iraq Archives - The Rotary Wing Show Podcast

Kevin Humphreys is an experienced military and EMS pilot who bounced back from a period of mental illness and is now an ambassador for a number of mental health organisations.

Kevin Humphreys is a veteran of a number of overseas military deployments on Blackhawk and Chinook, currently a check and training pilot on AW139 helicopters and an ambassador for a number of mental health charities. He joins us in the interview today to share some of his flying experiences and his personal story of struggling with and overcoming an episode of mental illness.

With almost half of Australian adults estimated to experience a mental disorder at some time in their life it would be ludicrous to suggest that it is not something that would impact on the helicopter aircrew population.

This is part one of a two part interview. I’ll update this blog post with a link to the second half once it is published. Part 1/this episode is more focused on Kevin’s career and deployments which establishes the context for much of the mental health discussion in part 2.

Kandahar, AFG – Ready for departure, CH-47D with AH-64 escort

Kevin graduated from the Australian Army’s officer training course at Duntroon in Canberra before being posted to Point Cook, Victoria for initial flying training. He flew with the Australian Army throughout the 90s and 2000s, flying Blackhawk and Chinook types and serving up until 2011.

Video Extract “From the Shadows: Australia’s Special Forces” where Kevin talks about flying in Afghanistan.

He discusses a number of deployments to East Timor, one to Iraq and then a number to Afghanistan with some of the lessons learnt from each along with some of the organisational and operational challenges at the time. Kevin also re-tells the events around OP NILE which was a multi-national, joint operation involving Australian Chinooks, Canadian special forces, Afghan forces, Dutch Apaches, a US AC-130 and predator UAVs.

They said a rocket propelled grenade passed under us and another RPG went over the top while we were on approach

C Sqn, 5 Avn Regt just prior to Afghanistan deployment 2006 – Kevin as Officer Commanding in front.

We don’t spend a lot of time talking about Kevin’s post military flying career in rescue and the medical transport roles but he has held job titles along the way of – check and training captain, director of operations and chief pilot roles. Additional aircraft types are BK117, Bell 412 and AW139.

Outside of flying and on the mental health side of things Kevin is a speaker for BeyondBlue and a community ambassador for both the Mates4Mates program and the RUOK charity.

Kevin Humphreys with a QLD Government Air Wing Bell 412 on top of the Mater Hospital, Brisbane

Kevin suffered from anxiety for many years, PTSD, turned to alcohol abuse and eventually reached a point of mental breakdown where he finally was given support. From here he started the long process of recovery and return to work. He is very open about his experiences and displays an incredible vulnerability and courage to talk about it in the second part of this interview (Episode 71) with the aim of helping anyone else that might be in the position he was and to help normalise the conversation.

One of Kevin’s messages is that mental health is a spectrum – no different from physical fitness – that there are times when we are very mentally fit and other times when we are mentally out of condition and need some more mental ‘pushups/exercise’ to get back into condition. The sooner the intervention and positive addressing of any issues the quicker the rebound is.

It is by no means a career ending event for aircrew and if we are trying to be professional aviators then it’s a topic that needs to be more widely discussed.

A number of links are provided below to mental health resources for anyone looking to take advantage of them.

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Links from this week’s episode:
Support the podcast on Patreon

MILITARY Mental Health Support
Mates4Mates
Stand Tall 4 PTS
Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation
Redsix APP – Phone App for veterans that alerts when other veterans are nearby and you/they need help

GENERAL COMMUNITY Mental Health Support
Phoenix Australia – Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health
R U OK? – suicide prevention charity that aims to start life-changing conversations
Moodgym – online self-help program designed to help prevent and manage symptoms of depression and anxiety. Free for Australians.
Beyond Blue – information and support to help everyone achieve their best possible mental health
Be a Looper APP – App that keeps you in contact with up to 5 people for regular check-ins, peer support that is unique to you

AVIATION SPECIFIC Mental Health Support
CASA Fact Sheet on Depression and Aviation Safety
Australian Federation of Air Pilots – Welfare Services

Kevin unveiling the plaque to name the Australian base at Kandahar CAMP BAKER in honour of CPL Mick Baker who was the loadmaster killed in the Black Hawk crash (Townsville, Australia) in Jun 96

A15-104 was callsign Patriot 47 captained by Kevin on OP NILE – one of two Australian Army chinooks taking part in a special forces operation in Afghanistan

CH-47 Chinook dust landing examples in Afghanistan

Have a comment or feedback about Episode 70? A question for Kevin or a good resource to add to the list? Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.

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CWO2 Robert Mills did two deployments to Iraq flying the Kiowa Warrior.

Blackdeath 23 was Robert Mill’s callsign in an Air Cavalry Unit operating the Kiowa Warrior in Iraq. Robert has published his journal as a book of the same name covering his two tours in Iraq and the daily challenges of operating a scout helicopter in that environment.

The Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is a light scout helicopter operated by the US Army and based on the Bell 407 Jetranger – but with a heap of extras bolted on.

2 seats, 2 crew
4 bladed main rotor
rear cabin occupied by electronics and power boxes
rockets, hellfire missile, stinger air-to-air missile, 50Cal gun external load points
mast mounted sight

Robert deployed to Iraq the first time fresh out of flight school and learnt on-the-job. In the book you get an immersion into the routine of combat flying ops and what it was like for aircrew in this particular theatre.

In this episode we cover some of the background to the stories and incidents in the book from an aviation viewpoint. The interview also acts as introduction to the flying conditions you might encounter should you find yourself in Iraq one day.

[Tweet “Want a power management pilot? Get an OH58 guy. When you pick it up, you are in the yellow all the time.”]

At the time of recording the Kiowa is being retired from US service with the possibility of airframes being sold overseas. That will leave the US Army fleets as an all multi-engine fleet. The Kiowa’s role will be picked up by a mix of Apache and UAVs amid considerable commentary whether this is a good idea or not.

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In this week’s episode:

01:25 Professionalism quote
01:50 New CASA licence
02:30 World Helicopter Day – get involved
03:30 Flying Kiowa in Iraq with Robert Mills author of Blackdeath23
04:50 Joining up as a military pilot
06:40 Why choose Kiowa
08:20 Kiowa aircraft intro and walkaround
11:15 What’s in the rear cabin area?
12:25 Officers vs Warrant Officer pilot streams
14:10 85 flight hours on arrival into Iraq
17:30 Country brief for flying conditions – its hot… its cold
20:20 Best solution for drinking water in the cockpit – the sock method
22:40 Terrain and elevations
24:05 Retrans station resupply
25:31 Flying low over the built up areas
27:06 Kite hazard
28:10 Dust storms
29:48 Impact on the machines
31:30 Preparing aircraft for quarantine exit clearance
33:40 A typical daily routine in theatre
37:30 Equipment that would take in aircraft
39:40 M4 rifle on the glareshield and armour
44:35 Escalation of force and range training
46:42 Soccer balls and crayons
48:45 Night flying on the Syrian border
50:30 Dust landings in Kuwait
52:25 American Sniper movie/book
53:15 Returning after doing the ultimate mission – challenges
56:06 EMS flying – from taking lives to saving lives
57:20 Get the book
58:36 Sponsors trainmorepilots.com

Links from this week’s episode:
Blackdeath23 Book Website – see more about the book
World Helicopter Day

A compilation of Kiowa Warrior videos
[leadplayer_vid id=”54E434970D610″]

[Tweet “Physical conditioning is important. 135deg, its hot. You go through a lot of water!”]

Urban flight ops in Iraq - watch out for the kites... — Urban flight ops in Iraq – watch out for the kites…

Look at all the stuff hanging off it! Not your standard Bell 206. — Look at all the stuff hanging off it! Not your standard Bell Jetranger.

[Tweet “Might find the kite string wrapped around your PCLs or swashplate”]

[Tweet “Completely dusted out. It’s in your cockpit, it’s in your nose, it’s everywhere. Like sandpaper in your eyes while keeping a/c stable.”]

Questions / comments? Be part of the conversation in the comments section below.

Tag: iraq

RWS 70 – Aircrew Mental Health with Kevin Humphreys – Part 1

RWS 22 – Kiowa Warrior in Iraq with Robert Mills