VHPA and encourage all eligible individuals to become members. It was a fact that Dustoff crews had three times the casualty rate of other helicopter crews. Small, two seat TH-55 Osages were also used. The average age of the 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. It was finally time to find out if we had the gonads to be combat helicopter pilots. God bless you all! This included Basic Combat Training and Flight Training. My opinion is that he was as afraid that he could not complete the mission, as much as he was afraid to die. As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail. 79% had a high school education or better. Back home in the real world, my buddies were at the drive-in, drinking beer and looking for a carload of girls to flirt with, just as I had been doing a year or two before. Tran Van Don and the head of the secret police Tran Kim Tuyen. Over the course of the war, some 12,000 helicopters of various kinds saw service in Vietnam. Don S. the last (in-country) Masher33, 1971, It is not easy to read this stuff. Vietnam seldom flew above 1,500 feet which is traffic pattern altitude for "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. In UH-1C gunnies, a pilot had to master taking off with a 1,000lb overload, persuade the aircraft to hover at an altitude of just three feet, and then dip the nose slightly to achieve forward movement basically skidding and bouncing along the runway to develop enough speed and lift to rise higher. theyre on the penetrator . And what was even stupider, I suppose, was the fact that if the doors were closed when we reached the water, we opened them so we could get out easier if we did go down. When sprayed on dense jungle foliage, less that 6 percent ever reached the ground. Yet undoubtedly every plane in Laos carried opium at some time, unknown to the pilot and his superiors. October 20, 2021. (One has to realize that there was virtually no protection for the pilots from the front and little from the sides or underneath.) If you win the battle you are entitled to the spoils. g.. One point I want to make is the the Crew Chiefs and Door Gunners were the and are still the best as well. The U.S. Embassy and its helipad were much larger. The biggest responsibility of a helicopter pilot was to fly that helicopter in such a manner as to provide support for the men on the ground. Please do not hesitate to contact me. Mailing Address: In fact, not at all, since we usually flew with the doors open, even at night. Always smiling and never hurt anyone, I would guess. Only a few privileged people, other than the crew members themselves, know an obscure fact that there were actually three seats in the cockpit of a Dustoff helicopter, rather than two seats, as mounted in all other Hueys. With a fair amount of apprehension, it was now the moment of truth. Could we really do what we had been trained to do, without letting anyone down? One guy was 19, while the oldest (not counting our Commanding Officer) was the 28-year-old XO, Army slang for the second in command, Executive Officer. The initial Army designation was HU-1, which led to the common unofficial nickname of Huey.. We thank God for these pilots and crews who fearlessly went into our hell on our behalf day in and day out, during the Vietnam War. [1996 Information Please Almanac] 1995 Information Please Almanac Atlas & Yearbook 49th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston & New York 1996, pages 117, 161 and 292. I cannot talk about how tough flight school was, nor can I state what the washout rate was because I did not go myself. In fact, we all did well. It was NOT the U.S. Embassy. If so glad to know youre well. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. a31 road closure alton; cdw insurance for rental cars; hygro cotton bath towels; Hello world! The ideal entry-level account for individual users. Myth: The American military was running for their lives during the fall of Saigon in April 1975. You will get a clear sense of what they were up against and how they conducted themselves. This freed Marine quotas at Pensacola which could be used to . You can only download this statistic as a Premium user. Trainees (known as candidates) then commenced the nine month long US Army Primary Helicopter School course at Fort Wolters, Texas, where they endured some extremely robust Preflight training as potential warrant officers. [1996 Information Please Almanac], There were almost twice as many casualties in Southeast Asia (primarily Cambodia) the first two years after the fall of Saigon in 1975 then there were during the ten years the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. Uh, thats a can opener for those of you who arent military. the following purposes: To enhance and accredit the cohesiveness, esprit de corps, and traditions of valor of Show publisher information Those of us lucky enough to come home learned from the experience and were, without question, changed men, no longer wide-eyed boys. of fuel, ammunition and other supplies because of a lack of support from A Huey pilot later with the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion (AHB) at Pleiku, recalled one student who, flush with success after his first solo, decided to see what it was like in the empty instructors seat, but knew he would have to change back to land. Decisions made by someone above you in the chain-of-command will seldom be in your best interest. looking good. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and schoolteachers. There walks a dead man. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. Currently, you are using a shared account. If the rear echelon troops are really happy, the front line troops probably do not have what they need. Army Flight School was about 9 months long, this was the shortest calendar time. The great majority of these efforts have erroneously portrayed many myths about the Vietnam War as being facts. [McCaffrey], MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. I promised myself that it would never happen again, and it didnt. Jurez y 18 de Marzo Col. Centro, C.P 96360 Nanchital, Ver. [CACF] (Combat Area Casualty File) November 1993. 01/09/2013. Helicopters in A few were even awarded. Occasionally, the gunner and crew chief had to exit temporarily to reduce the weight sufficiently for take off. I can personally remember one time when we were pinned down due to superior enemy fire from a tree line and a weapons platoon helicopter (Cobra) sat just off to our right and lit up the tree line with such superior fire that the enemy was destroyed. If I had gone down over land, I probably would not have taken my weapon with me. Failure to heed this commandment can affect the morale of the crew. The Vietnam War was shortly after China got involved in the Korean war, the time of the Cuban missile crisis, Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe and the proliferation of nuclear bombs. When we were on short final approach over the landing zone, I heard small arms fire and my brand-new Crew Chief yelled Were taking fire!, I pulled power into the rotor system to get out of there as quickly as I could, when the radio operator on the ground called out Dustoff, where are you going?. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. (Personally, I have fathered 73 children with two good Dustoff-sized testicles.) (EC), [Home] [ReunionInformation] [Donations] [OurLegacy] [MembershipServices] [RelatedWebSites], This time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare assuming you count actual I would never dispute that, but I would argue that putting a helicopter on the tiny pad of the hospital ship is like landing on a corner of that postage stamp. e.. Cover your Buddy, so he can be around to cover for you. Tactics such as pinnacle landing on top of steep hills, slopes, and karst outcrops amid destabilizing downdraughts to deliver heavy supplies to US Army firebases and outposts while under enemy fire were also tackled. s.. He was an assault helicopter pilot, in other words a gunship pilot. b.. Use Ask Statista Research Service. Then I did another Young & Stupid thing. Thanks for posting the memories. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. With the front of my Huey still kissing the tree leaves and my crew keeping me posted as to what was going on, I took a quick, curious look out my left window to see where the friendly fire was impacting. This statistic is not included in your account. In all, a very scary time for our country. Your email address will not be published. Age 70 to 74 --------$150.00 [Parade Magazine]. about halfway down . designed as a helipad. EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW IN LIFE I LEARNED AS A HELICOPTER PILOT IN VIETNAM. (So I guess that makes three Young and Stupids. It took all of our skill and luck to avoid flying into the valley walls as we stuck our heads out the windows to find our way to the LZ without balling up the helicopter. Based on the data, more than 30% of the current for-hire pilots fall within the age range of 50 to 64. Nighttime was even worse. dont care. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. We dont have any place for you to land, so just hang your butts out in the open sky for several minutes so any kid with a bow and arrow can shoot you down, and Gee, those red crosses on your helicopter sure make great aiming points, dont they? Provide food and supplies to veterans at The Veterans Site for free! ac.. Running out of pedal, fore or aft cyclic, or collective are all bad ideas. PO Box 8091 Required fields are marked *. They were involved in every aspect of that war fighting, from medevac, to ammo, troop and supply delivery, to aerial fire support. If you are allergic to lead, it is best to avoid a war zone. I enlisted in the (WOFT) Warrant Officer Flight Training. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? Every helicopter flying in Vietnam had one real purpose: To help the grunt. It was an average age for most of the other Army helicopter pilots I flew with in the 237th Medical Detachment in northern I Corps near the DMZ. . . [People], The evacuees were Vietnamese not American military. No matter what the make up of the team was they flew in helicopters that were made with the intention of dispensing a superior amount of fire power on the enemy. In June of 1967, Marine officers destined to become fixed-wing pilots began reporting to Air Force bases for flight training. That sinister-sounding term was coined after the war) Orange was sprayed at three gallons per acre that was the equivalent of .009 of an ounce per square foot. Most of the Commissioned Officers were older. "In all the years we've been working on this we have found that's not the case." by | Jun 5, 2022 | curtain suppliers in dubai | riverside cafe medicine park, ok menu | Jun 5, 2022 | curtain suppliers in dubai | riverside cafe medicine park, ok menu Put some fire in that bunker! I yelled to Private Whats-His-Name. Myth: Air America, the airline operated by the CIA in Southeast Asia, and its pilots were involved in drug trafficking. With a hot mike, everything that was said, every noise, every round fired, every grunt and groan was amplified and transmitted into everyones headset without touching any buttons. The crewmen I flew with on hoist missions (like me, in their teens and early 20s) were absolutely the best, and I wish I could shake every one of their hands and hug them today. Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam. [Houk] Testimony by Dr. Houk, Oversight on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 14 July 1988 page 17, Hearing before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs United States Senate one hundredth Congress second session. Myth: A disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War. It is a fact that helicopter tail rotors are instinctively drawn toward trees, stumps, rocks, etc. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. . website may contain information that VHPA considers proprietary and [Home] [ReunionInformation] [Donations] [OurLegacy] [MembershipServices] [RelatedWebSites] Member Login. fund has been established at the Vietnam Center and Archives at Texas Tech The Weapons Team. Here are some facts to clear up that poor job of reporting by the news media. Laura Ungaro, I enjoyed reading this very much, many good memories were recalled. In my mind, the only way I would. The total of non-pilot crewmembers killed was 2,704, according to records of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots' Association. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. You will meet and hear the stories of three U.S. Army helicopter pilots who flew missions in Vietnam in this video. Life member rates based on age are as follows (also Translation: There are bad guys all around, weve got wounded, get in here NOW before they die or we have more wounded, and you have to come back again. They will always be our heroes, our Angels in the Sky.. Most Agent Orange contained .0002 of 1 percent of dioxin. Maybe it was only three miles . The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. . When I found out that I was assigned to be a MedEvac pilot, I was devastated. More realities about war: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - it was not invented or unique to Vietnam Veterans. aa..Thus the term SHIT! can also be used to denote a situation where high Pucker Factor is being encountered. [Nixon] Atrocities - every war has atrocities. Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican . Company pick-up truck, I was told I didnt pass the depth perception portion of the eye test and would not be issued the license. . There is only one rule in war: When you win, you get to make up the