There's something very unsettling about this patch thing... no question.

It occurred to me a couple of years ago how few of us there actually were; guys who did what we did. You can figure it out. Maybe 5 million "era" veterans, 2-1/2 million actually in Vietnam some time during the whole mess.

Between Army pilots and crews, say 30 ships per assault company, each company with about 120 total crew over the course of a year. For the 119th, one of the longest-serving, say 1962-1970, maybe what, 1500-2000 total pilots and crew considering short tours, etc? How many Assault companies? 30? 50? Say 50 Huey companies, 2000 fliers for each, and you know that most were not there anywhere near as long as the 119th, and you've got 100,000 max Huey crew out of 2-1/2 million.

I'm guessing maybe half or less of that number, say 50,000 out of 2-1/2 million Vietnam Vets were Huey helicopter crew. About 5,000 of us died there, close to 1 out of 10 on the Wall

Makes selling our Gator insignia seem even more ghoulish than before, eh?

Clear Left,
Bob