We had a busy day yesterday hauling stuff to and fro. We went out to a Forward Operation Base (FOB) to drop off some troops and supplies. Anytime we land at a remote FOB we can expect swarms of people waiting to get out. I normally do what I can to accommodate requests because we burn the same amount of fuel regardless of if we have a full load or if we are flying empty. Also, if I was stationed at a FOB I would want the same treatment when my time was up and I was ready to get out. This time when we landed they asked for help in moving a demining device(machine used to clear land minds and IEDs). They had been trying to get it out for a couple weeks and even broke it down to its componentparts to make for more manageable loads. None of the helicopters landing before us had been able to help because of their small usable loads (heat, altitude, and surrounding mountainous terrain do that to helicopters). Once they told us how much it weighed I said we could take the whole thing. They seems a little surprised but not concerned enough to talk me out of it - I didn't explain to them how we were very light on fuel for a planned follow on mission . Once they loaded it up with their bobcat they wanted to know if we could take anything else.Again they seemed surprised we could take some extra troops and gear as well as the machine. When it was time to go we had a larger than usual crowd gathered to watch. I know some of them doubted the old Russian birds capabilities so I elected to do a max performance takeoff to highlight its capabilities. It was as if Uncle Rico of Napoleon Dynamite fame did actually throw the football "over them mountains".Looking back it was probably a bad idea because next time we are there they will expect us to haul everything including the kitchen sink.
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