War Is Hell -- Even Without Being Shot At...

Scratch two helos (only one, permanently) from the roster of military aircraft taking on the Iraqis in our second Gulf War with that rogue nation. However; the Iraqis get no bragging rights in either case.

In the height of a complex and tightly run series of initial actions against the Iraqi military, two helos have gone down due to mechanical issues. Thankfully; none of the six personnel aboard an MH-53 "Pave Low" Special Operations helicopter or the crew members of an AH-64 "Apache" attack helicopter were injured in either incident... the first occurring Wednesday night and the other Thursday morning.

Damaged in "hard landing" incidents, the MH-53 was ordered destroyed by US forces in order to keep this technologically sophisticated aircraft out of enemy hands... though one military wag e-mailed ANN this morning and noted that anything more complex than a sling-shot was technologically sophisticated as far as the Iraqi military was concerned (grin).

Of course; the Iraqi military claimed credit for downing the Pave Low, but our sources indicate that the bird simply got clobbered in a hard landing and was unable to be flown out... so it was destroyed.

The MH-53 accident occurred in southern Iraq and was reportedly the first known loss of an American aircraft in the second war against Iraq--though we're told that it occurred BEFORE the start of surgical military strikes late Wednesday night.

The AH-64 Apache "hard landing" took place in Northern Kuwait Thursday. The landing was reportedly due to a mechanical issue that complicated the approach and landing, and resulted in minimal damage to the airframe.

The bird was later returned to service.

The US military strongly denies that either aircraft was hit by any enemy ground fire.

FMI: www.af.mil, www.army.mil