The following article was sent to me by a ex-squadron mate. I thought that not only you military and ex-military guys, but all who fly aircraft should be aware of this malady that could take your life.

I apologize for the structuring of this letter, as I spent considerable time trying to get it right, before giving up.

For the moderators, if you feel this should be somewhere else in APC, please feel free to put it there.

Best to all, and a happy and safe New Year.

JJ

Some of you know me as Col. Bob, "Cotton", Bob Stoffey, or "Hostage
Uniform" and we all have something in common; we flew military airplanes for a living. Some of you may know me as the author of St. Martin's Press best selling hardcover book, and now in third printing paperback, CLEARED HOT! that covered two of my three combat tours in Vietnam...one flying helicopters and one flying OV-10A Broncos.

The purpose of this Alerting communication is that since we all flew
airplanes we may have similar situations that I just experienced and I'd like to get the word out to those Old Bold Pilots that are age 55 on up.

On January 3, 2002, as I just turned age 67, I underwent a critical
surgery for a popliteal aneurysm behind my left knee. My popliteal
artery behind my left knee had blown up the size of tennis ball. The
vascular surgeon had performed the by-pass surgery replacing the artery behind the knee with a vein just in time before I either died or lost my left leg. The same surgeon then performed the same by-pass operation on January 17, 2002 on the right leg.

After both surgeries and discussions with one of the three vascular
surgeons involved, who happens to have been a Flight Surgeon, we
discussed the following:

* The Commanding Officer of VM0-2 (OV-10A Bronco Squadron) in which I flew combat missions in Vietnam in 1969 died in retirement at an early age of about 65 from associated problems that I just had a very, very close call with.

* The Commanding Officer of VM0-2 who flew combat missions in the Bronco during 1971 was reported to have died from a vascular problem at about the age of 64.

* My own Executive Officer of VMO-2, when I had been the Commanding Officer, died in retirement at about the age of 62 from an apparent vascular problem.

* And, a friend of mine who is currently the Lockheed Martin
consultant/rep to the Spanish Navy called me after my recent two vascular operations telling me that a close friend of his, an Admiral in the Spanish Navy and first Harrier pilot in the Spanish Navy just underwent the very same popliteal aneurysm surgery on one leg and he stated to my friend he thinks it was due to weakening damage to his artery behind his knee years ago where there is no G-suit protection.

* I reported this to my vascular surgeon who was a Flight Surgeon. He said he is looking into this since there is no protection in G-suits
behind the knees.

The specific G-suit I wore in and out of combat was the: Coverall,
Anti-G Cutaway Type Mark 2A, Mil Spec C-23955.

I mention this seemingly far-out theory to all fellow military pilots
that I come across only to warn them that: If you have a bulge,
particularly a pulsating bulge behind one or two of your knees get
right in to see a Vascular Surgeon to have it checked out.

My first visit to my internal medicine doctor with that symptom
resulted in him saying I had a Baker's Cyst that needed removing. Upon my getting an MRI and seeing an Orthopedic Surgeon three weeks later, resulted in the Orthopedic Surgeon telling me I had a severe aneurysm and he sent me immediately to a Vascular Surgeon who said it was the biggest he ever saw. He promptly sent me to the Naval Medical Center (Balboa) San Diego, where two vascular surgeons performed by-pass surgery of the popliteal artery on both legs...and, due to loss of time, I almost lost my life or left leg.

So please pass the above info on to any of your fine feathered flying
friends you have contact with...it may save their lives, if they have
any such symptom behind their knee or knees...whether caused by G-suits' design, extensive roller coaster riding, or maybe even simply flying as a commercial pilot for a lifetime, after a military flying period.