ASK YOURSELF THIS:

If you don't do your job very well today...what is the worst that will happen?

Most recently an Army Kiowa Warrior helicopter crashed south of Mosul on Jan. 23, killing two pilots. Initial reports did not mention hostile fire. On Jan. 8, a Black Hawk medical transport crashed near Fallujah, killing nine soldiers. A witness has said a rocket hit the helicopter.

This weighs heavily on the minds of maintenance troops charged not only with keeping the birds fit and aloft, but also with flying them to make sure they’re safe.

Attending the funerals of other units’ helicopter crews “hits home,” Koslowski said. “It really does.” Sharrock lost a friend, a fellow captain, in a crash in early January.

It all reminds them of how important, and how dangerous, their own jobs can be.