160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment At War | Alan Mack | Ep. 199
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- čas přidán 23. 03. 2023
- Alan C. Mack joined the Army upon graduating High School. His desire to see the world as a US Army helicopter mechanic took him to the Republic of Korea, West Texas, and the Federal Republic of Germany before attending Warrant Officer flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
The nearly year-long flight school yielded a UH-1H, Huey, and CH-47D, Chinook, aircraft qualification before his first pilot assignment in Savannah, Georgia.
Timing is everything, as he arrived in time to progress with his new unit as a copilot in Operation Desert Shield. Then, several months later, he flew combat missions in the lead aircraft penetrating deep into Iraq.
Upon his return to the United States, he quickly achieved the status of Pilot-in-command and eventually assumed the coveted role of Night Vision Goggle Unit Trainer. The NVG UT position is a precursor to flying as an Instructor Pilot (IP). Another assignment to the Republic of Korea was in store for Alan before attending the CH-47 Instructor Pilot course at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
The call to adventure was persuasive, drawing Alan into the special operations community as an MH-47 pilot. Hard work and relentless training vaulted him to the top of his peer group as a Flight Lead and standardization instructor pilot. His experience and leadership traits put him at the forefront of several clandestine special operations, some still too classified to discuss in an open forum.
Not many Warrant Officers have the opportunity to command a unit, but Alan was entrusted with the United States Military Academy Flight Detachment at West Point, New York. With his military career approaching thirty-six years, he elected to retire and join public service.
CW5 Alan C. Mack is a Master Aviator with more than 6700 hours of flight time, of which over 3200 hours were flown with Night Vision Goggles.
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#160thSOAR #nightstalkers #robertsridge
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Alan is literally one of the best to ever do it. Legendary career. Combat pilots are the unsung heroes that the dirty civilians rarely recognize. Great interview!
Living in the Ft.Campbell area I affectionately call 160th the 160th house shakers🤷🏾♂️😂
Great interview, 160th are some BMF!
Some of my most memorable days were pulling Guard up at HAAF. 160th SOAR pulled the nuts off when they go they Go Balls Out. Rock of The Marne
Ah the ole broken television division ! 3 Id !
I was with Mr, Mack on 9/11, he drove back on Sept. 13th, unknown to him because he went to Tampa. Unknown to history we did get the authentication to be the only two aircraft in the sky over North America outside Air Force One and its Fighter escorts. Although since every National Guard Air Defense unit in America had been activated. We were grounded twice on the way back to Ft.Campbell because we were locked up to get shot down because our special authentication had not gotten to everyone yet. Capt. Garst who he mentions, was a Ranger Sniper turned Delta Sniper turned Aviation Officer, had the most thunderous voice most had ever seen. He was a quiet thick ascent country boy but as one Chief said "If he yelled, everyone in the building would melt into a puddle of S*%t!" Well both times we were grounded he marched into the Control Tower and we could hear him yelling from the flight line and he came out with authentication for us to continue to fly. I got to Afghanistan in the second wave in a month after Roberts Ridge 02,. Bco 2/160 was on its way out and a lot of dudes were still wide eyed still in shock over it.
I later worked at the Embassy as a security contractor from 2006-12. The Afghan guy he is talking about who watched over the grounds, had his teeth kicked in when he told the Taliban not to take a crap on the floors. When the US came back he was on the stairs holding the keys to the building. He was given a US citizenship but he did not leave right away, he stayed until the Embassy was rebuilt and was real famous for the diplomats to take their picture with him.
I served with Mr Mack an Andrew while at 2nd batt.
Miss them both. I worked on the 💩hooks
Never heard of The Team House but this CZcams Live randomly popped up in my feed. I was immediately intrigued as I've read every book there is about Anaconda and recognized the "Razor 3" name on that book displayed on the table. I also have Greg Cokers Death Waits in the Dark book. Loved this interview and immediately purchased Razor 3.
He also did a podcast on a channel called Combat Story or something close to that, the host of the channels last name is Fugit, I think Ryan is his first name but don't hold me to that, he was also a helicopter pilot in the Army that went on to work for the CIA in some capacity.
I'm just starting this one but if Mack's interview here is half as good as the one he did on Fugit's channel it'll certainly be worth watching, he's not quite as intense as the typical Delta and Seal guy's that are on most of these podcasts, he's an absolute hoot when it comes to his story telling and his disposition keeps you interested.
I was in a branch of the Army that was basically the Army's red headed step child so we didn't get the best leaders and the branch itself didn't make the best NCO's, if I'd have had leaders like him instead of the racist thugs I got stuck with I just might have made a career out of it instead of just constantly being miserable.
Edit; I think Fugit is the CIA helicopter pilot they're talking about at 1:12:46, Mack says "...Ned, everyone knows him, I'm not gonna say his real name..." and the host throws his hand up over his eyes and says "I know who you're talking about", it would make sense it's Fugit because they've had him on The Team House before, I haven't seen that episode but I've seen thumbnails for it, I'll bet it's him.
I'd like to see one of these podcasts get someone from the CIA who was involved in Operation Cyclone, preferably Mike Vickers, who was a part of helping the Mujahideen with the Stingers and fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, especially if they knew Gust Avrakotos and could tell stories about him, he was a character.
@@dukecraig2402 Thanks for the info. Watching that combat story piece now! Will dig into Fugit after.
@@dukecraig2402Ned is certainly not Ryan Fugit who was still in college at that time. Ryan wasn't a pilot for the Agency either, I think he said he was a targeting officer (or something else in ops not air branch in any case).
Might I suggest that when episode 234 comes along that you get a bunch of the guys to interview that were in CLASS 234 of BUDS that was on Discovery Channel?
We've heard from some, but I'd love to hear from Instructor Mad Max, Instructor Patstone, Instructor Taylor, and of course Lively.
Alan seems like a very awesome guy. Definitely picking up his book!
He’s a great guy in person. And his book is very good as well. I recommend it if you haven’t picked it up already.
Chinooks be all like: 👁️👅👁️
Great interview, Mr. Mack, thank you for your service.
another excellent interview, love to see 160th guys, would love to see some 2017~ - to present 160th guys, maybe they're still operational but it would be cool
The problem is probably more about the classification of anything they've been up to lately. Wouldn't do you much good to have some certified badass pilot answer every question with "I can neither confirm nor deny...."
I have not been military, but even I can see the incredible out of real information this guy has. Great guest, great job letting him tell his story. Thank You.
You 160th dudes kick ass. Saying hello from about a quarter mile down the road.
Fantastic stories. Salutes to Mack. Well done, Sir 👍
1:19:20 Paracord 550 ftw 😂 legendary guest as usual 🔥
I’m an inspiring pilot, really appreciate the little details mentioned
This is awesome! I live right out side of Ft Campbell on the lakes! Awesome to think men like this are training around! Cool podcast 53:01
Finally got around to listening to the book.. I highly highly recommend this bad boy
Jumping with cadets reminds me of my first 'aussie' rappel. A 58 foot cliff onto sand at the shore of Lake Belton (Fort Hood). I was asked to grade other noobs because 'I knew the ropes' (literally). So Ser 0:14 geant Bodnar and I graded the noobs, but I was a noob too.😊
Well if all else fails the fishing is great on Belton!
Awesome show, guys.
What an amazing story! Another great podcast guys, thank you. Jack, your mic sounded so clear it was as if you were in the room next to me.
This was an incredible episode. Really good job, Jack.
Back in the olden days....1972 I was 18 teen and was assigned to a S& P company to do hot refuels. At the chow hall we would as close as we could to the Chinook and Huey pilots and listen to the stories when they were in Viet Nam....some were good , some not so good.....so I remember one of pilots saying..."So I grabbed a handful of collective and got the hell out of there". As kids , we could not wait for the next story.
Yes Allen I got the same speil from my recruiter why don't you be a mechanic and learn the helicopter ? Beings how I had always been a wrench on something it made sense to me at the time. But regretted not getting my package together and at least tried ! But that was 36 yrs ago so spilled milk now. Great story !
Just super.
Picked up Mr. Macks' book on Audible.. Thats 2 books in 4 days..
awesime
Coolest shit ever is having a football field turned to day with IR
I can’t help but brag, the 160th soar is the most professional special operations unit in the army! Hands down! Mack represents well! -- The 160th soar, Marine Raiders, Seals, devgru, USAF PJ,CCT,SR, they all speak highly of each other publicly which is important for our national security. It displays CONFIDENCE , unity, & Strength to our potential enemies! . -- I Thought a lot of Delta operators but then I realized 70-80% act like insecure sorority girls! (The % is alarming that have the negative attitude) No joke they will do a 1Hour Podcast and then spend 30-45minutes putting down everybody with this self righteous tone. #1 it makes us look weak. #2: every primate is capable of doing room clearing. It’s not rocket science. So the criticism doesn’t have substance 99% of the time. It’s like spilled milk
. The reason it’s annoying is Delta gets special treatment since the army runs the show. Then they criticize everyone for writing books about the osama raid (when it wasn’t a secret operation) osama was the most important target for the American public. - But delta wrote a book about failing to get osama. Then they criticize people for writing a book about successfully getting osama. JUST REMEMBER, YOU TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO TREAT YOU! The former operators did books(Dozens), movies(BHD/Delta Force80s), tv show (The unit)first! so they taught everybody that’s acceptable behavior.. -- the reason I mention it. Perception is reality. So once you make someone perceive you to be insecure, sorority divas, or mean girls. That will destroy your reputation. It’s sad because I believe we have the best Army, Navy, Airforce, USMC, Coast Guard in the world! All of our people are the best!
But A divided military will fall! This is why General mcCrystal blew a gasket over this topic .our enemies were beating us because of the infighting Delta was driving. So it’s not a new thing. Those Same guys are now doing podcast trying to do it in front of the world this time. Which is self destructive and displays weakness. It’s a wet dream for our enemies.
I always wondered why USAF CSAR pilots and crew were not used for eagle claw. They did plenty of stuff in N.Vietnam and Laos in interesting times
I was with Mr. Mack on 9/11 as an Air Force Special Ops Weatherman, SOWT. I was the first Army Grunt recruited to the Air Force Weather Teams to help each understand the other better. The US capability was way over extended in 1979, we had to relearn multi-service missions, our special ops capabilities has all crawled back into their hiding holes. Desert One was the first event that slapped the reality back into the US. Two things came out that were authentication of TF-160 expanding from a test unit 'Sea Sprite' for a unit dedicated to special missions. And the reestablishment of the Gray Berets, the Special Operations Weather Teams, who would have told them you can not land a CH-53 next a C-130 in a 60knot wind storm. The second event was Granada and its mishaps that reorganized all Special Ops (except Marine units) under SOCOM/JSOC to work together collectively, almost a separate branch of the military. Even in Afghanistan 02-03 with 160th and Special Forces I was still trying to teach them to work together, I worked unofficially as ago between from the Army to other AFSOC assets like the PJs, CCTs, TACPs. When Gene Vance died live on the radio in 2002, they listened and I was able to finally bond the SF with the PJs.
facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1409252532723107&set=pb.100009151221488.-2207520000.&type=3
I would like to know who was Mr.Mack’s favorite customer on the chinook.
What happened to the top of the mountain AFTER we got the guys out?
Mack, I hope you see this comment, REMEMBER, we have a all volunteer military! That means we gotta work 50x harder than everyone else on recruiting. So the books are absolutely a important strategic weapon. I promise, you will do more for the 160th soar post retirement than you ever did in the military! (I understand you’ve done a lot of operations. So I word it that way to send home, you are now a force multiplier or a strategic weapon for recruiting) that’s far more important than any single operation. -- The only guys that frown upon books are the 90IQ individuals that think recruits appear out of thin air. They have no idea, the reason all the seal movies and books were pushed is because the navy and socom in general burned out it’s force. So they needed immediate recruits. Now they are needing fighter pilots so they made top gun 2 for recruiting only. The first top gun was peak Cold War and they needed pilots. -- so do not apologize for growing our military which in turn protects lady liberty. I know it’s hard to think of yourself as being able to make a impact that large but it’s true. Go to the military and ask around. Blackhawk down recruited a whole generation. Act of valor and lone survivor recruited another generation. 12 strong recruited another. And your book will for sure recruit another.
I served with Mr.Mack. His son was a crew chief of a chinook
Both great men an still doing great things both post military.
Where has Dave been?
You guy's should get Mike Vickers on a podcast and get him to tell Gust Avrakotos and Charlie Wilson stories, and of course get him to talk about Operation Cyclone.
Seals also call 160th SOAR
Deaths Uber delivery service 😉
Your welcome.
One podcast with Major Abey sapru 1 parasf 🇮🇳
Eat the whole mic
NSDQ