Black Hawk Pilot Speaks to Middle School Students

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Gary Amatrudo, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot who recently returned from his second deployment in Iraq, visited Mrs. Irene O’Reilly’s students at Manchester Township Middle School. Using a computer slide presentation, he described his job and what day-to-day life is like for our troops. 

Amatrudo talked about his long journey to his post in Iraq, carrying all of his equipment and belongings, and how he had hoped to meet up with his son, who is in the Army and also deployed.  “It didn’t work out that way, though,” he said.

He described the living conditions on a military post in the desert of Iraq, “It was really dusty… it smelled… it gets really hot (up to 120 degrees) and really cold… when it rains the ground is so hard the rain doesn’t seep into it so it gets really muddy…there are dust storms like you see in the movies that can last for four hours or four days…there are giant spiders, scorpions and snakes… you’re living out of your bag in a tent city with 20-40 soldiers in one room… there are no holidays, no sick days – you are working 24/7 with only 2 days off a month.”

Because of the tough conditions and the danger they face everyday, Amatrudo said, “You make friends quickly with the people you work with. It’s important because you have to rely on them to watch your back, as you would do for them.”

Despite these tough conditions, Amatrudo said, it’s not all bad. “They feed you well at the mess hall – it all kinda tastes the same, but there is a lot of food,” he remarked.  There is a recreation center with a gym, they show movies on an outdoor screen, there is a phone center to call home, and there is even a coffee shop, he said. “So there are places to escape, but in the back of your mind you always remember that some of the people around you are not going to go home.”

“Of course, the hardest part of being deployed is missing your family and not being there for holidays and important events,” he said as he showed photos of his family holding a cardboard cutout of him at family events like holiday dinners, prom, and graduation.

“I’m so grateful for the support of my family, especially my wife.  You can’t do what you need to do over there if you’re worried about what needs to be done here, and she takes care of everything when I’m gone,” he said. “The only tougher job than being a soldier is loving a soldier.”

Amatrudo also talked about the importance of having a sense of duty and honor.  He closed his talk with what he called his "favorite F-words": Friends, Faith, Family, Forgiveness, Forever, and Freedom.