Iowa Ledger (2019) - Tippie College of Business

feature
ARMYACCOUNTANT
FROM A BLACKHAWK PILOT TO BLACK AND GOLD ALUM
WRITTEN BY • TOM SNEE
Lt. Matt Slykhuis was
poised and ready at his
base in Faryab Province,
Afghanistan, when the alert
sounded in August 2010.
“It was a Category A, so it was urgent,
and we had to be off the ground in 15
minutes—which is quick for a Black
Hawk helicopter, but it’s doable,” says
Slykhuis, who was then a new U.S.
Army air ambulance pilot about to
begin his first mission. “I ran out to
the helicopter throwing on my gear
and started doing the pre-flight check
while the pilot-in-command got more
information about the patient and
the situation we were going into.”
They were off the ground in minutes,
flying between the jagged mountain
peaks of Afghanistan—his heart
pounding, adrenaline rushing—
to a recently cleared battlefield where
a seriously injured soldier waited
for an emergency evacuation. This
was why Slykhuis joined the Army
ROTC program as an undergraduate
student, why he went active duty
after graduation, and why he chose to
become an air ambulance pilot.
“I wanted to serve my country and
give guys a second chance,” says
Slykhuis. “That’s what we told each
other even when we learned that
someone we transported didn’t make
it—at least we gave him a chance.”
The crew loaded the injured soldier
onto the litter and returned to
base, knowing the entire flight that
Taliban and al-Qaida soldiers lurked
in the valleys below, and fearing the
helicopter might come under fire.
Back at base, Slykhuis and his pilot
landed the Black Hawk and watched
their charge whisked away to surgery
to be treated for injuries he received
from an IED. Slykhuis had no idea how
long the mission took.
“It was just a rush,” he says. “When
we came back, I felt like I hadn’t taken
a breath since we left. I stood on the
ground and went ‘whew.’”
14 IOWA LEDGER 2019
This article has been designed using resources from Freepik.com