The 229th Aviation Battalion consisted of A, B, C, and D Companies. A, B, and C were the lift (or “Slick) units. D was the gunship company. When I arrived in Dec 66, the lift companies were equipped with UH-1D aircraft. They were old and tired, but still served us well with a little tender, loving care. The gunships of D Company were UH-1B and C models ... also old and tired, but very effective. Later in my tour, we received H-model Hueys and D Company got the Huey Cobra (AH-1).
My first Vietnam tour was from Dec 1966 to Dec 1967 ... all with the 1st Cav. Our unit was an Assault Helicopter Company. Our missions included combat assaults, extractions, resupply, and medevac when needed. During my tenure with B Company, 229th, the mission to support the LRRP company rotated among the lift companies. In our case, we kept the mission a little longer than was planned, I think. A couple of months after I became an Aircraft Commander, I was assigned to the LRRPS. I worked with them for nearly three months of my first tour in Vietnam.
I had several different aircraft and crews during that period, so I don’t remember many names or aircraft tail numbers. I remember my co-pilot on the mission to extract Bill and his team, but cannot remember the Crew Chief or Gunner. The co-pilot was Warrant Officer Harold Kelly. He was killed in a stateside crash after his RVN tour.
When I began working for the LRRPs, I was a Warrant Officer. I received a direct commission to second lieutenant shortly thereafter. I dealt primarily with the LRRP Commander, Captain Jim James and his Executive Officer, First Lieutenant Ron Hall for mission planning.
I don’t know how the other companies handled their LRRP support, but our unit assigned an Aircraft Commander (yours truly) to support them. The co-pilots rotated every few days, as did the aircraft and crews. The Crew Chief and Gunner remained with their aircraft, so when the choppers were swapped out, so were the crew. We stationed the aircraft at the LRRP Company area, and the entire crew lived temporarily in their tents.
A Bit About Tactics:
Once the CO, XO, and LRRP Team Leader tentatively selected a landing zone (LZ) on the map, we did an aerial recon of the area. While airborne, we also selected a couple of other clearings to use for feints.
I’m sure Bill probably told you the teams were made up of six men. They were scheduled to remain out in the boonies for as long as a week, doing their thing. We had a pre-determined place and time to extract the team, if they were able to avoid detection until then. Sometimes, we had to extract them before the scheduled time because they were in contact. That was the case with Bill’s team. They were ambushed at about 2:00am. We got the call, got airborne, and headed for the coordinates they gave us in the call for extraction. As soon as we got the call, we requested gunship support.
It didn’t take us long to get underway, because we kept the aircraft ready to crank at all times. That means when we shut down at the LRRP area following a previous mission, we always went through the start-up checklist just as if we were about to run it up. When we reached the point where we would engage the starter, we stopped, and left the aircraft as it was. That way, when we had to go in a hurry, all we had to do was turn on the battery and engage the starter. We could be airborne in a very short time. The gunships, however, were parked on the flight line, and were not “cocked” and ready. That meant we usually got to the extraction pick-up zone (PZ) before the guns arrived on scene. If the PZ wasn’t hot, and there were no wounded, we would wait for the gun ships to escort us in. In the case of Bill’s team, they were pretty shot up ... one KIA and three others wounded. In that type of situation, we went in without the gunships, depending on the sharp eyes of the door gunners and the M-60 machine guns they manned. That was not exactly doctrine, and I was reminded that I should always wait for gunship support. I think most aviators and their crews selected the same course of action that I did.
We usually flew the insertion missions at dusk, when the visibility was poor. We flew with no lights. In the interest of stealth, there were no other aircraft with us. Our mission planning included a check with the weather folks, primarily for the wind direction and strength. Then I would calculate the proper heading and time to the LZ, based on the wind data. We used a navigation procedure known as Time-Distance-Heading. I selected a spot at our departure area to fly over at exactly 100 knots. As we passed over the spot, I pressed the button on the stop-clock. Flying at the proper heading, and maintaining exactly 100 knots was all that was required to fly directly to the LZ. As soon as the calculated number of minutes and seconds were reached we landed in the LZ, and the team hopped off in a flash. We were out of the LZ before you could blink, and then executed a couple of feints into the dummy LZs just in case we had been spotted. It was very hard to see us, though. We flew just above the treetops over heavily-wooded jungle. Anyone on the ground had only a small opening in the trees to see through, and that was straight up. They could hear us, but we went over so fast, they usually didn’t even have time to shoot.
Once we had the troops on the ground, and after we made the feints, we headed back to base camp. As we climbed to altitude, we made a brief communications check with the team. A couple of times each day they were in the field, we would get airborne and made additional commo checks.
If all went well, we would go to a pre-determined spot, extract the LRRPs, and take them to base. If we had to extract them early, we did so.
Then we did it all over again!
Conclusion:
I had two one-year tours in Vietnam, 66/67 and 69/70.
I was on active duty for twenty years, and reserve duty for eight years. I
can say without hesitation that the most rewarding and enjoyable (most of
the time) period in my career was the time I spent with the 1st
Cav LRRPs. I think about them every day, and I probably will do so as long
as I have any memory at all.