DSP
The story starts out with captain Mark Hamilton flying his black hawk helicopter to pick up some soldiers who were on patrol. Hamilton is a capable helicopter pilot and has a knack for finding the humor in almost any situation. His joking around and playing tricks on his fellow pilots earned him the nick name Jester. the story continues with Hamilton and his helicopter crew flying combat missions in support of ground troops. On one mission Hamilton is flying top cover when they get a call to pick up a wounded soldier. They move in for the pick up and start to take heavy fire. Hamilton lands the helicopter and medics load the wounded soldier. Hamilton is about to head back to base when he hears a distress call over the radio. His friend and squadron mate “Viper” has been hit by a missle and is going down. Hamilton looks out the side window just in time to see the other helicopter slam in to the ground and almost flip over. Hamilton and his crew are the only ones who can save the crew of the downed helicopter but if they dont get the wounded soldier back asap then he will die. Hamilton doesn’t even know if anyone is alive on the downed helicopter, so he wonders if its worth risking the life of the soldier. At the same time the thought of leaving his friend to be captured or killed makes him sick. Hamilton makes his choice. He turns the helicpoter around and starts heading back to the crash site. The gunners shoot at enemy postions as the helicopter runs a gauntlet of fire. Hamilton can hear bullets hitting his helicopter. He lands, and the copilot and engineer jump out and run over to the downed helicopter. They help the wounded to the helicopter. Hamilton and the gunners lay down cover fire while the rescue attempt keeps going. All the survivors were loaded and hamilton takes off. As rockets and bullets come flying at them hamilton looks back to disscover there is someone missing. “Where’s Viper”?.The enginner responds “He didnt make it sir,” at that exact moment a rocket flies up out of no where and hits the cockpit of the helicopter. No one saw it coming. The helicpoter tumbles out of the sky crashing to earth. The helicpoter erupts in a masive fire ball. All on board are killed instantly. Hamilton is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His copilot and enginner both posthumously received the distinguished service cross.
