Woman chopper pilot "The Saint" in Tal Afar fight

Washington Post:

Buzzing over this northern Iraqi city in her Kiowa scout helicopter, a .50-caliber machine gun and rockets at the ready, Capt. Sarah Piro has proved so skillful in combat missions to support U.S. ground troops that she's earned the nickname "Saint."

In recent months of fighting in Tall Afar, Piro, 26, of El Dorado Hills, Calif., has quietly sleuthed out targets, laid down suppressive fire for GIs in battle and chased insurgents through the narrow alleys of this medieval city -- maneuvering all the while to avoid being shot out of the sky. In one incident, she limped back to base in a bullet-riddled helicopter, ran to another aircraft and returned to the fight 10 minutes later.

"They call her 'Saint Piro' -- she's just that good," said her co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Todd Buckhouse, a 19-year Army veteran who has worked with Piro on two tours with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Iraq.

"There was no one I wanted to hear more on a raid than her. She's a spectacular Army aviator," said Maj. Chris Kennedy, executive officer of the regiment, which is returning home this month.

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Despite the dangers, a growing number of women have chosen the job since the 1990s, and today about 9 percent of women in the Army are aviators. There are four female pilots in Piro's troop of 33 soldiers. "I didn't want to be a staff officer. I wanted to be an operator," said Capt. Monica Strye, 29, of San Antonio, commander of Outlaw Troop. "I wanted to have more of a combat role."

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In between flights, Piro and Strye explained that they prefer the Kiowa over other helicopters because it offers them a combat role, plus greater freedom to maneuver. The aircraft, which carries Hellfire and 2.75-inch rockets and has a .50-caliber machine gun, is designed to work "at the tip of the spear" with small units such as tank, Bradley Fighting Vehicle and infantry platoons. "I chose the Kiowa because it works directly with ground units in the combined arms fight," said Piro, a graduate of West Point, where she set a home run record.

The Kiowa's reconnaissance role also appeals to the pilots because it gives them more autonomy. "I have freedom to maneuver on the battlefield and I pick a target," said Strye, who flew hundreds of hours in combat with the 101st Airborne Division during the invasion of Iraq, including heavy fighting in Najaf, Karbala and Hilla. "I suppressed enemy mortar teams, called in indirect [fire] on buildings, using artillery or the Air Force to drop bombs on targets I identified."

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Thereis much more in this interesting story. While the focus of the story is on the women pilots and Piro in particular, what comes through is the effectiveness of the Kiowa as a fighting helicopter. In the major combat operations phase of the war the Kiowas had a better record than the more famous Apaches.