When Capt. Bryan Reid was a high school student in Blackfoot, he never thought about a career in the military. Now he pilots an Apache Longbow assault helicopter for the Idaho Army National Guard out of Gowen Field near Boise.

    His father Terry had been a full time active member of the U.S. Army and he flew helicopters, but Bryan wasn’t interested.

    Reid graduated from Blackfoot High School in 1996 and said joining the U.S. Army wasn’t even on his radar. But after Reid attending Idaho State University for a semester, he joined the Idaho National Guard out of financial necessity. His experience with the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team as a forward observer for an artillery battery opened up his mind about the military.

    After getting married in 1999, Reid returned to ISU to complete his degree in social work and he joined ROTC. When he received his diploma from ISU, he also earned his commission as a second lieutenant.

    “It’s a very good program,” Reid said about ROTC at ISU. “For me it was one of the best decisions I made in my life.”

    “I waited for a flight school opening,” Reid said about his newfound desire to become a pilot.

    In 2006, Reid finished flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and found himself behind the controls of a Black Hawk helicopter, the Army’s workhorse.

    “I was deployed in May of 2007 to Kuwait and Southern Iraq,” Reid said. “I pretty much flew into Iraq every other day.”

    The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine craft that can ferry men and supplies in and out of combat zones. It can carry 11 troops with full equipment, carry 2,600 pounds of cargo internally or 9,000 pounds externally through the use of a sling.

    Reid flew many missions in Iraq, but he remembers two of them distinctly. One was when he was part of the support team for a visit by President George W. Bush, and the other was when he flew Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

    “That was a good mission,” Reid said.

    Reid said the hardest thing to handle in Iraq was the heat, since temperatures on the landing pad would reach 153 degrees.

    “The sand does a number on the engines,” Reid said. “Maintenance was a key issue over there.”

    After he finished his commitment to the U.S. Army, Reid returned to Idaho and worked in juvenile services for the state Department of Juvenile Corrections. But the military experiences kept calling him.

    Reid became a technician for the Army National Guard at Gowen Field and made the switch from a Black Hawk pilot to flying Apache Longbow assault helicopters.

    “I enjoyed my Black Hawk missions, but if I was deployed I’d like the ability to shoot back,” Reid said.

    The Apache comes loaded for bear. The main weapon is a 30mm, or “mike-mike” as Reid calls it, chain gun under the front nose. Using an electric motor, the weapon can fire 625 rounds per minute. The firing is guided by a visual system in the co-pilot’s helmet which moves the gun as the pilot’s point of sight moves.

    “Where we look is where the gun will follow,” Reid said.

    The helicopter also has four mounts on stub-wing pylons that carrying a mixture of Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods.

    The newer version of the Apache stationed at Gowen Field includes infrared capability, so it can be used for night search and rescue, as well as nighttime target acquisition out to 6,000 yards.

    Reid said the first time he fired the cannon is something he’ll never forget.

    “Any time you get to go out and shoot it, it’s an adrenaline rush,” Reid said.

    Reid compares flying the Apache over the Black Hawk to driving a sports car instead of a bus.

    However, he said he realizes the Black Hawks perform important missions for the state of Idaho like helping to fight fires and making mountain rescues.

    “The Black Hawk’s mission is very wide,” he said.