Mechanics At War In Afghanistan (With Attack Chopper Photo Gallery)

Staff Sergeant Jason Duncan, from LaCoste, Texas, inspects wiring that runs throughout the Apache. The miles of wiring, crucial to flight controls and sensors that make the craft such a deadly foe, also make maintaining the Apache notoriously difficult.

From Popular Mechanics:

PM's Joe Pappalardo flew to Afghanistan two weeks ago, where he will be an embedded reporter through April. Here, in his first post from Bagram Air Base, about 30 miles north of Kabul, he reports on the unsung wrench-turners who prepare helicopters for flights and fights over Afghanistan. As spring fighting erupts, maintenance crews struggle to keep the fleet of choppers—and the war—moving. Check back in to PopularMechanics.com for the latest reports, live from Afghanistan.

Bagram Air Base — Afghanistan is hell on helicopters: Temperature swings can ruin seals and gaskets; towering mountains with low air density sap power from spinning rotor blades and engines; dusty deserts gum up hydraulics; and enemy combatants pepper the machines with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. Keeping the Army's helicopters aloft in this hostile environment is the job of maintenance crews in bases across the war-torn country. Day in, day out, these unsung professionals do routine and emergency repairs on fleets of choppers that are the linchpin of U.S. operations, from resupply to offloading troops into combat to supporting ground troops with powerful guns and rockets. "Every time we launch a helicopter, that's one less vehicle that has to use roads and risk improvised explosive devices," says 32-year-old company commander Capt. Jeffrey Baird, of the 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, as he watches one of his crews start the rotors of a Chinook during a ground test. The 7-101, known here as Task Force Eagle Lift, is responsible for 52 helicopters, including Apache attack helicopters, Kiowa attack/scout choppers, heavy lifters like the Chinook and all-purpose workhorses like the Black Hawk. In addition to servicing helicopters, Eagle Lift ferries ground troops on surprise raids, escorts convoys and resupplies remote bases.

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