November 2, 20223 yr Author George - Cool! They had done away with the AO program by the time I got in (mid 90's). I flew the OH-58 A/C both in flight school and in the MA National Guard years after my active duty time in the D model. It was a fun, basic, stick-and-rudder type aircraft, but the D model with its 4-bladed rotor and more powerful engine was a real sports car (until you put a combat load in it). It didn't have top-end speed, but was incredibly agile due to the rotor system. Like driving a Lotus versus a Lamborghini (OH-58D vs, say, Apache or Blackhawk). Yeah, I guess flying in combat in a very vulnerable position does alter your perspective on things. I can't tell you how often I've had people ask "so the glass all around the cockpit is bulletproof, right?" I have to laugh at their faces when I tell them it's just plexiglass and probably wouldn't stop a pellet gun projectile. When they ask what I did, I say "my job was to go find the bad guys before the bad guys find the good guys, and arrange to make them dead, whether by my own ammunition or someone else's (preferable)". Such is the life of a scout. And a lot of my friends didn't make it out. THat's the job we chose. Oh well, that was another life ago. Now I am retired from that, work with computers to pay the mortgage and forge trinkets, tools, and medieval weapons and armor because I am a military history buff. Ain't life grand?
November 3, 20223 yr Knee bent and anvil rung. Their tour ended and they got to go home. I am glad to know you carry their memories forward.
November 3, 20223 yr The Veteran Memorial park in Las Cruces NM includes a helicopter in it! I wonder how many car crashes it's caused as it looks from the road as if it's crashing.
November 4, 20223 yr On 10/31/2022 at 12:26 PM, Cavpilot2k said: I flew no air taxi!!! My best friend since elementary school wound up flying one in Vietnam. We both joined the service around the same time. He enlisted in the USMC, became a Captain and pilot, and I in the USCG. Tommy was KIA while transporting some VIP's when his copter was shot down. I think of him all the time and how things might have ended differently, if he had joined the USCG with me. RIP Capt. Thomas (Tommy) Carter ya done good. Thomas Anthony Carter : Captain from Florida, Vietnam War Casualty
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