‘Let’s kill some dinks!’ proclaimed the BN (battalion) CDR (commander) climbing aboard the C&C (command & control) helicopter one morning in the 196th LIB (Light Infantry Brigade) Area of Operations (AO). ‘Holy shit’ I thought – one of my first C&C missions with the Rattlers (slicks) of the 71st AHC. (This was in my FNG – F***ing New Guy) period flying slicks before going into the Firebirds gun platoon in early December 1968).

We call’em dinks in this AO – OK with me (but I thought they all were called gooks – whatever). One of the more famous Battalion Commanders was LTC ‘Buck’ Nelson of the 2/1 at LZ Ross. Flew ol’ Buck and his SGM to a field location – dropped’em off and was told to return in 30 mikes (tactical talk for 30 minutes) to retrieve them (you boys go get some fuel – yes sir!). Arrived back on-time, now sitting on the ground at full flight RPM waiting for Buck. Here he & SGM come – backing up toward the helicopter with their M-16s on full-auto blazing away, changing magazines, tossing frag grenades into the air. C’mon Buck get in the helicopter we’re waiting. Don’t know what they were doing – we were in a very secure area with no bad guys around. But Buck was sure having fun – – –

Sam Wetzel (retired 3-star) 4/31 Commander at LZ West – working my gun team for him Summer ’69. He was in his C&C bird talking to me over company UHF (the Firebirds had discrete frequency on VHF – and we talked to the grunts on FM (fox mike). I blew up a few hooches – collapsed the four walls and tossed the thatched roof into air – he thought that was super. Caught two ‘military age males’ with weapons running up a small creek ravine – put a pair of rockets on them – nothing but black pajamas and bamboo hats flying through the air. Sam thought I was his best Firebird gunship pilot ever – still communicated with him via email several years ago – he remembered me.

At funeral in GA for a Firebird gunner, another Firebird gunner – John Hoss – was relating a story of a Firebird pilot who put a rocket into a church steeple west of Tam Ky. Hey John, that was me. My first mission after R&R in Sydney – early evening call out for a sniper in a church steeple that had a platoon pinned down. Got on station, got the intel from the grunts, rolled in, punched off a pair of rockets and viola` one soared into the slatted belfry opening. KABOOM, no more sniper – large collection plate donations next Sunday to repair the damage.

The BN COs always wanted to fly lower in their C&C birds – we wanted to stay out of the kill zone between 50′ and 1,500′ – so to placate the COs we would do some fancy turns while dialing down the altimeter needles (usually on the co-pilot side only). We would then point to the fake altimeter setting and the BN CO looking through his binoculars would say, ‘yeah, yeah, that’s great, I can see much better now’. Works for you, works for me.

Back to the 196th BDE (Brigade)TOC (tactical operations center) at LZ Baldy – about late Summer ’69 a ‘Hook’ (CH-47 helicopter) would arrive early morning with fresh groceries for BDE staff. WTF? These REMFs (rear echelon mother f***ers) were eating fresh fruit, cold milk, produce, etc. flown in daily from either Chu Lai or Danang. What a deal – eating better than the field troops. SOOOOO, since the ‘hook taxied up close to the Firebird Hilton, we went shopping after the ‘hook crew-chief lowered the rear ramp. Rank has its privilege but the guys who are first at the re-supply point get their pick. The ‘hook crews didn’t care – as long as we got our shopping finished before the BDE driver arrived to collect the morning’s haul.

(c) Copyright – 2023 Vic Bandini