That Sound, RVN

[DeathGrip]

It's been 30 years,

I'm a little to young for 'Nam but was a 68G in the ARMY. (air frame mech.) My unit was UH1H and OH58's. My sister unit was Chinooks. I spent a lot of time helping out working on those leaking Chinooks. Not so much on the Hueys, They were tough as nails.

Every time I here a Huey I get a chill and memories flood back. I can only imagine what you older guys feel.

I want to go up in one again some day. (with a 60)

 

[Roadtrash]

It's a sound that you'll never forget if you've ridden in one. Still hear one out here in the desert from time to time. Don't know who they belong to but it sure brings back memories when I hear it.

 

[Alnamvet68]

Our brothers are being lost at an alarming rate. I lost an old hochmate last year to agent orange related illness, and several others are undergoing serious medical treatment for the same.

Tell me about it...have just completed 8 rounds of chemo, and 33 radiation treatments for a tumor in my upper right lung. Thank His Eminence I have excellent insurance, or I would be in the hurt locker now. Interestingly though, I received a letter from what the senders claim is in association with my insurance, asking that I detail what injuries I received that led me to the ER for the initial diagnosis for lung CA, and that they were looking to see if there was another source that would replace or share in the cost of the treatment. I came to realize these guys might not have any connection to my insurance company, and if they did, then my insurance company is looking for a reason to bail out or see if they can outsource their responsibility to someone else, like those losers at the VA. There were questions regarding military service, where and when, exposure to herbicides/defoliants, working in shipyards, etc. I just sent the entire packet through the shredder and closely monitor that my insurance is paying my medical and radiation oncologist promptly, as well as my PCP. So far, I still have my hair, but I did lose about 15 lbs over a two month period. I feel blessed because as mentioned, over 50% of my brothers and sisters who made it back to the world are no longer here, or are in some kind of long term care facility, or at the VA, or in hospice.

I think about how things may have been different had I not had a proper Catholic school education, become a loser drug addict and draft dodger, ran away to the Haight and got AID's because of all that "free love" ****, and all the rest of the baggage that came with hating on America, its military, of those over 30...if I survived all that as a dystopic idiot looking for utopia, I probably would have wound up on Capital Hill as even a bigger hypocrit now that I am "the man" that these sociopath's always hated.

Anyway, I'm not ready for the proverbial "Bucket List", but I do believe I have to make one journey before I take that trip to Valhalla, and that's a visit to the Wall and the Garden's of Stone...two places I'm just not ready yet to deal with.

 

[straightshooter1]

I have visited the Wall once, right after I was married and I am glad I went, but:

I won't go back again. I try to be a calm person, not showing a lot of emotion, but that was really more than I could handle without tears. My new bride was with me and she was very understanding, but very surprised at my reactions in searching for, and finding the names of some I knew.

I flew in a lot of helicopters, and have only been in one since I got out in '68. Not the same emotions as the Wall, but, still, I don't plan to do it again.

Some things are really, at least for me, better kept in the past.

Bob

 

[handejector]

Agent Orange.

I had heard the term 'defoliant' a lot. I had not heard the term Agent Orange.
A slick had been promised to us one day. Don't remember where it was or where we were going, other than some firebase on some hill like all the others. The slick finally came. It had a lot of long pipe strapped down, sticking out both doors. If we want the slick, we get to unload it. The pipe was spray gear. As we unloaded it, liquid dripped all over us. The floor we were about to sit on was wet. Two or three empty 55 gal drums also needed offloading. As we unloaded them, I noticed the black stenciling on the OD paint- "Agent, Orange / ASN XXX-XXXXX". I asked the CO what Agent Orange was and he said "weed killer".
Turned out to be a pretty damned good GI killer in the long run.
Thanks, Uncle Sugar.

 

[ancient-one]

My son-in-law served two tours, got shot through the stomach, just barely missing his spine. A helicopter getting him out of the battle saved his life. After several, he finally got a surgery that keeps his intestines from protruding. His lungs are so bad he is on oxygen 24 hours a day.
In the talks that I have had with him, he has had nothing but the highest praise for the helicopter crews and the dangers that they placed themselves in.
All who served in Vietnam have my thanks and respect.

 

[NAM68]

DITTO; It was a long time ago but you never forget.

 

[TACC1]

Every now and then, not so often now, I hear that
sound. It always brings me outside, looking for it.
Don't know if it's private, Nat'l. Guard, MedEvac, or just
my imagination. Not a sound you'd forget...
Thanks for the link, I guess
TACC1

 

[handejector]

A chopper mechanic I know says the old joke among people in the chopper world is-

When they fly the last Blackhawk to the boneyard, the crew will ride back in a Huey.

 

[COL Jagdog]

Agent Orange.

I had heard the term 'defoliant' a lot. I had not heard the term Agent Orange.
A slick had been promised to us one day. Don't remember where it was or where we were going, other than some firebase on some hill like all the others. The slick finally came. It had a lot of long pipe strapped down, sticking out both doors. If we want the slick, we get to unload it. The pipe was spray gear. As we unloaded it, liquid dripped all over us. The floor we were about to sit on was wet. Two or three empty 55 gal drums also needed offloading. As we unloaded them, I noticed the black stenciling on the OD paint- "Agent, Orange / ASN XXX-XXXXX". I asked the CO what Agent Orange was and he said "weed killer".
Turned out to be a pretty damned good GI killer in the long run.
Thanks, Uncle Sugar.

Although our government has provided medical care thru the VA to victims of Agent Orange (as well as Agent's Pink, Brown
and several other chemical defoliants); what Congress really should have done was to pay reparations to the victims of those exposures (rather than just VA disability) because of the enormous suffering and economic losses caused by those misused and barely-tested (for human toxic effects) chemicals.
If there was ever a case for an executive order that would actually be meritorious, it would be one mandating reparations for all of those who were exposed. Reparations were paid by the federal government to those subjected to testing with LSD, infected with sexually-transmitted diseases,etc in those "research" tests carried out in the 40's,50', 60's -- we pay reparations to criminal inmates who were subjected to that and we pay no reparations to those who were defending our country -- how does that make sense?

 

[Old Seabee]

Huey

Was in Phu Bia Nov 65 -Feb 67 Maintained generators at Flusi two a medevac unit, would bring boys in from DMZ never enough help unloading Yes to hear them I have mixed feelings, I have the utmost respect for the pilots & there crews. Dan Braucher

 

[ldausmc1369]

Long, long ago in a land far, far away. Semper Fi, do or die! 42 yrs ago and counting.

 

[LTC]

It's the sound of C-130's that cause me to look skyward. They got me about 3/4 of the way around the world between 1966 and 1970.

LTC

 

[Kelly Green]

That sound always bring back memories. During my tour with the 2nd of the 503rd 173rd Airborne Brigade most of our missions were air assaults. I was never scared while flying in a slick, scared is what happened when the skids touched ground again.

The pilots who earned my deepest respect were the Warrant Officers who flew the Med Evac birds. They risked their lives daily to come in under heavy fire and rescue our wounded. Many lives were saved by those brave men.

 

[Bill_inBouse]

Helicopters don't fly....they beat the air into submission.
Helicopters don't fly.....they are so frekken noisy the earth rejects them for a time.

Spartan Army heliport, Bien Hoa AFB, 69-70

 

[carpriver]

Instill remember the engine sounds of C-130s, C-123's and the C-123 with jet assist, and the C-7A caribou. the sounds bring memories of unit moves, old friends and lost friends. There were many times when a C-123 Ranch Hand aircraft (sprayed the AO) came in to our little air field and we would remove the rubber blatters, drain them roll them up and lay them on the pump pallet and then load a couple pallets of cargo. A waste of so many young men. Welcome home to all my brothers.

 

[gfy1960]

God Bless to all Veterans! May we all remember those that fought for our freedom.
I was not in the military, but lived in an area directly in the flight path of a couple National Guard bases.
To this day I run out and look up when I here that familiar whump, whump, whump. Just like a kid again.

 

[Alnamvet68]

Please bear in mind that while most American soldiers will fight to protect our freedoms, many will fight for the freedoms of those in distant lands. Vietnam was one such place, but it became clear to many of us that the war was about fighting for each other...that there was a sense that the ARVN did not have their hearts in the fight, and our losses were such that it required we fight for each other if we were to survive this debacle.

I don't know of any 'Nam vet who doesn't look back fondly on that country, its people, and its culture; the Vietnamese are a forgiving an honorable people. All the bad and the ugly we all experienced seems to fade, and replaced with memories of what good we did, and the good in the hearts of these people.

Yes, we fought a war in Vietnam, and perhaps early in the fight, there were those who believed we were protecting these people from whatever evil was dreamt up by those tasked with prosecuting this war, but the reality is we fought and died for each other, and saving Vietnam from being overtaken by the North was not high on our list of priorities; and the decent and honorable people of South East Asia, to include Cambodia and Laos, paid a horrific price.

 

[williamlayton]

I don't agree that most do---some--but mostly--I just don't agree.
Blessings

 

[ldausmc1369]

Anybody ever tighten the "Jesus" nut?