaeideah—known for brutally killing the families of those found to be associating with the Americans or the new Iraqi government. He financed his operations by kidnapping others for ransom.
Iraqi SWAT
Intelligence indicated Obaeideah moved frequently and rarely stayed in one place more than a few days. At that moment he was hiding out in a small farm compound outside Samarra and believed to be protected by a ten to twelve man personal security contingent. Because of the time-sensitive nature of the mission, the Green Berets hastily prepared an operations order calling for two helicopters to drop a total of twenty Iraqi troops and several of their American mentors to advise them during the mission. The Iraqi Special Operators would take the lead in clearing the farm compound and apprehending Obaeideah.
Shortly after midnight on 19 September 2007 the combined U.S.-Iraqi force boarded two Black Hawk helicopters and lifted off for Samarra. There was almost no lunar illumination, so the three Green Berets on the first Bird, Staff Sgt Jarion Halbisengibbs, Sgt 1st Class Michael Lindsay, and Capt Matthew Chaney wore their night-vision goggles right from the start of the mission.
The flight to the target area was quick and uneventful. But when the Birds descended toward their planned insertion zone, the field they planned to land in was unexpectedly flooded with water. The pilots pulled up and made a quick decision to land in an alternate LZ, much closer to the objective. Unfortunately, the site they chose was a bit too close—only thirty meters from the primary objective. As the unit jumped off the helicopters into a blinding cloud of swirling dust, enemy machine guns opened fire.
Staff Sgt Jarion Halbisengibbs
The best strategy in an assault is to maintain momentum through quick, violent action to keep the enemy off guard. With this in mind, the three Green Berets jumped up and rushed the objective, reaching the first building as more enemy fighters began to respond with fire from each of the three buildings the mission called for the Iraqis to clear. But as they stacked up on the first doorway, Halbisengibbs, Lindsay, and Chaney made a horrifying discovery—the second helicopter was forced to land at least three hundred meters away and the Iraqis who landed with them in the first chopper were still back on the landing zone, disoriented and surprised to be taken under fire so quickly. The three Americans were alone.
They quickly concluded that staying where they were, awaiting the rest of the assault force was suicide. Retreat wasn’t an option, either. So the three Special Operators chose the only other course of action—they pressed the attack by themselves.
They entered the first building with weapons leading the way. Lindsey saw a man raise a rifle and point it at him. The Green Beret snapped his M4 up and shot the man dead before he could fire. First building clear.
They were moving toward the second building when a machine gun opened up on them from the third structure—the one Intel said was where they would find Obaeideah. With no choice but to deal with the immediate threat and with their Iraqi teammates still on the LZ, the team bypassed the second building and raced toward the third. Two enemy fighters emerged from it, firing machine guns from the hip. Well-aimed shots from the three Green Berets eliminated the threat in seconds.
Night raid
When they reached the building, Halbisengibbs threw a grenade in the door, killing two of the enemy inside. Immediately after the grenade blast, the three Special Operators charged through the doorway as they practiced many times before, each man cordoning off a sector of the room with his weapon.
The muzzle flash from an AK-47 lit up the room and Halbisengibbs fired back instinctively, killing the shooter even as one of the enemy rounds smashed his night-vision goggles and another pierced his hand. More insurgents fired, striking SSG Lindsey in the throat and Captain Chaney in the pelvis. They all returned fire—and one of their bullets took out an enemy fighter who was, at that moment, pulling the pin on a grenade. The grenade dropped to the floor and exploded three feet from Chaney; hurling him and Lindsey back through the doorway to land in a heap in the courtyard. Halbisengibbs took shrapnel in several places, some of which destroyed his radio. He picked himself up, realized his night-vision goggles were ruined as well, and he was now alone in the building. With no time to wait for reinforcements, he continued to clear the building alone. A man who turned out to be the high value target—Abu Obaeideah—ste
pped out of a doorway and raised a rifle. The wounded Green Beret Staff Sergeant dropped him with a quick three-round burst.
Meanwhile Chaney and Lindsey, wounded and stunned, were still in the courtyard. As they struggled to rise, Chaney discovered he was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. At that instant, an enemy fighter started shooting at him from another doorway in the building. The wounded Captain crawled to the body of a dead terrorist and using it for cover, returned fire, taking out the shooter trying to kill him. He adjusted his night-vision and looked over at Lindsey, who was badly wounded, bleeding and vomiting after taking shrapnel in the abdomen. Too weak to lift his rifle, the injured Staff Sergeant pulled out his pistol and fired in the direction of the second doorway.
Special forces foot patrol
Once he cleared the inside of the building, Halbisengibbs went back outside to check on his teammates. As soon as he stepped out the door, another insurgent appeared in the second doorway and shot him at a range of about ten feet. The bullet hit Halbisengibbs in the stomach, just below his body armor. Still standing, the twice-wounded Green Beret killed his attacker and began shouting instructions at the Iraqi assault force, which was finally arriving at the objective from the LZ.