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| MAJ (Ret) David Combs |
| Army Ranger who participated in the Invasion of Panama and Operations in Haiti and Afghanistan. Also Team Leader for POW/MIA Investigations in Laos and Cambodia. |
| The Black Chinook is an old Ranger based metaphor representing the image of the black Specter of Death coming to remove a fallen Ranger from the battlefield. The courage to serve in the special operations community comes at great risk. During my service in the 75th Ranger Regiment many comrades fell in training and in combat. This telling celebrates the sacrifice of the fallen before they were taken by the Black Chinook. See the Black Chinook page for more information. |
| Thick Luck is an adventure laced account of fourteen expeditions into Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in search of POWs and MIAs still missing from the Vietnam War. This telling provides insight into the U.S. Governments quest to account for our missing through Joint Task Force Full Accounting (JTF-FA), Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), and Central Identification Laboratory - Hawaii (CILHI). See the Thick Luck page for more information. |
| Black Chinook and Thick Luck are sequential and recount distinctly different periods of my military career. I separated them so readers with a specific interest in either special operations or POW/MIA operations could focus on their area of interest. |
| UPDATE (13 May 2008) Greetings again from Baghdad. Not much to update you on. Big news is we have a truce now in Baghdad with the Sadrists. Hopefully, that will make life a bit less exciting over here for a while. I have been spending alot of time working on another of our sites, www.NewZealandMMA.com - check it out as it is really fun to navigate around. If you like MMA and the fights you will love this site. Now it is time to get back to work. |
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| Future Releases Even after publishing Thick Luck and Black Chinook I have much material remaining that I am trying to determine how to package and make it available. I am yet to include my service and experiences from two years in Afghanistan. Although the timeliness of those first-hand accounts would likely be very interesting I am more concerned it could have a negative impact operationally, strategically, and politically. For my guests who frequent my website, I have decided to tell that story here. |
| Cold morning on the tarmac in Afghanistan. |
| Black Chinook Reader Feedback: Dear Maj. Combs - my son graduated RIP on 28 July 2006 and currently serves with the 3/75 at Ft. Benning, GA - I want to express my gratitude and my appreciation of your book that I recently purchased for the sole purpose of understanding what my son does - your book offers an insight and an appreciation of the Ranger regiments and the Ranger training like nothing else that I have read - I appreciate your service to our country and to Ranger families everywhere. Thank you and God bless you and your family - (Name Withheld) |
| Thick Luck Reader Feedback: I want to say a heartfelt thank you for writing this book. I am reading it for the second time because I don't want to miss anything. You took me on a journey that has answered so many questions concerning the JFA's. As a 100% disabled veteran and sister of a marine still missing in Vietnam I have been involved with my brother's case for 38 years. Your book opened my eyes and heart to what JPAC personnel go through for our missing and unaccounted for. I am so grateful for you and all you have done for the family members. Now I have a much better insight into what your personal experiences were and the sacrifices you and all the others make for us. I am so proud of your wife and family members for being there for you all the times you had to leave them while helping all of us find some peace. I pray for all of you every day and appreciate all you went through. My brother has always been my hero and now you are too. Thank you for writing this book. I can't remember if I ever met you at any of the meetings. Bless you for all you have done for your country and all of us. Thank you from a grateful sister of a marine. (Name Withheld) |
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