It’s rare you get to see the Nightstalkers of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in action, mainly because their missions and the bulk of their training are, appropriately enough, View More ›
160th SOAR: Death Waits In The Dark
About Matt Gardner
Matt Gardner is a retired Chief Warrant Officer 4, and former standardization instructor pilot of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), flying the MH-47G. His career overseas tours included Europe, Korea, and Central America. His combat and contingency tours included operations Desert Storm, Joint Guardian, and multiple tours as part of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
All Posts by Matt Gardner
Inside Russia’s Mission To Rescue Its Pilots
Combat Search and Rescue is one of the highest risk missions that exist on the modern battlefield. The situation is often fluid and very dynamic; the “known” information is extremely View More ›
Milestone Monday: The CH-47 Chinook At 54!
The history of aviation is one of constant innovation. When you consider that mankind went from powered flight to breaking the sound barrier in a mere forty-four years, finding this View More ›
Nightstalkers Receive Army Recognition
Executing difficult missions is hard; training and qualifying the best aviators and crew members in the world to perform those missions is essential.
The Debate Sparked by ‘American Sniper’
Unfortunately, war is not an abstraction. It is a living, breathing, nasty bastard of a thing that pervades every nook and cranny of the world.
Five Years Gone
I began October of 2009 as I had many other months of the preceding few years…beginning a 60 day rotation in Afghanistan, flying the MH-47G for special operations forces across View More ›
My 9/11 Story: A Future We Couldn’t Fully Contemplate
My 9/11 story is a little different than many. For me, it wasn’t a morning story. I was based in Germany at the time; the first plane’s impact didn’t even View More ›