Where is Laine?  July 17, 2008

Well, he is touring the world again, somewhere in Afghanistan flying a beautiful Blackhawk. 

Let me clarify that, he should be flying a Blackhawk, but in this video, the Blackhawk is on the pad. 

Enjoy.

"If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
~ Samuel Adams

Cool article about Laine while in Iraq.
RC Magazine

The Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant in the picture is Michael Burghard, part of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team that is supporting 2nd Brigade 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania Army National Guard) in Iraq.

The story:

Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as "Iron Mike" or just "Gunny". He is on his third tour in Iraq . He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. "You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision," he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term "the longest walk", stepping gingerly into a 5 ft. deep and 8 ft. wide crater.

The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7 inch knife to probe the ground. "I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs," he says. "That's when I knew I was screwed."

Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet. "A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded," he recalls. "As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down."

His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. "My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down," says Sgt Burghardt. "I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down.

Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' "As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in.

"I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher." He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. "I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week'."

Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Colonel John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.

Fort Rucker Alabama - Flight Training

First, we have the table and chairs that Laine made with the tools Frankie sent him.
He also made the porch swing.

These are different pictures of Dodge trucks and Durango's being used in Iraq.
(Good ole MOPAR Performance)

Your typical Apache chopper.

(Click to enlarge pictures)

Here are the first pictures from Iraq of Laine's handy work while off duty.  Frankie, with OperationAC sent Laine the tools to build some things.

Laine has also hooked up with an RC (radio controlled) company where they send him FREE stuff to demo in Iraq.  They get publicity and he get some fun.  RC Universe

April 1, 2004

(Click to enlarge pictures)

Pictures from Iraq and Kuwait taken by SGT Laine Stahr, or companion.

(Click to enlarge pictures)

The pictures below posted August 5, 2003

The pictures below posted June 28, 2003

The pictures below posted May 28, 2003

10 Commandment Shirts

The U.S. Military Page has an article that is a must read for every citizen of the United States, along with pictures from Iraq.

 

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