To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam

Introduction

1 Introduction The 229th AHB (Assault Helicopter Battalion), 1st Air Cavalry Division , was one of the most highly decorated helicopter units in the Vietnam War and the first to test the air mobile concept. They did so in the battle of the Ia Drang valley in 1965, made famous in the book and movie We Were Soldiers. This battalion fought valiantly throughout the Vietnam War. Years later, in 1991, the men of the 229th AHB served with honor in the Middle East in Apache tank killers. In a somber ceremony in 2004, the colors of the 229th were folded—a casualty of the Army’s reorganization plans. This abruptly ended the history of a great unit that had served the Army on both sides of the world. The 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, Republic of Vietnam Awards and Decorations include the following: Presidential Unit Citation, Pleiku Province, 1967 Presidential Unit Citation, Quang Tri Province, 1968 Presidential Unit Citation, Binh Long Province, 1974 Meritorious Unit Commendation, Vietnam, 1965–66 Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, Vietnam, 1965–69 Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, Vietnam, 1971–72 Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, Vietnam 1969–72 Valorous Unit Award, Fish Hook, 1972 As Vietnam helicopter pilots, we held a job the Army classified as the most dangerous it had to offer. But we kidded one another about 2 TO THE LIMIT being nothing but glorified bus drivers, and, even today, no “rotor head” will take individual credit for saving thousands of lives on the battlefield, even though they often did so. As warrant officers, our social status was somewhere between that of the commissioned officers who owned the Army and the highranking noncommissioned officers who ran it. We were aviation specialists who had contempt for everyone outside the aviation family. Most of us sported a strictly-against-army-regulation mustache and our don’t-give-a-crap attitude kept us in hot water with other “nonrated ” military officers. The cost of the Vietnam War was very high. Out of the 2,594,000 persons who served in South Vietnam, 58,169 died. Helicopter aircrews bore a disproportionately heavy burden. For all military occupation specialties, including helicopter aircrews, the kill ratio was 1 to 45; for helicopter pilots in Vietnam the ratio was an alarming 1 to 18. By the end of the war, 2,197 helicopter pilots out of approximately 40,000 either died or were listed as missing in action. Another 2,274 crew chiefs and gunners died alongside the pilots. At the height of the war, many individual Rotary Wing Classes suffered even heavier losses than that of the average helicopter crew. I graduated 16th of 286 men in Warrant Officer Rotary Wing Aviation Class 67-5. In the twelve months after we received our Army aviator wings at Fort Rucker, Alabama, 1 out of every 13 of us died in South Vietnam. Of those who died, the average time in country was 165 days and the average age was 23.11 years.1 1. Statistical data provided by Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association. Made possible only through the individual efforts of Gary Roush and the other members of the Data Base Committee as listed in the 2004 Membership Directory. ...