'I thought for sure we would be shot down'

Anti-aircraft artillery, rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire lit the night over the notorious Sadr City section of Baghdad.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Doug Huddleston, an AH-64D Longbow Apache pilot, had just helped free U.S. ground forces from an ambush. Now, his formation was called to destroy a suspected weapons cache nearby.

“We fixed the location, and set up racetrack patterns 500 meters to the east for an attack,” Huddleston recalled. “We immediately began taking varied enemy weapon system fires … from all directions, rooftops, windows, streets.”

Looking through his night-vision system, he saw streaks of light everywhere.

“There were so many bullets and rockets flying at us, I thought for sure we would be shot down,” he said.

Instead, the Apaches pumped 30 mm cannon fire into the cache. On a second pass, they ignited it in a series of explosions that shot 400 feet up. An estimated 128 insurgents — mostly Sadr militia — were killed.

Huddleston emerged with a prestigious Air Medal with “V” device for his actions, the first of three he’d earn in a yearlong deployment to Camp Taji, Iraq.

The action in Sadr City, on April 5, 2004, began when elements of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team were ambushed. Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles took RPG and machine-gun fire while dismounted patrols faced snipers in the area.

The Apache pilots plotted the lead platoon’s location and then suppressed the enemy with cannon fire, strafing rooftops. Huddleston’s AH-64D was hit several times, but all systems continued to function normally.

The U.S. ground forces eventually broke contact and moved to a safe position. But two soldiers were killed, several others were wounded and two Bradleys were destroyed in the fight.

The attack helicopters then took out the weapons cache before returning to Camp Taji, Huddleston said. He had a few bumps and bruises, but soon discovered his aircraft had sustained structural damage to its main rotor.

“After looking at the aircraft after our second turn in the FARP (forward arming and refueling point), it baffled me as to how the aircraft had brought us back,” he said.

Huddleston’s second medal was earned during the August 2004 battle for Najaf. On the third night of fighting, enemy operating from the Haifa mosque riddled his Apache with armor-piercing RPGs and machine-gun fragments. He suffered a loss of systems, but continued wiping out enemy forces and mortar positions in the vicinity of friendly troops with 30 mm cannon guns and 2.75-inch rockets.

He picked up a third decoration three months later while providing aerial coverage for convoys moving into the Fallujah area. After one came under attack, the Apaches leveled two houses and killed an estimated 50 insurgents.

Huddleston, 46, of Killeen, Texas, now is the safety officer and Apache pilot in command for 1st Battalion (Attack), 2nd Aviation Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Eagle, South Korea.

He says his faith, wingmen and crew — including warrant officers Carl Fox, Patrick Page, Brian Haas and Chris Miles and first lieutenants Derek Smith and Sean McBride — got him through Iraq.

“You get scared, for one split second, then the reality that every gun pilot has to deal with: If I don’t kill this guy that’s shooting at me, myself or my wingman will die,” Huddleston said. “It happens so fast you don’t have time to feel anything. It’s calculated maneuvering, tactics and firing the weapon systems. You count on the airman you fly with … and you put each other’s lives in your hands.”

Huddleston said he considers this a group accomplishment.

“We did our best to protect the soldiers and Marines on the ground,” he said. “I pray we did our part to help the people of Iraq, to give them free elections and a chance at a democratic government, and the hope of a better life.”