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This is where good AH-1 Cobras go when they retire...

submitted by SFOGuy

9 years ago

So, everyone knows about the transfer of militarized equipment to local agencies---thus, we end up with local police departments that have flak vests, assault rifles, 40 mm grenade launchers, etc, etc, etc.

Therefore, it should be no surprise to find an AH-1 Cobra serving with the Forest Service in the Western Region of the United States, right?

I mean that would let you, I dunno, minigun a bunch of rabid Cub Scouts before they overran the local 7-11.

Except, that's not what they did with it. They removed its fangs---painted it bright orange and white, added bubble side windows, and call it the "Fire Watch"...

They use it to coordinate fire bomber runs (it's fast enough, it has a spotter position, it can hover over target initial positions)---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms4RlV6RiXs

And they use it to do this too...

I imagine it would probably be pretty good at tracking lost kids too...

BTW, if the speech was muffled---what they find at the end is a root ball burning with embers...A place where a forest fire would restart if someone didn't find it and put it out...