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Joined: Feb 2004
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 19,279 Likes: 6 |
Chicken Hawks is another great read in the same vein. Great book. On one occasion, he flew in to rescue wounded. He knew that his Huey had been overloaded with wounded and could not take off. But, he was on top of a hill. He gave max power, and got the chopper 2 feet in the air. He glided downhill five feet and had the chopper land hard, so that the landing gear were compressed, once again he applied full power, and the aircraft bounced 5 feet high the second time. He did this three or four times, and finally bounced high enough, that heading downhill, he was able to take off. A miracle this guy survived his tour. I flew with some Viet Nam guys in the National Guard. They would kid about how overloaded the Huey's were and how they had to skid down the runway to get enough transitional speed to go from pure lift to something replicating traditional rotary wing flight. It was usually followed by the words "we did some stupid stuff". kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
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Joined: Mar 2020
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 3,878 Likes: 2 |
I also recommend Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. I need to re-read it.
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 19,640 Likes: 17
Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 19,640 Likes: 17 |
I just finished a book written by a Huey pilot in Vietnam about the year he spent in country. Pretty interesting read. I saw my cousin had posted a pic of the book on FB recently, and going off the title I figured it might cover his dad's time over there. When I called and talked to my uncle I asked him if there was any significance to it. Actually, yeah, the guy that wrote it was in his unit. My uncle flew with him, and shared a hooch with him for awhile I guess. One particular incident that was about the only thing I knew about his service over till about 7-8 years ago there is mentioned. Super interesting to me, as I'm pretty close to my uncle and to get a brief window into his time there was really cool. I found used copy on Amazon, and am looking forward to talking to him in a couple days now that I read it. Pard what years was he over there? 68-69
MAGA
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Joined: Nov 2004
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 7,131 Likes: 3 |
Chicken Hawks is another great read in the same vein. Yes and yes! Read like 3 of his books, even the drug bust one was interesting.
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Joined: May 2002
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,046 Likes: 3 |
any estimate of the amount of helicopters that were shot down in Vietnam?
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Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 5,066 Likes: 11
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 5,066 Likes: 11 |
When I started working offshore most of the helicopter pilots flew in Veit Nam. They were good guys that were fearless. They would come and pick us up in any weather. I have boarded a helicopter in 80 mph winds. Front wheel was a foot and a half off the deck.
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,982 Likes: 4 |
According to VHPA (Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association) 11,846 helicopters were shot down or crashed during the war, resulting in nearly 5,000 American pilots and crew killed. This includes Army, Navy, Air Force, and Air America aircraft and crews from the US; not sure of their crew losses but helicopter losses of Australia, South Vietnam, and Thailand are included in the above total.
Last edited by Offshoreman; 09/17/23.
AKA The P-Man If you cherish your memories with kids, be a good role model . . . . so the RIGHT memories of you mean something to them.
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Joined: Jun 2012
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2012
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Seems like I read that book in paperback 20+ years ago. If I find it while cleaning out boxes of books and magazines, I'll put that one on the keep list.
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 19,497
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 19,497 |
Thanks for the compliments. When they finally declassified MACV/SOG about 1985, a lot of us wrote about it. In truth, the Air Force still has no official records of how we were involved in SOG. The only "official" records are what we gave as our cover story. Which was but the palest half-truth.
The MACV/SOG in-brief was the inspiration for the TV Mission Impossible intro. The part where "If you are discovered you will be disavowed" was sobering enough, but when they said "If you are shot down, you will not be rescued" it took the cake. We learned much later that if we had gone down, we would have been officially listed as deserters and probable drug runners. That was the reason for us flying unmarked airplanes. Nice, huh? No, not nice!
Retired cat herder.
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Joined: May 2002
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2002
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I know this is an old thread, but today I had a conversation with a VN War veteran, and he told me the best sound in the world was a chopper arriving to load troops up and take them back to base camp after a fire fight. He also said he felt the worse anxiety he ever had when the chopper was lifting off with everyone aboard and fearing that a VC rocket would come out of somewhere.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 44,738 Likes: 24 |
Very cool that you will have read the book and be able to discuss some of the experiences he had over there. I wish I had spent more time doing that with my Pop and my uncles. But, they're all gone now. Do it while you can before their time runs out.
Slaves get what they need. Free men get what they want. Rehabilitation is way overrated. Orwell wasn't wrong. GOA member disappointed NRA member 24HCF SEARCH
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 18,085 Likes: 1 |
God, Family, and Country. NRA Endowment Member
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Campfire Regular
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I salute anybody who can willingly summon up those memories and write about them without subjecting themselves to the midnight screaming meemies. RB
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Joined: May 2003
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2003
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When I lived in L.A., I became friends with another screenwriter named Dennis Foley. He later became a novelist, writing about his several tours in Vietnam as an Airborne Ranger and LRP. Wounded twice. His book, Special Men, is on my book shelf. Very interesting. We used to shoot together at the Beverly Hills Gun Club. He now lives in Montana. Foley volunteered for the Army and went in as a private. Stayed for twenty years and came out as a Lt. Col.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dennis+foley+books&i=stripbooks&crid=2SZ0AV70VQTZX&sprefix=Dennis+Foley%2Cstripbooks%2C178&ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_1_12
Take a look.
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,880 Likes: 3
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,880 Likes: 3 |
I drink coffee most mornings with a group of Vietnam vets, one was a helicopter pilot and one a Navy pilot who flew missions over the North every day. Lotsa interesting stories. Another member of the group is the former Commanding General of the 101st Airborne who rode a helicopter down after taking hostile fire. There are former members of the Army, Navy, Marines and the Air Force, enlisted men and officers, several with Purple Hearts and other service commendations.
Last edited by gunswizard; 04/10/24.
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2003
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About Face by David H Hackworth.
NRA-Benefactor TSRA-Life
"It's a terrible thing when governments send their young men to kill each other." Charles Byrne,WW2 Vet. On the day Desert Storm began.
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Joined: May 2003
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,298 Likes: 11 |
RB, it actually was the writing of the books that got me out of the screaming meemies - or PTSD - or whatever you want to call it.
I was pretty messed up, self destructive, and short-tempered for more than 10 years after 'Nam. It kept getting worse until I got fired from three jobs in a row. My wife saw something about a fiction writing contest and signed me up for it, then said to write about 'Nam. The contest was to write at least a 50,000-word novella in 30 days. Once I started, the words came out of me like bad basement beer. I wrote 65,000 words in 15 days. That was how Baggy Zero Four came about.
That helped me so much that I then started on Mike Five Eight (which is much less fictional than Baggy) and that seems to have cured me. I haven't felt those PTSD symptoms since.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 19,132 Likes: 4 |
I have not read the others but I highly reccomend Rocky's books. miles
Look out for number 1, don't step in number 2.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,242 Likes: 33
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,242 Likes: 33 |
I relate to what Rocky said. Regurgitating the experience here on the Campfire settled my brain quite a bit.
Perspective: In country less that 2 weeks and I had my Purple Heart. A week or so later my platoon had one OH6 left. I was quite certain I would not survive my tour so I put on my Barbarian Hat and said "What the Hell..." We had an authorized strength of 10 choppers in the platoon. We had that many in inventory once during my tour, for about a week. Lost 42 that year, but only had 2 crewmen killed. One by gunshot, the other from a crash that burned. Only 2 burned that year. Two went swimming, nobody drowned. They don't float even if the fuel tank is empty.
There are no chopper crewmen down in Hell.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
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Joined: Jan 2012
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 45,040 Likes: 29 |
I drink coffee most mornings with a group of Vietnam vets, one was a helicopter pilot and one a Navy pilot who flew missions over the North every day. Lotsa interesting stories. Another member of the group is the former Commanding General of the 101st Airborne who rode a helicopter down after taking hostile fire. There are former members of the Army, Navy, Marines and the Air Force, enlisted men and officers, several with Purple Hearts and other service commendations. Worth a post.... What former CG of the 101st was shot down in a helicopter during the Vietnam War? That Question would be on every Soldier of the month board Every soldier of the Quarter board Every soldier of the year board. In every unit from the 101 asked by every CSM and 1sg at battalion level, up to Bde and Div CSM,s at division level boards. And asked at every E5 and E6 promotion board in every battalion from Combat Support to Combat Arms in the 101st. And would most def be mentioned in the Veitnam section at Pratt museum on post. Military history kinda stuff..... Kinda funny.... I did 3 tours in the 101st from 1990 to 2004 Never heard of this " obscure factoid" Ever..... Nor have I ever heard it from anyone ever in any unit I was assigned to in the 101st You word this like this former 101 CG that got shot down in a bird over vietnam that you sip coffee with is still a 02 consumer. List of CG,s of the 101st from 65 to 72 while the unit was in veitnam and the year they stopped being O2 users.. Powell 11 Stenberg 04 Barsanti 73 Zias 81 Wright 14 Hennesey 01 Tarpley 86 Cushman 17 So which Weekend at Bernies former CG of the 101st that rode a bird down in Vietnam after taking hostile fire are you drinking coffee with???? You know it, it seems. Let the rest of us know it please. Just to clear this up... I will own this if I am mistaken, feel free to enlighten me and others that served in the 101 on here. Oh.... My bad... Add NCO boards to match all those soldier boards that go on also... 👍🏻 Oh... Another little known factoid. Cameroon beat Argentina 1 - 0 in some fuuking world cup soccer game in 1990. Homie got a 198 out of 200 on his e6 board in June of 90 2nd time in Korea. Then arrived at the 101 for his 1st time in July of 90. Current events question I bombed on my E6 board..... Just some example of schit you don't forget no matter how obscure..... 🤦♂️ soccer......
Last edited by renegade50; 04/11/24. Reason: Wanna make sure I get things as correct as possible and Reading comprehension might be kicking my azz...I just don't know... I only had a 78 QT and 121 GT score when I took the asvab.....
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