Former Marine at PMC

More News Pocatello High graduation Century High graduation Highland High graduation Portland band to perform Free salsa dance instruction Otter appoints T.F. man Native Plant Society walk Muzzle loader rendezvous Baby sitting clinic planned States urge marriage delay Kite making at library Man drowns in Utah park Toddler killed in driveway Myanmar forces victims out Honduras plane crash kills 1 Women lived in closet Sports 8 Bengals head to Regionals M's continue to struggle Lakers topple Spurs

POCATELLO - Brad Huerta, director of planning and outreach at Portneuf Medical Center, walks the hospital's corridors, engaging in good-natured verbal jabs with physicians and staff. Little wonder he is at ease, given his prior career.

Huerta was a U.S. Marine from 1989 to 1993. His Marine detachment was attached to the U.S.S. Missouri during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.

Huerta's detachment was the last on the ship before it was decommissioned.

''Before we got off, they engraved our names on a plaque,'' he said. ''I haven't been to Hawaii since my time in the military, (but) it's one of those things I want to take my kids to when they're older.''

Huerta will also show his children a monument mounted on the deck commemorating the Japanese surrender in WWII. On it are the exact longitude and latitude of the ship's location on Sept. 2, 1945. The ship was in Tokyo Bay. On board were Adm. Chester Nimitz and Gen. Douglas MacArthur and representatives of the Japanese Empire, who signed documents of unconditional surrender to officially end the war.

''Every day you'd walk by that and it was like being on a museum,'' he said. ''You always had the sense of history and were humbled by the people that were there before you.''

In fact, the Missouri now serves as a floating museum in Pearl Harbor.

After Huerta got off the ship, he did a turn in the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines in a special operations company. Huerta's initial assignment was in the sea company, training to overtake enemy oil platforms under cover of dark.

Huerta then volunteered to do helicopter operations and became a rappel instructor, becoming skilled in cliff and helicopter assaults by rapelling swiftly down ropes from the ship.

''Getting out of a helicopter is easy,'' he said.

The real trick was getting back in. Huerta had a harness that he would attach to a rope dropped from the helicopter. The helicopter would then swiftly ascend with Huerta dangling below, hundreds of feet off the ground.

Huerta did the training so many times he eventually became an instructor.

Huerta's company was drilling in Okinawa, Japan, when his Marine career took a sharp turn.

''If you go in the air enough times, sooner or later, you're gonna get it,'' Huerta said with a laugh.

The UH46 helicopter used by Marines has rotors at each end. The copter was traveling at full speed when the back rotor's hydraulic line burst. The prop in the front kept going while the one in back slowed down.

''The whole tail end of the helicopter started to drag, and they couldn't keep it afloat,'' he said. ''I call it a crash, but the V.A. called it a controlled crash.

''We came down at a pretty good rate. It was big enough to blow the back ramp off and crush the landing gear and the rotor. You were happy to walk out of there.''

Huerta said he gets V.A. disability, deemed 20 percent disabled from the crash due to back injuries he suffered. It was the end of his jumping from helicopters. He served out the remainder of his career back in the U.S. at Camp Pendleton.

Despite the injuries, Huerta is as upbeat when talking about his former career as he is in his current job.

''I loved every minute I was in,'' he said.

BY JOHN BULGER

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

Reader Comments

Submit a Comment

Commenting Rules

Report a Comment