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213 “Good evening, men!” Major Ball greeted us as he entered the bunker during our meeting. It was Wednesday, December 23. We were having the meeting early because it was Hail and Farewell night. “I’d like to get your opinion on something,” he began. “We’re having a tough time giving division the number of Pink teams they want each day. Spare parts are getting hard to come by. We’ve just inherited a minigun kit for a LOH. What do you think about putting a White team in the AO?” he asked. “A White team?” I asked. “What exactly is a White team?” “Two LOHs,” the CO replied. “They will both VR but the aircraft with the minigun will provide cover for the other LOH,” he stated confidently. “It won’t have the capabilities of an AH-1 and he won’t be able to carry a third crew member because of the weight of the gun and ammo.” “Bad idea,” I piped up. “Why do you say that?” the major asked. “Sir, it’s asking for trouble. You put a scout pilot in a LOH; it doesn’t matter what it has on it. He’s going to fly it like a scout. Scouts are used to having a Cobra above them. We’re their security blanket. They don’t know anything about flying guns. They don’t get arty clearances, they don’t know about getting clearances—” Van interjected, “They don’t even know how to read a damn map, sir. I flew scouts in my old unit and I couldn’t find shit on a map. They never use them. That’s our job.” “Sir,” Larry joined in, “It would just be too much to expect of them without lots of additional training.” “Something as simple as the direction they fly their orbits is going to be a problem. They fly right-hand circles because that’s the side the pilot’s seat is on,” I told the CO. “We fly left-hand orbits. We have equally good visibility out both sides so it doesn’t really matter which direction we fly except if we fly in the opposite direction to the little bird, it’s a lot easier to keep him in sight. You tell a scout to fly left-hand orbits and he is unsighted. He’ll have a hell of a time just trying to keep the other bird in sight. They’re not used to flying at altitude. They don’t have a turret. They roll in and they have to point the aircraft at the target. Chapter 21 On Christmas Day Most of our scouts have never flown the tactics that we employ. Sir, with all due respect, this is the craziest damn idea I have ever heard of. Somebody is going to get killed.” “So what exactly are you saying, gentlemen?” Major Ball asked. Almost in unison, we all said without reservation, “Don’t do it!” “Well, thank you for that, gentlemen. I appreciate your opinions. We’ll be putting a White team in the AO tomorrow,” he told us before turning and leaving the bunker. “I do NOT fucking believe he just said that!” Van said in exasperation. “What was there about ‘don’t do it’ that he didn’t understand?” I asked. “Well, fuck it. He asked our opinion and we gave it. Let’s go to the club,” Van said, leading the way. We awoke early on Christmas Eve. We went to the TOC before sunrise to get briefed on our first light mission. I was to take a Pink team to VR an area northeast of Phuoc Vinh. My scout pilot for the day was WO1 Bruce Campbell. The White teams’ crews showed up at about the same time. Lt. Art Harmon was flying the low bird, with WO1 Gary Buchanan as his observer. Gary was training to be a scout pilot. Their gunner that day was Jerry Cameron. WO1 Barry Sipple flew the high LOH. As my team headed for the door of the TOC, Barry said, “Hey Two-four, help. We haven’t got a fucking clue what we’re supposed to be doing out there today.” I told the crews about our chat with the major the night before. To say they were all a bit apprehensive would be a gross understatement. “Just don’t letArt out of your sight, Barry” I told him. “If you can’t see him you...

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