PTE: UH-60 Black Hawk
25th Ann./RoC/PoC footstands
Model Masters Acrylics:
US Army Helo Drab
Olive Drab
Flat Black
Insignia Yellow

These PTE helicopters are nice, but are not well-suited to 25th Ann/ROC/POC figures, they're too big.

In 2003, Gen Clayton Abernathy, AUS (Ret.) was approached by a former member of the GI Joe Team about the possibility of forming a private military corporation, staffed almost exclusively by fellow ex-Joes. It is suspected that Flint, dissatisfied with retirement and his subsequent employment as a professor of military history at the University of Kansas was the one responsible.

It wasn't long before members of the US intelligence community began hearing rumors of this new PMC and approached Gen. Abernathy with a proposal: the US government would provide a substantial line of credit, if the new PMC agreed to serve only one customer, the Defense Intelligence Agency. Gen. Abernathy agreed and Gulf Coast Risk Management Group (GCRMG) was born, a curious mix of public/private venture. The first purchase was the old Chase Field Naval Air Station in Beeville, Texas at federal auction. It was also arranged that the Group would purchase Naval Station - Ingleside in Corpus Christi, Texas after its closure in 2010.

One of the first needs was transportation, and the purchase of assets had to be no different than the average PMC, and assets were purchased from arms dealers of varying degrees of repute. This particular S-70A had an interesting history, it was one of the first BlackHawks leased to the Turkish Federal Police in 1983 and this particular bird (BuNo 44563-212) was brought down by heavy machine gun fire during a raid on a PKK encampment. Written off as a loss and returned to Sikorsky along with the appropriate penalties, it was subsequently sold to Beyernisch LuftFahrt, GmBH where it was converted to a high-risk insertion platform specifically for PMC work. Fitted with beefier turbofan engines and armor, it was much heavier than a typical BlackHawk, something "Wild Bill" Hardy noted when he first flew it, but it was an extremely stable and survivable platform.

In 2003, it was sold to arms dealer Zvi Mehrenfeld, a former Mossad officer-turned-arms dealer, who was a close friend of Gen. Abernathy. Mehrenfeld would go on to be the primary source of Gulf Coast's weapons and vehicles.

This helo now rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. In 2011, following widespread riots across the Middle East, American forces in Pakistan were forced to evacuate. This helo was the last to leave the US Embassy in Karachi, carrying four members of Gulf Coast, and the US Ambassador to Pakistan and his family, including his youngest daughter who was injured by gunfire. "Ma Bell" landed on the USS Bainbridge, disembarked its passengers, and was unceremoniously dumped over the side by sailors trying to make room for additional aircraft attempting to escape from Pakistan.