Born in a farming community in Northeast Iowa in 1949 and moved to the city of Jackson, MS in 1964 was quite a shock for a small town boy. Finished High School at St. Joseph and two years at Hinds Junior College in Raymond, MS and found out my lottery number to be 118 with the ‘cut off’ at 195 so my chances of getting drafted were pretty good. With that in mind I decided to join the Army and see the world, or at least part of it. Although qualified for OCS there was a six month wait so I decided to apply for the Warrant Officer Aviation program and was accepted. So after 5 months at Fort Wolters, TX, and 4 months at Fort Rucker, AL, I became a ‘shake and bake’ pilot with an MOS of 100 E, attack helicopter pilot.

Went to Vietnam in March of 71 – February of 72 and was assigned to the 52nd artillery unit first and then to B troop 7/17 Cavalry unit without the horses and flew the Cobra attack helicopter in II Corps, based out of Pleiku. Got to see Cambodia and Laos while planning for my next vacation assignment.

Once my tour was over I was with the 168th Engineering Army National Guard unit based out of Vicksburg, MS. I was also employed with Petroleum Helicopters Inc (PHI) with whom I stayed for 43 years and accumulated over 20,000 flight hours. PHI was the largest helicopter company in the world in the 70’s and 80’s. During many of those years only two entities had more helicopters than PHI – the US and Russian militaries.

Although I flew in the Gulf of America (Mexico at the time), I was sent to Saudi Arabia in 1974 for the next three years. Flew offshore and the deserts, including the Rub al Khali (250,000 square miles) where sand dunes reach 1,000 ft. After Saudi I went to Cabinda, Angola and Muanda, Zaire for another three year stint. I stayed with the Badinga tribe in central Zaire, a village on the Kasai River. I am a PADI certified diver and spent 7 ½ hours in a decompression chamber in Angola due to a hard hat diving incident. During that time I was also living in South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). I hunted in Angola during the civil war, and tracked animals in Botswana and treed by two male lions and once by a herd of elephants. I was actually in Zimbabwe the day of Independence. After a brief return to the U.S. I was one of six pilots selected to fly for the State Department for the Sinai Field Mission (SFM) from October 80 to April 82 and then went to the North Camp in the Sinai for the Multi-National Force and Observers (MFO) until October 82. While in Egypt I spent 16 hours alone locked in the pyramid of Menkaure. Returned to Saudi for a brief stint during the Iraq/Iran conflict and then got married (didn’t know that Satan had a sister). Stayed home bound with two children in Louisiana until I went to Venezuela, Bolivia, and Peru as the Project Manager for South America for the next three years 1997 – 2000. Returned to the states and flew Emergency Medical Services in Columbia, SC and at University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) as a Certified Flight Instrument Instructor. During this time I took a brief interim to fly with Presidential Airways (Blackwater) in Shindand, Afghanistan. I made a copy of the Windsor ruins in Rodney, MS and it is in the Train Depot Museum in Vicksburg, MS. I also made a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge and spans a ditch in my yard. Upon my return I was sent to Saudi Arabia as Manager for an EMS program in Ha’il, Saudi Arabia 2012-2016. I retired from PHI at the end of that assignment and took Mississippi Certified Volunteer Firefighter (MSFA) certs 1 & 2 where I serve as an EMT/FF for Langford Fire Department. I was given the award as Firefighter of the Year award in 2018.and have been with the department going on 9 years now. I also have partners as we do gunshows. I had an article in the Byram Banner for 17 years until they closed called ‘Reihle’s Write’. I am grateful to be a part of the 5th Squad where we are able to help those that have given so much for our country.