Giving up his seat to a wounded soldier, a courageous Army officer strapped himself to the side of an Apache helicopter gunship that airlifted them out of a furious firefight in Iraq, the military said yesterday.
The Army called it an "unusual casualty evacuation," but Chief Warrant Officer Allen Crist's selfless act goes way beyond heroism.
Realizing that Spec. Jeffrey Jamaleldine needed medical attention fast, Crist put the critically wounded man in his own spot on the two-seat Apache on Saturday.
Crist then rigged a harness to strap himself to the fuselage and crouched on the stubby left gun wing of the aircraft.
With Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Purtee at the controls and Crist hanging on for dear life, the Apache flew out of the battle zone. It kept low, about 200 feet, until it reached a field hospital, the military said.
As if that wasn't enough, the Apache crew didn't stop for congratulations, but instead refueled and reloaded weapons to resume providing air cover for the ground forces.
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