[Home] [ReunionInformation] [Donations] [OurLegacy] [MembershipServices] [RelatedWebSites] Member Login. It was a well known (and very true) fact that during an emergency exit from an aircraft, if you dont have it strapped to your body, you wont take it with you. [People], The evacuees were Vietnamese not American military. You will meet and hear the stories of three U.S. Army helicopter pilots who flew missions in Vietnam in this video. Myth: The American military was running for their lives during the fall of Saigon in April 1975. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. The additional weight of patients on the end of the hoist as they were lifted off the ground further complicated the stability of the aircraft. Yet undoubtedly every plane in Laos carried opium at some time, unknown to the pilot and his superiors. Get the details for all upcoming vietnam helicopter unit reunions. In, Federal Aviation Administration. The cables going out . Ancient U.S. Army proverb. Topics cover the entire spectrum from Vietnam to . Walking is better than running. I promised myself that it would never happen again, and it didnt. aircraft in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam era and inform them of the existence of the Oh, Sugar! (Not my exact word.) As MedEvac helicopter pilots, we flew the only Army Hueys equipped with the electric hoist/winch. [McCaffrey], The oldest man killed was 62 years old (TAYLOR, KENNA CLYDE). [The Wall Street Journal]. See an example of our magazine, The No this is Pat Bieneman I am the owner of this site. However, these same 18-year-old young men attended flight school and were given responsibility to operate a multi million dollar helicopter. to Europe and both have since died. ag.. The BSR (Bang Stare Red) Theory states that the louder the sudden bang in the helicopter, the quicker your eyes will be drawn to the gauges. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. A third tradition is a bottle How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? aa..Thus the term SHIT! can also be used to denote a situation where high Pucker Factor is being encountered. Three of the five newest democracies are former Soviet republics: Belarus (where elections were first held in November 1995), Armenia (July 1995) and Kyrgyzstan (February 1995). If the rear echelon troops are really happy, the front line troops probably do not have what they need. confidential. [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. Register in seconds and access exclusive features. He was an Air Cav pilot, delivering and evacuating troops into and out of battlefields. plaque made from the mold for the AH-1G prototype collective grip. Most of our Door Gunners and Crew Chiefs were also 18-21 years old. American-owned airlines never knowingly transported opium in or out of Laos, nor did their American pilots ever profit from its transport. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. Over the ten years of the war, Operation Ranch Hand sprayed about eleven million gallons of Agent Orange on the South Vietnamese landscape. [Parade Magazine]. solicitation purposes, or any correspondence related thereto. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. Yes, most definitely young, but stupid? Thank you. There, the new guys learned how to apply their recently found skills to combat situations. Another tradition started in 1988 is a "Cobra" Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. Failure to heed this commandment can affect the morale of the crew. Most 18 year olds only think about girls and what they can get from them. The tactical situation is such that the ground troops cannot get the dead or wounded to a secure open area for evacuation. EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW IN LIFE I LEARNED AS A HELICOPTER PILOT IN VIETNAM. The Vietnam War helped medical progress in this area. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter Warrant Officer Shelly Berryman flew Huey helicopters in Vietnam War But it also exposed American servicemen and women to a chemical that now has them dying on average 13 years earlier than their counterparts who did not serve in . "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. Owned and operated by CharityUSA.com, LLC. 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. While there are still officially more than 2,200 cases, there now are only 55 incidents of American servicemen who were last seen alive but aren't accounted for. "The aviation units were the sole combat element of the U.S. Army that did not come. 91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served [Westmoreland], 74% said they would serve again even knowing the outcome [Westmoreland], There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non veterans of the same age group (from a Veterans Administration study) [Westmoreland]. Laura Ungaro, I enjoyed reading this very much, many good memories were recalled. (The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, i.e. The VC were surprised and soundly defeated. A few were even awarded. Average age of active pilots in the United States from 2002 to 2020, by category* [Graph]. aj.. No matter what the enemy threw at them, they never backed down. Show publisher information Here is an example done at the 2005 no, seven! The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. Helicopters needed far more hands on piloting than fixed wing types. When called upon, a Pilot did not wait for approval from his crew, becuse he knew his crew would never say No. I and many more just like me can only say Thank You for all that you did. 1969 Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). http://www.air-america.org. Sometimes, being good and lucky still is not enough. The rest of the mission went as expected with no more surprises. They gave us classes on what altitudes to fly to avoid certain types of enemy fire small arms or 0.51 cal. [Nixon], The Vietnam War has been the subject of thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, hundreds of books, and scores of movies and television documentaries. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. God bless you all! Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic." statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. The third seat was for our testicles. Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972, was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang. 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. Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Service. e.. Cover your Buddy, so he can be around to cover for you. My opinion is that he was as afraid that he could not complete the mission, as much as he was afraid to die. a31 road closure alton; cdw insurance for rental cars; hygro cotton bath towels; Hello world! When I read the quickly handwritten sheet for this particular mission, I knew before we left that it was going to be an insecure hoist. I asked to take a different test and was able to pass that one! So, were we really Young and Stupid? 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.59 million who served. There was an adrenaline high, too, and a tremendous sense of accomplishment that I have yet to experience since flying my last mission in Vietnam. . In fact, not at all, since we usually flew with the doors open, even at night. . UH-1 Huey Gunship Vs NVA/VC Forces Vietnam 1962-75 is published by Osprey and is available to order here. Although the percent who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. I would NOT fly unarmed helicopters! Further proof of these facts can be found at a recent Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) reunion. In retrospect, I think that is what happened to one of the pilots in our unit a few months after I left. information contained in this publication shall not be distributed to non-VHPA Thanks for the memories. 2160250. buzz lightyear of star command complete series [People.com] Vietnam 25 Years Later, by .j.. [Nixon] Atrocities - every war has atrocities. A MiG-21 of the VPAF which became the primary fighter-interceptor against USAF and USN aircraft. [Westmoreland], Democracy Catching On - In the wake of the Cold War, democracies are flourishing, with 179 of the world's 192 sovereign states (93%) now electing their legislators, according to the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. historical reference directories, CD-ROMs and DVDs. I am so very proud to have served with them. . (One has to realize that there was virtually no protection for the pilots from the front and little from the sides or underneath.) He is the Founder and Editor of The Aviation Geek Club one of the worlds most read military aviation blogs. k.. Many men volunteered for the draft so even some of the draftees were actually Most aviators receives about 210 hours of flight time. They were Kim's cousins not her brothers. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. . 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. We must now hover over the trees or rocky terrain, while we let out up to 150 feet of quarter-inch cable with a jungle penetrator or a Stokes litter attached to it. The emotions are almost indescribable, but there was one more feeling: relief from being so scared! In action, gunships sometimes left their lights on for night missions, for according to another Huey pilot, We had a doctrine that wed rather have the enemy shoot at the gunship than at the lesser armed slicks.. Age 70 to 74 --------$150.00 ad.. Experienced pilots with proven records of successful, aggressive combat could be invited to join a platoon in a fire team of one or two gunships operating with a scout helicopter and escorting slick assaults. The average age of an employed helicopter pilot is 44 years old. They were immensely important to the troops on the ground as aerial fire power. . [3], Battlefield Viet Nam Episode 5 "The Undeclared War", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Chopper_(Vietnam)&oldid=1133354489, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 10:36. The UH-1 evolved from a 1955 US Army competition for a new utility helicopter. We risked much in a totally dark valley that night, and there was no doubt that someone appreciated us. r.. * Includes pilots with an airplane and/or a helicopter and/or a glider and/or a gyroplane certificate. g.. At the same time, I made flight adjustments according to the guys in the back. First of all, there was landing on the Navy Hospital ships, USS Repose and USS Sanctuary, in the South China Sea, very near the Demilitarized Zone. While it may be possible to ward off this natural event some of the time, it cannot, despite the best efforts of the crew, always be prevented. They were utterly selfless and courageous warriors on our behalf. . [People]. I cannot talk about how tough flight school was, nor can I state what the washout rate was because I did not go myself. I dont think so. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. (Personally, I have fathered 73 children with two good Dustoff-sized testicles.) More realities about war: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - it was not invented or unique to Vietnam Veterans. Read the latest issue of the Friends of the Vietnam Center Newsletter and subscribe to recieve future newsletters. ah.. Nobody cares what you did yesterday or what you are going to do tomorrow. . Were about five miles out. Five miles out from where? Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam. [CACF] (Combat Area Casualty File) November 1993. Candidates later tackled the difficult arts of landing in small areas, night, and instrument flying crucial skills for their operational work in Southeast Asia. Published by on October 31, 2021. trina daughter instagram 97887 65581; music city drum corps staff saiservicecentre2020@gmail.com All rights reserved. . 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. The ideal entry-level account for individual users. Vietnamese where among those taken that day to Tan Son Nhut airport, General Warrant Officer-1 Al Gaddis was a tall, curly haired kid as I remember him. rules. A hoist mission was just the opposite. of what you can do online at https://www.vhpa.org/memhelp.htm#ODA, To preserve the legacy of all Vietnam Helicopter Pilots, an endowment (the herbicide was called "orange" in Vietnam, not Agent Orange. The platform is the top of the elevator shaft for the building and was not Chart. That was the unforgiving part. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot. dont care. XV, Issue VII. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded who survived the first 24 hours died. Search: Average Age Of Vietnam Helicopter Pilot. The Vietnam Helicopters Memorial Tree was dedicated in 2015 and honors the helicopter pilots and crew members who died while serving in Southeast Asia from 1961 to 1975. about halfway down . They could rotate around a battle site from above, unleashing punishing weapon support from above. But as the Army would have it, during Friday night formation of the middle weekend of gun school, 24 of us, including 12 in the gun school, received orders to attend MedEvac school at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, immediately after graduation. An automobile accident or other traumatic event also can cause it. Deaths Average Age Enlisted: 50,274, 22.37 years Officers: 6,598, 28.43 years Larry Clark and Mike Law in 1990. Their stories are extremely compelling. It is dedicated to the fulfillment of They were the ones who flew the troops into and out of battle. But this time he definitely took hits in a .50-caliber crossfire, and as he peeled off from the mountain, fuel was streaming from the aircraft. Hot garrison chow is better than hot C-rations which, in turn, is better than cold C-rations which, in turn, is better than no food at all. A little more than 12 days later, Operation Chopper commenced. o.. directory for dues current members. who is now retired in Arizona. [Nixon]. I could not have been more proud of myself and my flight school classmates for having come this far. Many times when either our troopers on the ground or another unit was facing enemy fire these brave men would come in with weapons blazing either destroying the enemy or allowing the ground troops to attain and then maintain superior fire power. Restraining the military in Vietnam in hindsight probably prevented a nuclear war with China or Russia. theyre on the penetrator . Membership is open to all helicopter pilots who flew in The Wall), Center for Electronic Records, National Archives, Washington, DC, [All That We Can Be] All That We Can Be by Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, [Westmoreland] Speech by General William C. Westmoreland before the Third Annual Reunion of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) at the Washington, DC Hilton Hotel on July 5th, 1986 (reproduced in a Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Historical Reference Directory Volume 2A). Please note: This 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. magazines, a membership directory and a calendar each year and periodically publishes After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. Recent reports in the news media that an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc are incorrect. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. We grabbed some unsuspecting Schmuck and told him to get his weapon and some ammo and run with us to the aircraft. We are now Older and Wiser, and for that I am very thankful. f.. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Most Agent Orange contained .0002 of 1 percent of dioxin. The Weapons Team. Reunion dates and locations have been announced for the following units: The latest quarterly issue has the agenda and registration details for Vietnam War conference scheduled for March 2-4, 2023 that will focus on the year 1973: The Paris Peace Accords and the Allied Withdrawal from South Vietnam Also included are updates on the Oral History Project and volunteer opportunities.Stay in touch and help us preserve your legacy. "Average Age of Active Pilots in The United States from 2002 to 2020, by Category*. applies to subscribers): Age 80 and above ---$75.00 Burkett and Glenna Whitley, Verity Press, Inc., Dallas, TX, 1998. Put some fire in that bunker! I yelled to Private Whats-His-Name. The movie and a book the movie was based on contend that the CIA condoned a drug trade conducted by a Laotian client; both agree that Air America provided the essential transportation for the trade; and both view the pilots with sympathetic understanding. It is I think that some of us changed for the better, but some of us did not. It was the Pilots mission to fly as low and as slow as he could allowing the observer and the Door Gunner to watch for signs of the enemy or to allow the enemy to fire at them. Have you ever heard the expression, He was flying the aircraft balls out? That was us. Hello, I enjoyed Reading the blog. Those brief and simple heartfelt words meant more to me that night than anything else ever said to me during my entire tour. You were a good friend and much appreciated by my parents. Get full access to all features within our Business Solutions. If everything is as clear as a bell, and everything is going exactly as planned, youre about to be surprised. Traditions: The VHPA has developed some traditions over the Learn more about how Statista can support your business. come left . Information contained herein shall not be used for commercial sent to. ab.. Thousands of Vietnam Veterans earned medals for bravery every day. Our single-engine UH-1H Hueys did not float in the water very well. [Westmoreland] Source: http://www.vhfcn.org/stat.html Decisions made by someone above you in the chain-of-command will seldom be in your best interest. fund has been established at the Vietnam Center and Archives at Texas Tech Oh, were we Young and Stupid on hoist missions, too; the second Y & S thing we did! 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Myth: Air America, the airline operated by the CIA in Southeast Asia, and its pilots were involved in drug trafficking. . [McCaffrey] The pilots and crews of these helicopters were heroes, one and all. The early (65-68) Weapons Team was made up of two pilots, crew chief and a door gunner. The initial Army designation was HU-1, which led to the common unofficial nickname of Huey.. Later, the crew became a two-man pilot team. I then realized that ole PP back there was just sitting in the hell hole taking it all in, not doing a thing! The most incredible, dangerous, high pucker factor, exhilarating thing a man can do with a helicopter is to pull an insecure hoist mission, day or night. We still got there in a hurry, but once there, we hovered over the trees like a target at the County Fair 25-cent target-shooting booth. [Online]. 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 From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. As I look back on my own experiences, two things stand out in my mind that I consider young and stupid.. Whatd he say? Hell, I dont know. Okay, so the Hueys were extremely reliable, and I still love those incredible machines, but for the moment let us discuss navigation equipment on a Huey. h.. al.. Obviously, I was wrong, but I did not know it then. Those trainers were so small you could lean in them to make the thing turn. of 21 year old Scotch purchased in 1971 by Brian Novak one of the original [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. First, one has to understand what a hoist mission is and why we did them. The U.S. Embassy and its helipad were much larger. We were unarmed, and experience had taught us that, usually, we were better off to quickly fly to the landing zone, get in and get out as fast as possible while avoiding the bad guys, and fly straight back to the hospital. The third seat was installed in our combat aircraft to accommodate the well above average size of our family jewels, which were required to complete most of the missions we flew in Vietnam. has no political agenda as is our brother organization, The Vietnam Helicopter was several blocks from the Pittman Apartments. VHPA and encourage all eligible individuals to become members. I wont make it back.. Five minutes or more seemed like hours while we sat in the air over the ground troops, taxing every bit of professionalism we hadand the reader better believe we had the utmost professionalism. Isolated atrocities committed by American soldiers produced torrents of outrage from antiwar critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any attention at all. Don S. the last (in-country) Masher33, 1971, It is not easy to read this stuff. [McCaffrey], Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than our non-vet age group. Search: Average Age Of Vietnam Helicopter Pilot. We put him in the back of the cargo compartment with his M-16 and a helmet, hooked him up to the intercom, and we were off. PO Box 8091 I arrived in Vietnam on the 4th of July 1969, barely 21 years old. He was not strapped in. Others flew fixed wing and some were already in the Army but applied for and were chosen to attend flight school. Copyright 1995 - 2018 Gary B. Roush, 242 ASHC Muleskinners, May 1968 - May bombers and were always exposed to hostile fire even in their base camps. We HAD no survival radios in those aircraft. Use Ask Statista Research Service. [McCaffrey], MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. 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?. A constant line of chatter was transmitted from the medic and the Crew Chief to the pilots, who were both on the flight controls in case either was violently incapable of continuing to fly the aircraft. With the patient finally on board, the Radio Operator with the ground unit Rogered our departure message with a Thanks a HELL of a lot, Dustoff!. and flew his bird to the top of Monkey Mountian. solicitation purposes, or any correspondence related thereto. American involvement in February 1973. Or, to hear veteran helicopter pilots describe their personal experiences in the line of duty, click here. We especially were concerned about the troops we were there to support. ", Federal Aviation Administration, Average age of active pilots in the United States from 2002 to 2020, by category* Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/919100/aviation-industry-average-age-of-active-pilots-in-the-united-states-by-category/ (last visited March 04, 2023), Average age of active pilots in the United States from 2002 to 2020, by category* [Graph], Federal Aviation Administration, May 18, 2021. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. Parameters for authorizing operating a US Navy submarine reactor plant above practicable design limits is Read More, Additionally, 1.3 million of those five million flight hours were accomplished during combat.