Page 38 - DFCS NEWS MAGAZINE 2018-2
P. 38

Dick Melick, one of our Scout pilots who, with “Mad Bomber” Eddy Joiner, had received the Distinguished Flying Cross for dropping a home-made bomb from their little bird on an NVA suspension bridge out in the A Shau Valley (they both nearly died and probably should have been court-martialed). Dick had been recently promoted to Captain and was now the Troop Operations Officer running the TOC. Staff Sergeant Sanders was the Operations Sergeant and Melick’s right hand man.
“The 75th Rangers have a team in trouble somewhere in the mountains out towards Blaze”, Sergeant Sanders said, as he started in on our mission brief and pointed to one of the maps.
“You and Mr. Stevens are to go out and find the
team”, Sarge continued, “they have been in contact
with the enemy for six days. They have run out of food, water and ammo and are suffering from exposure in this monsoon weather. On top of that, they’re lost and can’t give us exact coordinates. You need to find them and get ‘em out! Here’s your mission sheet with their frequencies and call sign.”
The 75th Rangers were a band of courageous guys specially trained in clandestine operations to find and fix the enemy with small long-range reconnaissance patrol teams (LRRPs) or simply ‘Lerps’. L Company lived next door to us back at the base camp and we trained with them in helicopter operations to drop them into the jungle or pluck them out of tight spots with the use of ropes; long 120-foot lines called simply ‘strings’ with a McGuire Rig attached.
The McGuire Rig was invented by Sergeant Major Charles T. McGuire of Project Delta special operations fame. It was an 8-foot long cargo strap doubled over to form a large loop with a quick-fit buckle at one end and a smaller loop at the top for a wrist strap. The rig was lowered down to the waiting soldier who would step into the larger loop, grab the wrist strap and be lifted out by the helicopter and when clear, be landed nearby for loading inside the Huey.
It was a simple system, however, could not be used for long distances or with wounded personnel without undue danger of them falling from the rig.
Later, the Army would develop the STABO (Short Tactical Air Borne Operations) harness. That harness, worn outside the fatigue uniform, provided loops to attach snap links for quick hook up to rescue lines that had loops built in as well. The STABO harness allowed rapid extraction of troops while also freeing their hands and arms to provide self-protection, and wounded soldiers could be snapped into the rescue lines without danger of falling off.
Mark and I looked at the mission sheet and then at each other. The team’s call sign was “Coca Cola”. It was already late afternoon, darkness a few hours away, and low clouds in the mountains. We had to find them and we had to do it quick.
Mark had already pre-flighted his bird as he was on standby that day. His co-pilot, crew chief and door gunner were already up on the flight line waiting for him. My Cobra gunship was all ready to go too, since I had returned from the earlier reconnaissance mission and Stan had the blades untied and ready for start. We were up and airborne in less than ten minutes.
We flew a loose trail formation one behind the other up Highway 547, the winding dirt road carved in the mountains by Army engineers that wound its way from the coastal plains near Hue and the 101st Airborne Division’s base at Camp Eagle to the A Shau Valley some 40 miles distant. I was flying my AH-1 Cobra gunship. Mark was flying his UH-1H “Huey”.
My Cobra gunship was both escort and protection for Mark’s Huey. Mark’s crew had M-60 machine guns on board, however my Cobra was specifically designed and built to carry lots of firepower to protect our troop-carrying birds. The Cobras also had missions to protect our little OH-6 Scout Helicopters that flew low and slow to find the bad guys, and to provide close-in air support when our troops were in contact with the enemy.
WINTER 2018 / DFCS News Magazine / 39





















































































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