Surprised at Being Alive

Sometimes you do everything right, but it's just not your day. Something fails and your helicopter breaks apart in flight, or another aircraft crashes into you and the wreckage of both machines plummets to the ground, or the enemy gunner pulls the trigger at just the right moment and his bullets hit your aircraft in exactly the right place to bring it down. However it happens, it just wasn't your day. That's why Major Robert Curtis was so surprised to still be alive when he passed his medical examination for retirement after 24 years and over 5,000 flying hours with four armed forces. He began his military career flying helicopters during the Vietnam War and continued with the National Guard, the Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. He flew eight different helicopters, from the OH-13E with wooden rotor blades to the Chinook, Seaknight and Seaking, in times of war and peace all over the world. During this time, over 50 of his friends died in crashes, both in combat and in accidents, but somehow his skill and, not least, a good dose of luck and superstition helped him get through. His flying career began with a misguided strategy to avoid conscription. With the Vietnam War in full swing in 1968, conscription was inevitable, so he wanted to have at least some control over his future. Although he hadn't thought about flying when he entered the recruitment office, he left it as a signed helicopter pilot. What he didn't know was that 43% of all aircraft sent to Vietnam were destroyed in combat or accidents. Soon he found himself in the middle of the war, flying Chinooks with the 101st Airborne. After Vietnam, he left the army but continued to fly in the National Guard while attending college. He was accepted into two law schools, but flying is addictive, so he enlisted in the USMC instead to continue flying. For the next 17 years, he flew around the world, from Egyptian to Norwegian ships and everything in between.