What Have I Done?
A news story published in the local Wellston Journal in March 1967, described the shoot down event of a 20-year-old Army Warrant Officer pilot in Vietnam. With my self-imposed early college career nearing its end I thought becoming an Army helicopter pilot might be a more interesting and exciting adventure compared to college.
I want to be an Army helicopter pilot! was my exclamation strolling through the door of the second-floor U.S. Army recruiting office in Ferguson, MO in April 1967. ‘Have a seat right here,’ said the young buck sergeant recruiter gesturing me toward a government gray metal chair. I can take care of you right away was his next reply. Not so fast I thought remembering all the admonishments about never volunteering for anything and especially not trusting anything the Army says. OK – tell me how this works?
How ‘it works’ is you join the Army, go through basic training, complete nine months of Army helicopter flight training, graduate, and get your first assignment as a Warrant Officer W-1. Sounds simple but first and before signing anything – how does one qualify for flight training? Two tests are required, first is to pass the written flight aptitude test and second, pass the medical examination for flight training.
You can take the written test before you enlist, but the flight physical will wait until you are in basic training. A young guy like you shouldn’t have a problem passing the flight physical, he said. After passing the FAST test with a score of 307 above the minimum qualifying score of 250 (it’s 1967 Vietnam, remember) and all the other various pre-enlistment tests – it was time to join up.
July 24, 1967, at the Military Entrance station in St. Louis, MO I became the property of the United States Army. Along with seven other newly enlisted private E-1s, the Army provided an overnight train journey to Ft. Polk, LA. An unknown Army mystery at the time was the bundling of many Warrant Officer Flight Training (WOFT) enlistees into a similar basic training unit to regulate the personnel flow into the Warrant Officer Flight Training program.
Arrival, administrative processing, clothing issue, immunizations, barracks, for the first eight weeks of Army life. Reveille – morning fall-out – breakfast – training – lunch – training – dinner – clean up – lights out. Summer 1967 in central Louisiana was heat, humidity, insects, sand, Drill Sergeants yelling during all waking hours.
Army food, Army P.T., Army drill & ceremonies, Army indoctrination, Army rifle training, Army everything. Eight weeks, eight weeks, eight weeks – then graduation and the bus ride from Ft. Polk, LA to Ft. Wolters, TX.
Welcome to nine months of U.S. Army Flight Training. Primary training at Ft. Wolters, TX. Advanced training at Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, GA. Intensive study, intensive in-flight helicopter training, intensive commitment.
Graduation and next assignment – Vietnam.
(c) Copyright – 2023 – Vic Bandini