Waiting to see

The Army Aviation Community is small. Every time Paul and I hear of another helicopter crash, we cringe and we wait.  Will it be a friend of ours this time?  Will it be one of the many pilots that Paul has trained over the years (Paul spent 3 years as an instructor pilot at Ft. Rucker)?

And if it isn't someone we know, is it someone one of our current friends/colleagues know?

Waiting is tough on us, when we are removed from the direct path of knowledge.  For the families of the units involved, it has got to be so much worse.

When Paul was in Afghanistan, it was the policy (at that time) to shut down personal/private communications until the family was notified of accidents and/or deaths.  Out of respect to the idea that the NOK should be the first to know, efforts were made to be sure that the news didn't leak out through unofficial channels. 

So even though the families are informed as soon as possible.. it's still got to be tough to hear the basic news reports on the tv and then sit and wait.  Your soldier can't contact you directly to let you know he/she is okay.  You have to wait. The NOK deserves to know first.  So you wait. You hope, you pray, you bargain... and you wait. And you hope you aren't the first to know.