Dave,
Next to ammo mail was the most important cargo we hauled. That red mail bag would get royal treatment. I would take my D-ring and secure it to my seat. Letters that the guys would hand me at the firebases went into my shirt pocket inside my flight jacket.
I wore the monkey strap during FOB II because you spent more time hanging outside of the ship during an extraction to clear the guys while they were hanging on the McQuire Rig. I also wore it when we had a new peter-pilot that needed a lesson about crewchiefs and gunners. I would walk the skid outside his door and tap him on the shoulder and ask him for a lite.
The only thing we always had to threw off were the ARVINs.We had one LZ that was hot and as me and Sempek were throwing them out one door they were climbing back in the other. They would hang on the skids rather then be left there. Our Allies.