Injured Schofield pilot feels 'lucky to be alive' and home
By Carrie Ching
Advertiser Staff Writer
Three weeks ago, his helicopter went down in an irrigation ditch in Iraq, and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Claude Boushey Sr. found himself pinned inside with water filling the cockpit.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
He survived, but suffered a broken back and leg.
Pilot Claude Boushey, a Campbell High School graduate, describes how water rose to his neck when his helicopter crashed in Iraq.
Yesterday, the 1983 Campbell High School graduate limped from his hospital bed with the help of a walker.
"I'm lucky to be alive," said the Schofield-based soldier who lives in Makakilo. He arrived back in Hawai'i July 1 and is recovering at Tripler Army Medical Center.
During a recovery mission June 13 near Taji Air Base north of Baghdad, the engine of Boushey's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior failed at 60 feet and the helicopter crashed. Both Boushey, 38, and his co-pilot, Lt. Dwight Mears, 25, were injured.
"At the time I didn't know it was engine failure. I immediately thought it was enemy fire," Boushey said from a wheelchair. "I saw a dirt road off to the side and figured I could make it, but I didn't." The helicopter went down in a ditch — a blessing, Boushey said, because the water helped suppress an engine fire.
"I couldn't get the seat belt undone. Water was up to my neck. I started to panic a little bit," he said. Boushey said his leg was pinned and he knew fuel was leaking. "I could smell it and taste it," he said.
Another U.S. helicopter arrived within minutes of the crash, and a medevac helicopter followed. Boushey said it took four men to pull him from the wreck and lay him on a broken rotor blade.
His unit, the 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment in Iraq, is now down to 21 Kiowa Warriors from 24, Boushey said. One was lost in training, another was shot down in April, injuring two pilots. Boushey's was the third aircraft lost. Boushey said he had two previous partial engine failures; the last was a month ago.
Boushey underwent 12 hours of surgery in Germany to fuse damaged vertebrae and insert a titanium rod into his left leg. Mears suffered a "burst" vertebrae and was sent home to Corvallis, Ore.
On Saturday Boushey went back into the operating room at Tripler to drain an infection in his back. He also tested positive for a drug-resistant bacteria, Acinetobacter baumanii, that has infected a small percentage of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq, said Margaret Tippy, a Tripler spokesperson.
Doctors have estimated a six- to 12-month recovery for Boushey.
"My ultimate goal is to get back into the cockpit," Boushey said. "I know that's wishful thinking." He said he will need medical clearance to fly as a military pilot again, but he also holds a commercial pilot's license. Depending on his recovery, Boushey said he might retire after 20 years of military service. He was deployed to Iraq January 18.
Tippy said Boushey will probably be released from Tripler in a few days.
He requested to take his convalescent leave at home with his wife, Kelly, and three children: Claude Jr., 12, Brandon, 8, and Katelynn, 4.
"There's no place like home," he said.
Reach Carrie Ching at 525-8054 or cching@honoluluadvertiser.com.
