7 Years Ago, Sky King Stole a Plane

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Check on your buds.

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Absolutely. Time spent with friends in person...it's so nice to step away from technology and be human.

Yall have friends?

I’ve watched that video so many times.

Not specifically mental health but it’s part of it: Since my and my daughter’s cancer diagnoses in May, I’m happy to say I’ve had my 2-3 closest and longest-running guy friends - all at least 43 years - and even a few female “friends”, check on me regularly. Usually at least 2-3 times a week. A couple of those are ex-lovers/girlfriends. One even came by and sat with me at chemo.

I expect it from women but sometimes us guys aren’t good at this. But they ask about my mental, physical, spiritual state. Encourage me to keep living. “Let’s go to lunch/shooting/concert/etc. Your arse is getting out of the house.”

I don’t have a large circle but it’s pretty tight. Thankful.

at 8:50 he ask if alaska would give him a job as a pilot and the pilot says they'd give him a job doing anything if he pulls it off to which sky king replies "nah I'm a white guy they...*cuts out*"
sounds like they cut that part out. wonder why....

I've had a couple of dear friends, Veteran brothers, call me before checking out. Neither gave me time to do anything ... they just wanted to remember. In retrospect, they had already made their decisions - nothing was going to change their minds. I loved them ... I miss them.

Someone who is truly suicidal ... you may stop them once or twice but they're eventually going to accomplish their mission. It's something I've never personally understood .... but I understand why "they" did it.

I reckon Sky King was the same.

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I've had a couple of dear friends, Veteran brothers, call me before checking out. Neither gave me time to do anything ... they just wanted to remember. In retrospect, they had already made their decisions - nothing was going to change their minds. I loved them ... I miss them.

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Damn, man. I'm really sorry. That's rough.

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Damn, man. I'm really sorry. That's rough.

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It was ... still is. I miss them every day. I should say their names.

Steve McDowell .... we talked every week for years. He was a Ranger, took part in Operation Eagle Claw, the failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Tehran in '79. We served together with two different regiments ... helluva sky soldier. We jumpmastered too many sticks together to count. That final night he called me, as he often did, right after my radio show ended. He was drinking. We talked until almost 3AM remembering all the shite we had been through, good times and bad. He had lost his Son, SFC David McDowell, a combat medic with a Ranger Regiment, to a sniper in Afghanistan in 2008. He never got over that. Anyways, his last words were, "How many people can say they've done the shite we've done Rooster?" I said, "Not many Mack." He said, "It's all been good though, we've lived like men ... but have you ever thought about checking out?" I said, "No. Mack, do I need to worry about you?" He laughed and said, "No, I just think about it sometimes." I said, "Mack, I'm driving up, (from Lake Murray, SC to Bragg) I'm taking you to breakfast this morning." He said, "Okay Brother, I'll see you in a few, I love you." I told him I loved him and looked forward to seeing him and we left it at that. I walked inside from the back deck and started packing a bag ... told my wife where I was going.

Before I got my change of clothes thrown in my bag the phone rang, wasn't 15 minutes after we had hung up .... it was his wife, Nietya, screaming and crying. Mack had walked out into his garage, put a big heavy duty trash bag over his head so as not to leave a mess, and blown his brains out.

The pain was over for him.

His Son, SFC David McDowell was awarded the Hawaiian Medal of Honor and is buried in Honolulu ... Mack is buried at Bragg.

Michael Bush, my mentor, was a super troop. Also a Command Sergeants Major. He called early one afternoon ... very upbeat. We talked for three hours. It was just before Thanksgiving. We talked about a lot of memories. Good times. He had gotten hit with an IED in Iraq. He was CSM of the entire 5th Corp at the time ... next step was CSM of the Army. Stellar career. His injuries had been severe to his driver and him and he had some pain issues. But he was very upbeat that day. He loved my wife. They talked for awhile then I got back on the phone and we talked about an upcoming fishing trip we had planned for March ... he was telling me about a new SIG 716 rifle he had just bought. Anyways, I finally had to go, my wife and I had dinner reservations. Before we were backed out of the driveway I got a call from an unrecognized number in Alabama that normally I wouldn't answer ... but a strange feeling swept over me and I answered. It was a detective.

Within 20 minutes after Mike and I had hung up the phone he had walked out the back door of his house with his M9 in a brown paper bag tucked under his arm, walked back to the railroad tracks where some kids were playing and handed them a bag with some memorabilia in it .... walked down the tracks there in Smith's Station, AL, to a secluded spot, sat down on the tracks and blew his brains out with that commemorative pistol 5th Corp had given him. (Much of his final minutes were caught on cameras ... the detective called me because Mike's phone shown that I was the last person he talked to.)

It was a who's who of Military Brass that showed up for his burial at the cemetery across the river from Benning in ... Fort Mitchell National Cemetery.

My heart was broken ... but Mike never once gave me a clue.

We honored both of those men, and many others my old unit has lost, during our reunion at Bragg this past May.

They were both let down by the system imho. Yet still, I've come to the conclusion that once someone truly reaches that point .... they've already made up their minds.

I'll always miss them.

https://www.vancebrooksfuneralhome.net/obituaries/csm-ret-michael-d-bush

I am a staunch supporter of Vets Before Illegals. Our government has failed so many of my Brothers. We lose a lot to suicide but the general public just never seems to really care for some reason.

scrooster, thanks for your service and thanks for sharing those difficult stories. Trully sad.

Here is another tribute and moving. Full audio.
The F15 pilots couldn't believe he did a barrel roll.
It shows how he stole it too.
Skyking Tribute

It's wrong what he did but at lease he wasn't such a narcists and psychopath that he would take other people out with him.

Not gonna lie, gotta respect the way he decided to end it.