PROUD TO SERVE The 60-year-old Boardman man recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

ILL SWEENEY SAYS AVIATION fuel is in his blood. Sweeney, of Boardman, returned last month after 20 months of active duty as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the West Virginia Army National Guard.

Twelve of those months were spent in Iraq, doing whatever was asked.

That included transporting infantrymen from one place to another. Helicopter travel is much safer for them than trekking the ground.

“Those kids are the real heroes — the men and women who go back and forth on those roads in the humvees,” Sweeney said.

At 60, he was old enough to be the father of some of those with whom he served, but age becomes irrelevant when you’re all in the same situation.

“For five months, I was the oldest pilot. Then a guy came who was two months older than me,” Sweeney said with a chuckle.

Most of his flying was at night, wearing night vision goggles, but he downplays the danger — especially when his wife’s around.

“JoAnn is right over there,” he indicates toward the office next door. JoAnn is his wife of nearly 38 years. They have two adult children, Michael Sweeney and Shannon Tirone, and two granddaughters.

Sweeney, a chief warrant officer 4, owns Sweeney and Associates, an advertising and design firm on Market Street. He’s also a member of Boardman Rotary and a graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School. He attended both the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Youngstown State University.

Emphasizes the positive

Sweeney acknowledges he saw unpleasant things while in Iraq but prefers to talk about the good things.

Iraq is a beautiful country, rich in history, he said. There’s also a lot more to it than the short glimpses seen in television news segments.

The Iraqi people exhibit a staunch work ethic. “They take a desert and make it grow crops three months of the year,” he said.

Members of the military get a Culture Smart Card that explains some of the cultural differences between Middle Eastern people and residents of the U.S.:

UDon’t gesture with an index finger, it’s considered disrespectful; use your entire hand.

UAnd, the “OK” and “thumbs up” signs so innocuous here are
obscene to an Iraqi.

Sweeney’s love of flying dates to the late 1960s.

Drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War, Sweeney flew helicopters over that jungle terrain, usually alone. That was from 1968 through 1973.

He lasted just two years not flying.

“I felt like someone had cut my arm off,” he said.

Joined the Guard

He signed up with the Ohio National Guard. That relationship lasted until about 2001 when the Ohio Guard downsized the number of pilots it needed. Sweeney didn’t want a ground assignment.

“I heard the West Virginia Guard had positions open, so I applied,” Sweeney said.

He was accepted on the condition that he learn to fly a Black Hawk. Previously, he piloted a UH-1 Huey.

“I guess aviation fuel is in my bloodstream,” Sweeney said.

Although his signing up coincided with the time that tensions flared between the U.S. and the Middle East, Sweeney didn’t hesitate.

He looks over the rims of his eyeglasses incredulously when asked the question.

“In April, it will be 40 years since I’ve been in uniform,” Sweeney said. It’s what’s expected of those who wear the uniform of the U.S. military, he added, and that’s what you do.

In January 2006, his unit was deployed, covering the northern half of Iraq except Anbar Province.

His wife said she and her grown children were surprised.

“I supported him 200 percent because that’s what he loves to do,” JoAnn Sweeney said.

The family had concerns about their husband’s and father’s safety, but something else outweighed their worries.

“Basically, we were just very proud of him,” JoAnn Sweeney said.