Army CW3 Dorff was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation, Fort Drum, New York. Dorff was one of two men piloting an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter, attached to the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. They were searching for a soldier missing when the boat he was in capsized earlier on January 25 near Mosul. The helicopter hit a cable. It is equipped with wire-cutting devices but there was also a cable going across the river, which would pull ferryboats across that particular part of the Tigris River. His body was found four and a half days later. Pat was a kid who always had a smile on his face. He was fun and energetic. From an early age he loved to fly and started working at the Buffalo airport when he was 14 years old. His employers wondered if he would be able to push airplanes around because he was kind of a slight kid, but he had no trouble at all and worked hard. He obtained his pilot's license before he had a driver's license. Pat grew up in Buffalo, Minnesota and graduated from Buffalo High School in 1990. He joined the Army after graduation to earn money for college and to gain more flying experience. Not only did he fly helicopters, he taught the procedures as well. He was formally commended numerous times for his work in the Army over more than 13 years. Pat had been in Iraq since early November. The day before the helicopter crash, he saw and spoke with his wife, Jamie, and 3-year-old daughter for about two and a half hours. It was the first test of a Web cam Pat put together on base in Iraq and hooked up to his family's computer. He talked about being very cautious and how he was not ever going to leave the base unless he was in his helicopter and fully armed. In addition to flying, Pat ran track and cross country and he played hockey. He also liked to hunt, water ski and care for a variety of pets over his 32 years.