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 Flying with the Army's air force in the Gulf By Tech. Sgt. Alec Lloyd,  Michigan National Guard
 GULFPORT, Miss., - The mission: Fly out to Deepwater Horizon site to gain situational awareness and document the National Guard's response in Mississippi. "What aircraft will I be flying in?" I asked. "A Sherpa," my supervisor replied. "C-23B, to be precise." I furrowed my brow. The C-23B Sherpa? I didn't know that one. I pulled up the Air Force web page and glanced through the fact sheets. No Sherpa. My contact looked over my shoulder and laughed. "It's an Army aircraft," he said. "You'll be flying with the Army National Guard, not the Air Guard." Well, you learn something every day. The Mississippi Army National Guard's Company I, 185th Theater Aviation is unique. It works for the 1108th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot. Based out of Gulfport, the unit normally has a single C-23B Sherpa that serves as a airborne shuttle to ferry parts and technical experts to the various Army Guard helicopter units. The Sherpa is ideal for this sort of work - the twin turbo-prop aircraft is handy, has good cargo capacity with room for 20 passengers or about 4,500 lbs of cargo and can take off and land on almost any kind of surface. "We're UPS and Greyhound rolled all into one," says Warrant Officer Pyke Van Dalsem, the pilot for the flight. He and Staff Sgt. Dawayne Orleans, his flight engineer, briefed me before takeoff. "Are we going looking for Earl?" asked Sergeant Orleans, drawling the world deeply. "Yep," answers Van Dalsem. "We keep looking for 'Earl,' but never seem to find him." "Everyone wants to find him," nods Sergeant Orleans. "Him an' the 'oil-sheen' on da 'o-sheen.'" The 185th has been flying sorties for weeks as part of Mississippi's Operation Vigilant Horizon. Their normal compliment of a single Sherpa has been augmented by a second from the South Dakota National Guard. The second aircraft is used to search the Gulf of Mexico and the barrier islands for patches of oil and to monitor the response effort. Today's flight includes experts from Tulane University and Mississippi State University as well as a photographer from a local newspaper. The goal, said Col. Don Randle of the 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne), is to help educate the scientific community, particularly those who may be asked for information by news media. In addition, several of the Mississippi Guard's helicopters are also being used by scientists on an individual basis to check specific areas. Warrant Officer Pyke Van Dalsem is an interesting person. He has deployed twice already, to Kosovo and Iraq, and is anticipating a third deployment. He is also the only person I have ever met to resign his commission as an officer and remain in the service. Then 1st Lt. Van Dalsem was flying UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in Kosovo when he heard of an opening in the 185th. He was a couple of months from making captain, but chose to become a warrant officer and fly the Sherpa instead. He flew the Sherpa in Iraq and has no regrets about his decision to become a warrant officer. "I love the job," he says. "The Sherpa mission is awesome. We're flying people and parts that need to get there. It is very rewarding to me. I just love to fly." Standing on the flight line, the Sherpa looks like a relic of a bygone era. It is boxy and ungainly, arguably one of the ugliest aircraft in service today. And when I say ugly, I know where of I speak - my unit used to fly A-10s. Compared to the Sherpa, the A-10 is positively sleek and elegant. "It's ugly, shaped like a Winnebago with wings," laughs Warrant Officer Van Dalsem. "The box shape and twin tail make it challenging to fly in a crosswind, but otherwise it's real nice." The Sherpa is unpressurized meaning it has to stay at lower altitudes. It is considerably faster and more fuel-efficient than helicopters, which is why the Army uses them. Warrant Officer Van Dalsem is part of the elite of Army aviators and he's proud of the distinction - and proud to be part of Vigilant Horizon. "This is different," he says. "Usually we fly to pick up cargo at high altitude and come back. Now we're flying at 1,500 feet over the water for hours." The standard route is from Gulfport to Chandeleur Island and then to the Deepwater Horizon site. From there the aircraft flies over Petit Bois, Horn, Ship and Cat islands - about a three-hour journey. On other days, they have visited the Delta and Grand Isle. His copilot today is Chief Warrant Officer Rich Webb. While they prep the aircraft, Sergeant Orleans delivers the pre-flight safety briefing - and then we are aloft. Soon, the slicks appear. Some have a rainbow sheen, while others are orange. Groups of boats with booms looping behind them are busy at work on this sunny Saturday morning. Gnat-sized helicopters hover here and there. And then we see it: The spill site. The spill site has been a fixture on television, but it is entirely different to see it in person. There is a collective gasp as the passengers absorb the scene before them. The flares rising off of the rigs, the swarm of small craft, the plume of smoke and the knowledge of what this means to the region make it an awe-inspiring spectacle. The Sherpa goes into a banking turn to the left and circles the site. Boats are scurrying here and there, flames are leaping off of the Discoverer Enterprise and the Q4000 as they flare gas. Coast Guard cutters are busy skimming oil. Those with cameras hunker down and begin shooting photo after photo. After a couple of rotations, we level out and head back to the coast. The passengers are subdued and talk quietly about what they have seen. There are scattered clouds on the journey back and no one is paying much attention when the pilot announces a waterspout is seven miles away to our right. Again, the passengers crowd the windows and shutters whir as they struggle to capture the elusive outline. Now we move along the barrier islands, and the discussion becomes more analytical as the passengers survey the coastal defenses. Little orange strings of boom loop here and there, tiny clusters of boats are busy skimming, surveying, working away. It is around noon when we return. The Sherpa's air conditioning - which seems to consist mainly of a vapor-spewing piece of heating duct - is barely adequate to the task at hand. We eagerly head into the cool comfort of the operations building to discuss what we have seen. The passengers are grateful for the flight. Armed with new facts, they are better able to evaluate strategies for habitat protection and restoration. Warrant Officer Van Dalsem goes back into his office and relaxes for a moment, answering my remaining questions. The co-pilot, Chief Webb, gets ready for another sortie, this time in a chopper. For the 185th, it is all in a day's work. As soon as they finish one mission, they prepare for the next - keeping their vigil.
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