In wrote this in 2009....when I went to spend my Eid with our troops fighting operation Rah e Nijat...this is the brief intro of my interaction at the Peshawar aviation base..These are the men who guard your honor and lives in this war...
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On the wings of the angels:
My visit to aviation base Peshawar on Monday.
Peshawar Cant is more similar to a city barricaded in war then the urban Peshawar I used to visit during the Soviet Afghan war era. Getting to the army aviation airbase, the excitement and the serious mood was stunningly obvious. Despite eid holidays, the base was active early morning, getting ready for yet another day of war. The air on the base was ruptured by heavy rotors of Cobra and M1-17 helicopters starting their engines for warm up before launching on the missions of attacking the terrorists in support of Rah-e-Nijat. It was a different world altogether on the base. This is real war – goose bumps started to appear on my arms. This is bloody serious; I was feeling the razor sharp excitement.
It was bright sunshine and cold too, so I decided to stand in the open sunshine instead of sitting in the cold VIP waiting lounge at the edge of the runway. Bell, MI’s and Cobras lines up the tarmac with busy men in battle coveralls worked briskly under the rotor noises to get the machines ready. None of them seemed to notice the outsider observing them so keenly. A smart officer was walking towards me from a distance and my eyes were focused on him. He came straight to me, paused as if trying to recognize and then suddenly asked excitedly “are you sir Zaid Hamid?”. Before I could reply, he rushed forward and with even more excitement gave a tight hug and shook my hands with a grin from ear to ear expressing his uncontrollable happiness and respect.
I was immediately in love with this handsome young pilot with so many insignias on his chest and shoulders that I lost my manners and stopped looking at him during the handshake and started to read his uniform like a new found book, especially the sign which said that he is a “NVG” night vision goggle qualified pilot - a rare technical qualification that he can fly his chopper in dark using special NVG goggles only. I was immediate impressed - as well as deeply pleased and felt comfortable at finding someone who knew me. Invitation for breakfast was immediately there and we walked to the officers quarters where Faisal called on other pilots as well and then immediately we had a party with “Tawa par garam kia toast, chai and frai anda” :)
These were the men leading Pakistan’s war from their helicopters – the backbone of the entire operations. Cobras were attack Gunships. MI-17’s are heavy lift transport. Bells are for officers and emergency evacuation and observations. I was meeting pilots from all these choppers. I was stunned even more to hear their hair raising stories first hand. Each of them heroes in their own capacity. Their normal life is taking death defying missions every day. They fly right into the hail of fire, drop supplies and troops, lift the wounded ones and fly right through the fire storm they came crashing into. They not just had the courage to laugh and talk about later it but also the humility to consider it no special feat but just a duty for the mother land. Each one had been shot at many times, with their choppers taking direct hits and sometimes even wounding the pilots as well. The fact that they were doing missions on Eid day was emotional enough.
Faisal is the only son of his parents, with a small baby and a new one on the way inshallah but he has opted for the missions for the last five years and is fanatic about Pakistan. Even on Eid, he was on the base. The same is true for all others I met. Band of crazy brave Ashiqs of this Pak Sarzameen giving up everything – defying death each day, each night, for the sake of their faith, homeland and comrades. If you don’t see them, you can’t believe such men exist today. But there they were. Real men, Mashallah. These are the falcons of army aviation. These are the pride of the Ummah, terror for the enemies, coolness of the eyes for the believers. Proud to have you around brothers. Never before so much depended upon so few a brave. You are a flock of falcons Mashallah, Mashallah, Mashallah. Keep flying on the wings of the angels!!!.
https://www.facebook.com/syedzaidzamanhamid/posts/1165118186876324
