I don't know how I managed to miss this, sorry for the late response!  I'd say it has been explained pretty well here.  The last 100 ft. of your decent are the most important.  As you approach the ground you pull back on your cyclic stick to to raise the nose high and flare-out your forward airspeed.  In your last 50 ft. as you approach the ground, you pull in all the pitch using the rotor speed to create lift and cushion your decent.  It's all about timing.  The goal is to have zero forward speed (or nearly so), zero rate of decent (or nearly so) at zero altitude.  If you do all that right, you walk away clean and the aircraft is undamaged.

There were several types of auto-rotations we practiced.  Hovering, low altitude-high-speed, low altitude-low speed (very dangerous) and normal from altitude at normal airspeed (easiest).  In Vietnam, we went to the ground during practice auto-rotations, so I know they work as advertised, but your engine will never quit when you are expecting it to and a upon failure a turbine engine begins winding down almost unnoticeable until you are are running low on rotor speed.  With a Cobra's high inertial rotor system you could build the rotor speed back up, with a Huey, not so much.  Without rotor speed, you are screwed. That's why you want to get that pitch-lever down quickly and preserve what rotor speed you have.  The Cobra had a little glide ratio that would extend your approach some, not so with a Huey.  With that beast, you are going down very steeply to what is right between your pedals.

It is possible to do everything right if you remain calm and do as practiced.  One of our guys in his Cobra had an engine fail coming out of the re-arm /refuel point.  He was full of fuel and re-loaded with ammo & rockets, so he was very heavy.  His engine quit suddenly when he was at 150 ft. altitude and about 50 knots airspeed. We called that the dead-man zone, but despite the odds, he put it down perfectly and barely bent the skids.  A truly great pilot!

The time line seems about right:  Boot Camp for me in January 1967 and in country May 1967.  We eventually wound up at the mouth of the Cau Viet River (coast of the DMZ) with 1/11 arty supporting 3/1:  my (our) head DI was a Sgt. (E-5 at the time) Elliot at MCRD.  Wonder if it is the same person?  If so, small world.  Bitter times up there - much killing and death .............. on both sides .........

Got Dad's 8mm film scanned finally....  More forward air controller stuff



He's at the 0:36 mark on this one

One more after this; still uploading

Cool Video 30cal but the sound was lower than I remember.

Maybe your hearing is just going??

Last one.  We've got agent orange being laid down (0:30), some airstrikes, an opposed helo insertion (4:40), and more airstrikes.  The last part is acrobatics--Dad's last flight (8:30).  And if youtube didn't get the message, a bunch of old people getting a little drunk when my dad got home.

My hearing is not going, it is gone. One of those other guys was shooting an RPG at a tank I was sleeping about 12 feet from. He missed the tank by 15 feet but missed me by only 3.

I think I only got to shoot about 4 or 5 at Ft Wolters....I did OK...didn't break anything...a few sparks down the stage field asphalt though....

I could ask Jack for you.

An acquaintance wrote a book about his experiences into, through, and out of Vietnam.

The Nightmare of the Mekong by Terry M. Sater

He has produced an interesting document of the riverine warfare waged by the Navy, Army, and local forces in the Mekong delta.  He served on a Tango boat... (a big adjustment after a tour on the Enterprise.)

I read a lot. For fun and for education. I place this piece in the middle.  Terry includes some of his personal letters that will bring a tear, comments from today on occassion as narrator, commonly known historical facts, and fills in the rest with accessible DOD records from his time of service.

I don't know Terry personally. He's a friend of a friend. He doesn't need the money. He produced the book for himself, his family, the men he served with, and lastly for the record.

@worker

my DI, S/Sgt Leroy Elliott, was a Staff Sergeant/then Gunnery Sergeant in the 1st RT Battalion at PI. He was killed on May 8, 1967 at the battle of Con Thien, while serving as the Gunny with Delta 1/4. The time frame fits, but his DI being an E-5 does not. Thanks for letting me know!

Sounds like it's worth reading, no doubt. Also, this thread needs a bump.

Overcoming Fear

I recently watched an interesting interview of several WWII Marines who were veterans of the battle for Iwo Jima. To the man, each said that they were frozen by fear when they first hit the hot volcanic sands of Iwo Jima. "Any man who says he was not afraid is flat out lying!" "But, we were Marines, and Marines move forward to take our objectives, and that's what we did!" They overcame their fear with the help of seasoned platoon sergeants pushing them forward off the beach.

Iwo Jima was the first battle for many of those young Marines. First battles for boots are always a life changing experience! I think all combat veterans remember their very first enemy contact, and I certainly remember mine. It was my fourth day in country and we ran several clicks to provide support to Kilo Company who had contact on three sides. I was in Marine Corps shape, but I was not yet in combat shape! Running with a full combat load that distance made me think I would die from heat exhaustion before I ever reached the battle. All the men in my squad and fireteam were encouraging me as we ran. They all appeared to be supermen running with such ease. They were all seasoned combat veterans while I was the FNG boot. I had much to learn before I could be anything but a trigger puller.
Fast forward a few months, and now I was the squad leader responsible for many Marines. During those previous months, our platoon had picked up many replacement troops, including some Marines who had transferred in from the 26th Marines. They were battle tested Marines from the DMZ and added much experience to our platoon.

When India Company moved to the DMZ, we were very close to full TO. There were always a few who were out for medical reasons like broken bones, torn ligaments, and even R&R. Our first operation at the DMZ was Prairie 2. It was the typical walk much, see very little, type operation. Only our first platoon had any contact at all. We did get shelled, rather our former position got shelled, while we were moving in the pitch black darkness to the top of Dong Ha Mountain.

The next operation, Prairie 3, changed everything! Our CO, Captain Mike Getlin, formed up the entire company in front of our CP at Camp Carroll. He told us that B/1/9 had been in a battle west of Con Thien, and had taken numerous casualties, and that we were moving to replace them on a sweep. Contact with NVA regulars was a given and that we were to move by trucks to Cam Lo, and then proceed north to seek and destroy the enemy. This was the first time in my tour that I had ever seen any of our CO's be this adamant concerning contact with a large force. All of the old salts immediately wanted more ammo to hump. The FNGs were just struck with fear, but didn't want to show it. Their questions started to flow like water! It is at times like this that boots always wished that they had been much more attentive in training! I had my fireteam leaders check their men to make sure that we had the full compliment of ammo and ordinance. We always had to help our weapons Marines hump their extra mortars, rockets, and M-60 linked ammo. To make matters even worse on this movement, the temperature was going to be over 100 degrees with 100% humidity. The Skipper had already warned that there were not going to be any heat case evacuations on this operation.

The 3rd day of the operation was March 30, 1967. We needed water bad! The Bn. CO would not allow any resupply for water, thinking the choppers would just show the enemy where we were. Well, the NVA were watching us the whole time anyway! We did finally come upon a small creek enabling us to fill our canteens. After moving up the creek, we found a dead NVA soldier lying in the same creek. No one poured their water out; instead we just added more halazone tablets to our canteens!

Captain Getlin was not happy about the situation our battalion commander had positioned (ordered) India Company. We were spread out 1800 meters with the CP and 47 Marines located on Hill 70. What happened over the next several hours has been well documented by Marines fighting with each platoon and squad that night. We are all familiar with the many much-deserved decorations for Valor bestowed upon our brothers. But, were theirs' the only valorous acts that night?

My squad that night, like most rifle squads in the company, had 5 new Marines who had joined us at Okinawa. Getlin's Corner was their first ever contact! These five Marines were given mere seconds to overcome their fear and face the NVA attacking our northern most position. They did not falter even after one veteran squad member was seriously wounded and another KIA from a mortar blast. These new Marines followed their FTL orders as we held our position and then maneuvered to protect the CP. When Captain Getlin ordered me to take my squad and assault to Lt. Bobo's position, we dropped Doc Braun off with Mr. Bobo and moved forward with a base of fire. The NVA had one remaining machine gun that killed Jack Loweranitis and three more of my Marines. There was no cover in that assault but my Marines gave everything they had that night. We did not leave our dead! We brought them back with us over that hill. Every Marine in my squad displayed Valor in facing the odds we were handed all over that hill. To the man, "I was just doing my job!" These same men had just an hour earlier filled a dry rice patty with dead NVA. My boot Marines had fought like veterans. Their courage, while not recognized with awards of Valor, will always be remembered by Marines of 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon.

15 Marines died that night, 6 of which were with my squad when they were killed; Albert Anter, Ruben Armenta, Larry Crumbaker, Jack Loweranitis, Frank Thomas, and Wallace Williams. We honor theirs and Mike Getlin, John Bobo, Jim Blevins, Eddie Cannon, Walter Nerad, Dave Siemon, Ralph Pappas, Don Krick, and Roman Villamor, memories on this 51st anniversary of Getlin's Corner.

God rest their souls.

Semper Fidelis
Jack Riley
I/3/9, 2nd Plt. 2nd Squad

Attached File

how the heck did I miss this thread.

Same here

Since that nut job in Austin, Texas set that tripwire booby trap I keep having this memory of walking through some heavy jungle about 40 miles west of Hoi An. We are walking down a very dark muddy trail, I am in the middle of the column and I come to one of our hand grenades laying in the middle of the trail. I think to myself someone should pick that up.

But no one is saying anything about it or even looking at it for that matter. So I just pass on by it like the 40 people ahead of me had just done.

I wonder what happened to it. This happened 50 years ago yet seems very vivid still to me.

I’ll be in da nang in about a month. I’ll go look for it if  I have time

I'll see if I can find you a coordinate for it.

Such a great thread.  Mesmerizing and humbling.  Thank you to all.

Lol
That would be a hoot to find wouldn't it!

I'll be in hoi an for a day or so also, If there is anything you want me to take pictures of let me know.

http://www.nj.gov/military/museum/summaries/vietnam_war/carmelo-burgaretta/

Article on one of my dads friends (they served together).  My dad wasn't much into drinking beer, so he would trade his beer to Carmelo for his Coke's.

Hopefully the trip wire under it and the 105mm round strung up in the tree are all disintegrated by now...50 yrs ago...

Seems like yesterday.

I will be in the boonies a great deal on my trip. I’d be lying if I said the thought of UXO hadn’t crossed my mind.

I will start a thread when I get on the plane in about 12 hours from now
The purpose of the trip to to explore battlefields, old bases, and gain a better understanding of where my parents where. I will be going with a group of Vietnam veterans. Unfortunately my parents have passed away (far too young, early 60s) so they will not be going with me (not sure they would have anyway)

Mom
Army nurse
12th  evac 1970 cu chi
24th evac 1971 long binh
Dad
Army medical Corp
12th evac 1970 cu chi
24th evac  1970 long binh

They were Maried at Fort Sam Houston where they met during medical training before they shipped out to Vietnam and the army kept them together throughout their time in country.

Attached File

My mom With a young Cambodian patient wounded in a battle
She was very fond of this young girl.

So I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Hanoi

I will be visiting several battlefields and cities across Vietnam from Hanoi to hue to Saigon
With a group of vets

My question,I guess to anyone that cares, is should I start my own thread on this. Or just attach pictures to this due to its relevance specifically to the war

My goal is to upload pictures as I go through these areas. I will be more than happy to look for special places and upload pictures if I come across an area any of you guys may want to see a current photo of.
For instance I have a friend that was a combat engineer and worked on ql1 from da nang to hue and wants pictures of the area. Another friend was at tan sun nhut and would like pictures of that.
I will post an itinerary as I go.

Attached File

My dad

Mom Attached File

Attached File
Attached File

Medcap missions in villages around Cu chi

Attached File

On the bird from Saigon to 25th ID base in cu chi
Attached File

Loading up to go out on medcap
Attached File
Attached File

Attached File

Sorry for the poor photo
Dust off dropping off wounded
Attached File

Entrance to patient ward 12th evac hospital cu chi
Attached File

Little bird being used to dust off
Attached File

25th id element rolling out Attached File

Mom taking some time after OR duty

Attached File

Any of you guys buy shit at the PX while you were over there?
I have all this stuff

Attached File

Civilian casualties on the ward
I will not post any American casualties, so please do not ask. They are as graphic as you can imagine and not appropriate to post
Attached File

Village around the boi loi woods
Attached File

Moving civilians on a duece to a secure location

Loading troops and casualties onto c123 provider
Attached File
Attached File
dust off pad, guys hanging it up for the time being
Attached File
loading patients on c130 herk

Plane is boarding so I’ll be back soon guys
Feel free to ask me anything about the pics. I know a fair bit about them and places where my parents worked. We talked at length about their Time in Vietnam throughout my childhood up until they passed
They were very open with me about it all and the war has been my obsession as long as I can remember.

Awesome photos.

I probably have a couple hundred or more. My father loved his Pentax. I have slides and 8mm as well. Not sure what kind of condition the 8mm is in as far as playability.

Well I lost my Dad to cancer last December. I posted some pics a few pages back. I ended up getting a box of all his military records and found this old 1968 MACV Vietnam Orientation Edition of Stars and Stripes. Scanned it up. Pretty good reading. It was very yellow and crumbly and probably sitting in that box since 1969. I took pictures and changed the color so it wasn’t yellow and scanned into pdf. Pretty good read.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=12AvsOOoiXpMNXtpdln4CZlRSNm9qwUM0

Good posts!

Sorry to hear of your dad's passing, but we are growing old fast.  Thanks for sharing the S&S, good read.  Awesome thread.

Oh man!  Please start your own thread!  It will be amazing to watch your journey!  My dad was in Na Trang and Camrahn Bay (spelling on both?).  If you happen to be at either I'd love to show him some current day pics.  I nearly lost him last week to pneumonia.

I'm glad I am able to share stories from my father and his brothers.

I am also glad to call them my friends also.

I'm glad you're sharing, Brother.

Thanks to everyone sharing in this thread.

I vote for posting your trip in this thread. It would be appropriate, and your trip would never get archived.

No.  Starlight scope was about twenty times heavier than the scope depicted.  

Starlight was somewhat useful on the LZ as it needed a clear field of vision and some moonlight to magnify but it was totally useless in the jungle.

Family member, UDT 11/SEAL Team One

Attached File


Some of his teammates...

Attached File


ETA: more info

That first photo hit Instagram a while back and lots of folks were speculating about the time period, Korea or Vietnam, and whether he was UDT or ST 1/2. Awesome photos, thanks for sharing.

You're welcome....

Him on the right.

Attached File